“Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.” ― Pablo Picasso
Earlier this month, I was downtown Austin, Texas after spending a weekend at SXSW. Our panel presented on Monday, but my flight was scheduled for Tuesday. The timing provided plenty of opportunity to explore new experiences. I decided to go see the SXSW Film Festival premiere of The Retrieval by Director/Screenwriter, Chris Eska.
The film was set on the outskirts of the Civil War. And the story centers on a young boy who is sent north by a bounty hunter gang to retrieve a wanted man. The story was captivating, fascinating, and timeless. I enjoyed being thoroughly drawn into it.
As a writer, I found even more delight in the Q&A session with the writer/director following the film. Hearing how the story came together in his mind brought such wonder to me. He discussed the moment when the idea was conceived, his decision to set the story during the Civil War, the debate about which ending to use, and what he referred to as “the most beautiful portrayal of true love he could imagine.” Hearing the artist recount the creation of the story and the production of it on a limited budget brought with it greater appreciation for both the story and the art of film.
___
Last week, I sat next to John Bucher in a hotel meeting room in St. Louis. The afternoon before, John had shared with me a copy of his group’s new graphic novel, The High Cost of Happily Ever After written by Jim Krueger containing the artwork of Zach Brunner.
I had read a few comic books when I was a kid, but never did get into the hobby. In fact, I hadn’t picked up a comic book in over 20 years. I was even a bit hesitant to have one handed to me. But I’m a big fan of John and committed to reading it. Again, upon entering the story, I was drawn into its representation of commitment, love, and sacrifice. I found it to be a fairy tale for people who no longer believe in them (and for those who do).
The following day, I asked John to further explain to me the art form of graphic novels and comic books. He helped me understand the choice of poetry, dialogue, and specific words that were employed. He explained the use of 6-panel pages and 1-panel pages and the different emotions they hoped to stir through them. We talked risk, reward, and art. And I began to appreciate for the first time the beauty and intentionality of telling stories through this incredibly impressive form of art.
____
Last December, the New York Times published an interview with Jerry Seinfeld on the art of writing jokes. The specific joke he recounts writing is a story about discovering pop-tarts as a breakfast food… and as he admits, two years is a long time to spend writing a joke about breakfast food.
But I found his process of writing and fine-tuning the joke to be nothing short of true artistic genius. In the interview, Jerry discusses writing out the joke longhand with a pen and legal-sized paper. He discusses the strategy of set-up, timing, and laugh lines. At one point, he even recounts limiting the number of syllables in a transition so he can get to a punch-line quicker. It was fascinating to watch the creative process take place. Throughout the interview, I began to appreciate even more the art of stand-up comedy and the joy it can bring to our world. People, do indeed, love to laugh.
____
Looking back, I am thankful to have enjoyed three specific, unrelated conversations that have introduced me in greater detail to new forms of art. Through each of them, I have been reminded there is great beauty and appreciation still to be discovered in our world. And sometimes, the quickest way to find it, is to open our mind, heart, and soul to new expressions of art.
Image: Greencolander
Dan says
I love Seinfeld’s approach to his craft. He loves what he does. He obviously enjoys it, and he struggles with it just like everyone else.
And that’s where the beauty is … In the struggle.
Jesscia says
Don’t the Japanese also have a lot of great animated cartoons and comics? Those range from being childish to anything but. I am always a little bit unhappy when I tell people about how great the storyline of a comic book/graphic novel is and then get belittled because of it.
I wanted to recommend something loosely related by the way: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2384811/
Brown Vagabonder says
A kind of art that Thenix made me appreciate was animated cartoons. There are a lot of animated cartoons out there that have more depth and tenacity to them than a lot of PG-rated movies. I never submitted to the idea of animations being anything but childish and immature. But watching a few animated cartoons recommended by Thenix changed my perspective on that. Being open to everything that surrounds you is the key here. It is so easy to think that we know everything, that we can stop learning, growing and exploring. Thanks for the post!
Tony@WeOnlyDoThisOnce says
Great considerations of new processes, Joshua. Great post!
Will says
Amazing