Sir Ken Robinson: Do Schools Kill Creativity?
Penguin January 28th, 2008
Ken Robinson has an amazing speech about creativity. As artists, writers, designers, photographers, filmmakers, our essential job is being creative. Sure there’s the technical aspects of our craft. But those are merely a way to express our creativity. He goes on to talk about children and their capacity for creativity. The core of their creativity is their willingness to take a chance. They’re not frightened of being wrong. “If you’re not prepared to be wrong, you’ll never create anything original.”
Most of us are products of universal education. We’re trained to be productive and good workers and to fit in. For some places and some countries, that’s what they need. We’re privileged. We have the freedom to create. We may not be able to make a ton of money doing it. But there is that off chance that we can and will. As an artist, we don’t care about the money. We care about our art. Sometimes people get that art. But that’s not important either.
Picasso said, “All children are artists, we just grow out of it.” Robinson proposes that we’re educated out of it. This is not to say that science and math shouldn’t be taught. These are definitely vital too. But the arts are woefully under represented. Instead of required as part of the curriculum, they’re offered as electives instead. But intelligence is multifaceted.
Intelligence is diverse. It’s visual, audial, kinesthetic, abstract, moving. Film encompasses all of that. Fundamentally, I believe that the best films, those that touch your soul, those that are entertaining, those that are timeless, embody all these aspects. You have the visual aspect of the film. You have movement in your actors or in the camera. You have the audial in dialgoue, music, and sound effects. You have the kinesthetic of your characters dealing with a situation or conflict. And then you have the abstract in symbolism and themes.
Intelligence is also dynamic. When you collaborate with other artists, there’s this synergy that creates something spectacular. Filmmaking is the essence of collaboration. As a director, you’re working with others to see your screenplay come alive. You have actors, your cinematographer, your sound engineer, your crew, and then you have your audience. Without any of these people and their input, you’d be hard pressed to make anything at all.
Intelligence is also distinct. We all have this heart, this passion that drives us to create. We’re drawn towards communities that foster this. Whether you’re a designer or a filmmaker, you do it because it makes you come alive. When I talk about my new screenplay idea with Ninja, my eyes light up. I get excited and I just want to share.
What makes you come alive? Go and do that.
-Penguin
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