I'm working on a show pitch. It's a concept I came up with for Lisa Goldman's developing the animated series class, and with lots of encouragement from her and others I'm trying to pull it together into an actual possible series.
There's a lot to be said about the process of coming up with a show, sharing the plot and what I want to put into it, talking about what the reception has been so far, etc etc etc. For right now, I want to put down something I wrote into my sketchbook. It doesn't really center around the plot or concept of this show idea, but it is related. Ah, reading over it I suppose it needs a little context. The show is about all the mythologies and fairy tales of the world breaking into our own. A nine and a half year old boy is handed the fate of hero and told he gets to deal with it, try to make it right. So, here we go! A bit on my opinion (and just that, only my opinion) on the importance of myths and storytelling.
This show says that there is something to be learned from the imaginations. Curiosity has practical application - the silly, the fantastical, should not only be legitimate but also applicable and respected.
Kids are growing up fast, to use a cliche. The only response to trying to recapture and return the sense of roving wonder in a child, the mystic, has been to sequester it. To shove it in a protected corner, separate it entirely. Say it is the opposite of reason, maturity, logic and the adult, normal flow of thought. But it isn't. And to isolate it in this way steals some of its legitimacy - we are left only with a much more empty surface of bright colors and non-sequitur timing jokes.
(Aside - the over0use of the non-sequitur, without the explanation and without further content, rends the non-sequitur illegitimate. Because eventually, all you're left with is the non-sequitur, now based off nothing at all. There must be a foundation to parody, for the parody to work.)
Which have their place. But more can be done, which has not been done.
The fairy tale, the myth, is important because it teaches us from an early age to ask questions of images. We discover than an image, an object, an idea holds the key to many meanings, paths that contain fascinating adventure.
We learn the key faculty of not taking anything for its surface alone. We make an entertainment out of the process of thought, sharpening our ability to obtain knowledge to its fullest degree. This leads to a greater ability to apply reason and logic to all one learns.
That is why storytelling is so important.
That was all I wrote - but that is also why it's so foolish (again, in my opinion) to force imagination as separate from cognizant thought.
I have no idea if my show will encompass this. But it's something that I think is important and that I hope to be able to show some aspect of in all of my personal work.
In an entirely different note, there was an amazing ASIFA-East and WiA event last night (which rocked)! I'll post about that later on in the week! For right now, my mind is entirely on the show... I'm having lunch with Carrie over at Frederator, where I'm interning, to go over the show thus far. XD Exciting.
Gah, a picture. Hmm...
Yes, yes, it's life drawing that's already on my website. Ah well. I need to scan some new stuff.
