Great Expectations
I used to study theater when I was younger. Yet, whenever you tell people you want to go into the Arts, you get two major reactions: undying support or unabashed contemptuousness.
Either way, they suck. People tell you a lot about themselves when they give you an immediately negative or positive reaction about anything, especially attempts of pursuing a life of “artistic creativity.”
People believe life doles out quotas and demand that you don’t go beyond your fair share. This is limited to stints in scribbling as a kindergartner or making funky, odd-shaped vases in pottery class. Therefore, when you want to pursue the creative arts as a profession, expectations of your future change.
These reactions trouble me because no one behaves this way if you want to become an electrician.
It’s not fair. Why should creativity get all the great expectations (good or bad)?
Artsy=Creative
Artsy people by themselves are not creative exclusively. Yet, when people talk about “creatives” – they instantly think (starving) artists, actors and Criss Angel.
Actually, those people are just plain weird. They are not necessarily creative. Artsy people (gross and completely unfair generalization) excel at taking things and making them look provocative.
They make crazy wooden jewelry with dangerous pieces of glass shards. They speak to people in Esperanto. They work in dying record stores and listen to Diplo in over sized headphones while telling others “corporate” office work is for the brain dead.
They say they are far too “creative” for such drudgery.
While provocativeness or unconventionality can be creative per se, it’s catching because it arouses interest. Yet, it is only creatively opportunistic and not necessarily innovative in the least bit. Know the difference.
The Moot Intelligence Factor
I’ve not been one to think that intelligence and creativity need to go hand in hand, but it definitely helps if you can successfully combine the two. There are lots of dumb, creative people out there who can cross paths with others willing to execute their ideas.
Yet, it is understood that if you are creative – you are unquestionably intelligent. I disagree. Jackass and Paris Hilton (at least, her “onscreen persona”) are not necessarily intelligent, but they are highly and persuasively creative.
The contradiction is that there is plenty of idiocy to go around if it is marketed well enough.