Do we ever realize how lucky we are, really? I mean, we live in a day of immense comfort and convenience, where we take for granted things that would appear miracles to anyone living a hundred years ago. I came to a staggering realization concerning the creative arts the other day that I'd like to share.
I like coming up with story ideas. It's fun for me, and I feel like I'm at least semi decent at coming up with good ones. My problem? Getting them into a format that other people can enjoy. What's the point of a good story if you can't share it? Anyways, I've come up with a ton of stories that are appealing on more than one level. Their value is in the plot, the setting, and the sounds, not just one of the three. And how many media forms do we know of that can convey all three of those? I enjoy writing, which takes care of the plot rather well. I'm also a fan of drawing, which fills the setting need, and I like to write music, which takes care of the sounds at least in part. I've often considered, and as I look around I've noticed that many people have traditionally felt the same way, that the comic book or graphic novel was the best format for these ideas, the epics that absolutely have to be beautifully portrayed in at least two of these aspects or the effect is lost.
Then I realized something. Over the past five or so years, how many comics and graphic novels have been made into stunning movies? I mean, before then you had comic book movies... The original Superman movies, and Batman clear back in the 1960's... and all the Saturday morning cartoons... which are fun and all, but let's be honest. Given a choice between the original Captain America movie and the Chinese water torture, I'd probably take the latter. But then look at the past five years. The X-Men trilogy. The Batman movies. 300. Watchmen. Stardust. And this new one that I think looks amazing called Priest (check out the trailer and tell me you don't want to see it). So what are we learning?
Simply put, technology is finally catching up with the human imagination. We can get the plot, the setting, and the sounds to all appear beautifully in one package. We don't need to sacrifice any of the experience due to an inability to fit it all in.
Aren't we lucky?
I like coming up with story ideas. It's fun for me, and I feel like I'm at least semi decent at coming up with good ones. My problem? Getting them into a format that other people can enjoy. What's the point of a good story if you can't share it? Anyways, I've come up with a ton of stories that are appealing on more than one level. Their value is in the plot, the setting, and the sounds, not just one of the three. And how many media forms do we know of that can convey all three of those? I enjoy writing, which takes care of the plot rather well. I'm also a fan of drawing, which fills the setting need, and I like to write music, which takes care of the sounds at least in part. I've often considered, and as I look around I've noticed that many people have traditionally felt the same way, that the comic book or graphic novel was the best format for these ideas, the epics that absolutely have to be beautifully portrayed in at least two of these aspects or the effect is lost.
Then I realized something. Over the past five or so years, how many comics and graphic novels have been made into stunning movies? I mean, before then you had comic book movies... The original Superman movies, and Batman clear back in the 1960's... and all the Saturday morning cartoons... which are fun and all, but let's be honest. Given a choice between the original Captain America movie and the Chinese water torture, I'd probably take the latter. But then look at the past five years. The X-Men trilogy. The Batman movies. 300. Watchmen. Stardust. And this new one that I think looks amazing called Priest (check out the trailer and tell me you don't want to see it). So what are we learning?
Simply put, technology is finally catching up with the human imagination. We can get the plot, the setting, and the sounds to all appear beautifully in one package. We don't need to sacrifice any of the experience due to an inability to fit it all in.
Aren't we lucky?
It's true. Almost anything one can imagine can now be made very real with a big enough budget. And yet they still insist on making a lot of really dumb movies.
ReplyDeleteIn 3D!
ReplyDeleteYeah... Just wait till I hit Hollywood, though. Everything will change.
ReplyDelete