We all love perserverance stories in art. We love them outside of art too - everyone loves a good ‘never give up’ story, or a story about a person who had success after dedicated work and difficult hours poured into a project.
The opposite of a perseverance story is a give-up story, and it seems like a bit of a horror story, the more I think about it. When asked point-blank, the question seems like the empty air over a cliff:
What if the creator of your favorite thing had given up?
Like any artist who has been through a few rounds of life, sometimes I like to direct my brain at what’s good in order to save it from spiraling into negativity. Especially if I get stuck on my art, I like to look at things that are good. I will flip through books of paintings, go to museums, or watch movies, even if I’ve seen all of it before - I go see it again because I know it is good and I can count on it.
Sometimes I think about how good the movie Aladdin is, how surprising it was when I first saw it, and how, despite its flaws, it is almost a perfectly-constructed movie, well-animated, and full of ideas that are completely off-the-wall, yet executed without issue.
Most of the moments in this movie sound outrageous to me if I were to describe them without showing pictures of them, which I will do in just a moment. It’s hard to imagine what it is like to create something like Aladdin from a blank slate, but here is what I imagine.
I imagine an art director walking up to me at my desk and saying:
“All right Becky, we need you and your peers to design and animate the entrance of the Cave of Wonders. In the movie, Aladdin must enter the Cave of Wonders to find the lamp. He must resist all of the wonders of the cave and focus only on the lamp. It’s a fabulous place, but also very scary. We’re thinking the entrance is a giant tiger head made of sand, with a big mouth that Aladdin walks into. It talks in a booming voice and has glowing eyes. Can you draw out a couple concepts for me, and let’s look at them at the end of the week?”
In that moment, what if I were to say “Sorry boss, that’s too hard! A talking tiger head made of sand? What? You want us to animate sand? Millions of grains of sand, a tan and boring thing? That’s absolutely outrageous. I’m not doing that.”
What if the creator of your favorite thing had given up?
There are so many other moments in Aladdin that sound unbelievable and easy to get sarcastic about. A blue, talking genie? Lol. A magic carpet ride? Uh…?
Yet it’s almost impossible to imagine Robin Williams giving up on the genie. I try to think of a producer saying “Robin we are creating the genie for you, we want you to be this character, and also, the character is you.” and Robin Williams saying “No thanks, that sounds too hard! A talking genie? There’s no way I could pull this off!”
What if the creator of your favorite thing had given up?
Aladdin itself is an artistic perseverance story. It’s about being the lowest of the low, and getting what seems like a lucky break after years of hard work and personal fortitude, and battling between doing what the world thinks is cool, and being yourself.
I’m really glad no one ever gave up on my favorite pieces of art. With so many of the best things in art and life alike, it’s so easy to give up and say “That’s too hard, that’s too much for me.” Every time a movie comes out, it’s a sign that hundreds if not thousands of people didn’t give up. Maybe the force behind it all is that they didn’t give up because they had a vision. Maybe the force is darker, and they didn’t give up because they needed a paycheck or to not lose their jobs.
Yet it’s also true on a smaller scale. Someone who makes a 2 x 2 inch painting didn’t give up. Someone who wove a rug didn’t give up.
What if the creator of your favorite thing had given up?
We have no idea how meaningful the outcome of our efforts will be. It’s one more reason to keep going if we are given the chance.