Recently I was bored in a Heritage Lecture and I started thinking about the ten people I found to be MOST creative, and why. Most of these people are recognized because of their Big-C creativity, and not all are great people.
These are my top 5:
1. Galileo Galilee, NOT Isaac Newton. Newton once said, "If I have seen further, it is because I was standing on the shoulders of giants"...or something like that. He did stand on someone's shoulders, Galileo. Galileo thought up most of the things that Newton then made public with research after his death. Not to discredit Newton, but I find Galileo creative because of his unique undertaking of science and his method of working to figure out the universe even though people were questioning him constantly. Another great mind in this category is Copernicus, who was bold enough to admit that the Earth wasn't the center of the universe. Galileo and Copernicus, on their own respective accords, led a scientific revolution and worked to find out more about the world. They are creative not because of their discoveries, but because of their endeavors.
2. Gandhi. Gandhi led the world's first nonviolent military movement. He is creative in this because he used creative tactics to raise awareness of the need for peace and made the British question their barbaric methods. He is creative because he brought a new light to war and how to solve world issues.
3. Adolf Hitler. I find Hitler extremely creative because he had the ability to sense the need of Germany for a strong military presence and control so many people to do horrible things. I don't think creativity is always good, his methods for doing this created the worst genocide in the history of mankind as far as I'm concerned. I think his terrible ways of absolute power and political pressure are creative because he is the only person, with the exception of Alexander the Great, that has ever come close to world domination.
4. Meryl Streep. Sorry, I'm just a huge Meryl fan. But I think she is a creative business woman, having done so many shows and opening herself up to so many characters that many people could not do. Most people have a specific type of role they can play...for example, I'm the sarcastic sibling, the villian, the commedia whore, the mother, the hurt-and-healing type, etc. Meryl (we're on a first name basis, fyi) to play several different character types and also has the advantage of being a screen actor and a theatre actor. She can also dance, sing, etc. She's a machine. I think she's very creative because she is aware of herself and uses the creative process to arrive at these amazing characters that one believes in almost instantly. I also love that she usually plays into an emotion that almost anyone can relate to.
5. The founding fathers of America. I think these men are creative because they took what they valued most in the time, freedom, and incorporated it into ideals that would stand long after they passed away. Also, they possessed a lot of domain knowledge and looked at several government types and documents before divising our own governmental system that seemed to be about balance.
6. Girltalk. See previous entry.
7. The Beatles, the Ramones, Run DMC. I think of these people when I think about major musical shifts. The Beatles brought rock and roll to America; The Ramones defined punk-rock and guitar ''shredding'', and Run DMC really shaped the rap era and allowed it to grow into what its become. If I had to pick one, I'd say Lennon probably.
8. Einstein. This fella was just a genius and he wasn't afraid or discouraged from working even when people were disagreeing with his claims and threatening him after his discoveries. He was creative because of his self determination in the name of science.
9. Steven Jobs. He created Apple, the superior computer system. :) He has made so many technological advances, though they are not independently his own doing. Apple is one of the most creative companies with its unique approach to group creativity and research.
10. Any Qualified Educator. I think that educators are the most important workers in American society. One might disagree and say its a doctor...find a doctor that didn't go through years of schooling to become what he is. Educators have to find creative methods to teaching material in order for people to absorb it. A teacher can make one go to school, but they can't make people learn. Someone who can do that is one of the most creative people of our time.
PS- just to clarify, these are ten people I find creative that are often overlooked for their creative ability and their amazing contributions to both the Big-C domain and the Little-C efforts. There are SO many more people!!!!
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Books and Movies
This is maybe a stretch, but this entry will explore the connections between books and movies. Recently I've noticed that I am someone who enjoys reading books before or even more than a movie-remake. For example, I absolutely loved the book The Great Gatsby, but when I saw the movie version I was really disappointed. In my mind, I'd created an entirely different image of everything and a different style of mannerisms and gestures. In the movie, a lot of the symbolism was omitted as well. The full experience of a book and the creative process you take into the way that you perceive the elements cannot happen if all of the "open-ended questions" are answered by a director instead of its audience.
Likewise, I am really curious to see how movies such as ''Where the Wild Things Are'' will turn out. This is a children's book and I was brought up having this read to me as a bedtime story. I am really intrigued about how they plan to bring this to the screen when much of the basis for the book is imagination and the boy imagining the monsters and everything almost as if they are his escape. I just don't know if works like this and the Great Gatsby, even though they are ENTIRELY different, should ever be brought to the screen. The imagination of a child isn't something that can be broadcast through a film. In the same way, the symbolism behind Gatsby's green light and the beautiful lines written by F. Scott Fitsgerald is taken away and replaced with dialogue.
Another movie I am greatly anticipating is Angels and Demons. This is one of my favorite books ever but I liked it because I created the entire events as I read it and I was drawn to the fact that I felt like I was studying this stuff as much as the characters in the story studied their case along their adventure. I do hope that printed books are not being replaced with movies or audiobooks because I feel like one loses so much as they pull information in from another medium. I feel like this is relative to creativity because it is one's imagination and one's unique perception of something...the creative ways one looks at the world from the things they absorb from books and stories. I hope that both of these movies are amazing, but I don't think the experiences of reading the books will ever compare to the movies.
Likewise, I am really curious to see how movies such as ''Where the Wild Things Are'' will turn out. This is a children's book and I was brought up having this read to me as a bedtime story. I am really intrigued about how they plan to bring this to the screen when much of the basis for the book is imagination and the boy imagining the monsters and everything almost as if they are his escape. I just don't know if works like this and the Great Gatsby, even though they are ENTIRELY different, should ever be brought to the screen. The imagination of a child isn't something that can be broadcast through a film. In the same way, the symbolism behind Gatsby's green light and the beautiful lines written by F. Scott Fitsgerald is taken away and replaced with dialogue.
Another movie I am greatly anticipating is Angels and Demons. This is one of my favorite books ever but I liked it because I created the entire events as I read it and I was drawn to the fact that I felt like I was studying this stuff as much as the characters in the story studied their case along their adventure. I do hope that printed books are not being replaced with movies or audiobooks because I feel like one loses so much as they pull information in from another medium. I feel like this is relative to creativity because it is one's imagination and one's unique perception of something...the creative ways one looks at the world from the things they absorb from books and stories. I hope that both of these movies are amazing, but I don't think the experiences of reading the books will ever compare to the movies.
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