Today’s post is about creativity. What does that mean? Is it different from individuality? In today’s culture, creativity seems to be the standard for traditional as well as non-traditional jobs. While watching a TV reality show for hair designers, it seems that things have gone to the extreme. What used to be a standard of excellence is now boring and considered non-talent. When looking at what the contestants are asked to do and to prove, it seems we have gone way over the top. The theme for this particular hair show was designing in a vampire theme. Now, personally, I don’t care for vampires or the background about them. Consider this a bias point from the beginning. However, the resulting showcases were a bit much. One model looked like she was wearing a farm house on top of her head depicting things from a vampire culture. Another model had a hairpiece that looked about four feet tall; blond in the front and black in the back. While not being critical of creativity, do we need to go so overboard that it just seems ridiculous? Take into consideration that while reality TV is not the real reality because we are led to believe that over-the-top drama and excitement must exist in the piece to be appealing to the audiences. Is it necessary to push competition to the point of dogged personal ambition? Do we really need to literally try to nail another person in order to prove our creative prowess? Understanding the statement that “real life” is stranger than fiction, going above and beyond to prove that in our reality TV shows seems like overkill.
While walking this creative journey, hopefully the need will not arise when a choice has to be made between real talent and creativity and an extreme requirement to validate that through someone else’s perception. Everyone appreciates the compliment that your efforts are well received; however, no effort will please 100% of the people 100% of the time. Can we keep a level of integrity and true character when it comes to developing our creativity and talent. And, especially when it comes to encouraging the next generation to develop theirs.
Sandra R. Vercellono
