John Yorke, the expert on stories, tells us in extreme detail the exact features of stories that make them unoriginal. He lists numerous examples of how stories are just retold over the years with different characters or settings. The overall message being conveyed to the audience is still the same. This got me thinking of all the other things in life that are the same. I started by branching off from stories by noting that they are a part of pop culture. What else is part of culture? Music.
Click here and listen from 27 to 42 seconds
Click here and listen form 19 to 30 seconds
It's not new to realize that there are songs that sound weirdly familiar even if it's the first time you're hearing it. These two songs in particular just make me mad because it's so clear that they're the exact same tune with one of them (the Justin Timberlake one) being so much worse. This just brings to light my idea that every single idea you can think of has already been thought of before. Thus leading everything to be unoriginal.
But let's move away from pop culture for a minute. Think about what happens if you go out for a nice dinner with your friends. One of them might snap a photo of the elegant dish in front of them for their Instagram. We probably get annoyed at them because now we have to look at that delicious meal later and miss it, leading us to scour the pantry to find something that can soothe the craving that photo just instigated. But anyway, taking pictures or "stills" of food is not something new. There are thousands of Renaissance Era paintings floating around of massive feasts. This further proves my point that you are not the first person to think of something.
Perhaps the only difference in an idea for an invention is a matter of success. For instance, there is man named Morton Heilig who came up with the idea of a "sensorama". This invention essentially immersed a small audience in a sensory-stimulating endeavor through various external stimuli including smells, sensations of wind or water, 3D visuals, etc. He proposed this idea to Henry Ford who promptly showed him the door. Morton Heilig is now known as the forgotten creator of virtual reality because no one ever listened to him in particular but someone else drummed up the idea themselves and took over with inventions like the Oculus Rift.
I could go on and on about how things aren't original, but I think Yorke put it best when he brought up how a nine year old child told a story.
A
family are looking forward to going on holiday. Mom has to sacrifice the
holiday in order to pay the rent. Kids find map buried in garden to treasure
hidden in the woods, and decide to go after it. They get in loads of trouble
and are chased before they finally find it and go on even better holiday.
First of all, this child knows a lot more about the world than I did at that age. Talking about how the mom sacrifices a holiday to pay the rent. Like what even. How are you so in tune with what's going on in the world. Second, let's pretend we believe that a child actually wrote this. Yorke essentially says that stories aren't repeated, they're modifications of universal themes. And we all know that the universe isn't really that original. I mean, look at these pictures:
Still think that you're original?
Comments
Post a Comment