Something that has been on my mind a lot during class lately is an idea that is presented in the movie Inception. In the movie, Leonardo DiCaprio is trying to plant an idea in a person's head and have them still believe the idea was theirs originally. When first presented with this task, he denies and says it is not possible. He believes there is no such thing as an original idea. There are too many other factors that influence ideas, such as things other people say or things you see. I find this to be a fascinating concept.
I have no idea how this could ever be proven. But when you think about it, it is a valid point. There are so many songs, pieces of art, books, and movies. It would be hard to come up with an idea that is completely original and uninfluenced by anything else you have read or seen. You may be completing work that is similar to something already done and have no idea. There are so many pieces of creativity in existence there would be no way to know what has already been done before you. This would also tie into the debate of whether or not expertise is beneficial or a hindrance. Having expertise in a field would allow you to know more of what has already been created, but knowing about all these creations may cloud your own view of what you aspire to create.
This would have been an interesting question to have asked our panel the other day in class. I wonder if they think ideas can ever be truly original, or if they draw too much inspiration from the world around the creator.
I think this is a great reference! I loved that movie and the point that they bring up. Is anything we come up with actually creative? Most ideas we have come from an idea someone already came up with. It might be creative if we want to improve and existing product (like in class when they were working on making a better shopping cart at IDEO) but it's not truly original.
ReplyDelete