Stuck in the Mud

by Riverwolf

It can be hard being an aspiring artist, sometimes, relying heaviy on rewrites of old legends or fanfics of contemporary franchises. The problem comes primarily from the peer-pressure on us to be "wholly original," and not "derivitive." I used to be fairly self-immolating over my constant use of previously-existing works for my inspirations, as well, but not anymore.

When I was in College, one of the classes I took was on Child Development. One of the major projects was to visit the school's on-campus preschool, functioning as a place for children of students. We were not to interact with any of the children (except perhaps to reciprocate a "hi"), or interfere in any way with what the teachers were doing. I did this a couple of times, but one time in particular remains stuck in my mind as a beautiful microcosm of creative immitation.

The room I was assigned to that day was primarily for children between the ages of 4, and 6. Circle Time was called while I was there, and the topic that time was going to be "stories"; that is, the teacher would ask each child, in turn, to tell a story. The child who was asked to tell the first story hesitantly spoke of a car. When the teacher inquired about what the car was doing, it was revealed that the car was stuck in the mud.

I immediately observed that the lesson had nothing to do with stories or story-structure itself, but with subject-object relationship in sentences. This would prepare the children for learning basic sentence structure in a few years. This was quite a clever way to trick the children into learning a fundamental aspet of language, while allowing them to exercise creativity.

Or so I thought. Every child in turn ended up telling the same "story" about the car stuck in the mud. A few of them added in some new words, or briefly mentioned the family driving the car. Some were bland, word-for-word copies of the original story, while others were spoken with some mischievous giggling. Regardless of minor personal touches, I heard the exact same sequence of events over and over again. If anything was truly stuck, it was the childrens' minds on this really unfortunate car.

Then the teacher came to a somewhat shy-looking girl. This time, a family had gotten into their car to go on a trip. They ended up driving in rain, and soon got stuck in mud. They all got out of the car, and after a lot of pushing, freed their car from the mud so they could continue on their trip. The teacher remarked how she really "liked that story," and moved on to the next child in line.

I, however, didn't hear any of the remaining children. My mind was far too focused on what just happened before me. Child after child simply copied what the first one had done, and then this little artist-to-be took that quite-tired scene and did something magical. She crafted a real story, albeit a very short one, complete with setup, conflict, and resolution. Within minutes, the full implications of what I'd just witnessed hit me: this pattern of uncreative immitation leading to creative magic is present in all art. All the most famous works, from Hamlet and Star Wars to Beowulf and Super Mario Bros., are immitations of works that came before but presented in fresh new ways.

I guess, then, I can go ahead and use retellings of old legends and fanfics. That is, as long as I remember that these are merely foundations, upon which I can work my own personal magic.


Thanks for reading, and let me know what you think. Naho apre atra.