Avoiding Myopia

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"If cats wrote history, then history would be mostly about cats."

- Eugen Weber

Whether the subjects of your project are monsters, aliens, animals, toys, or even actual human beings, all stories are about people.

Cats don't write history, we people do, and as all self-obsessed creatures we focus on ourselves and our kind. All art is ultimately about the human condition, human perception, human experience, in short: humanity. That's why we refer to arts, crafts, philosophies and other disciplines, collectively, as "the humanities".

As priveleged members of advanced, modern society, we have the right, and yes even the duty, to focus our efforts on such enjoyable pursuits as filmmaking, music, dance, painting and sculpture. More primitive civilizations bear the burden of focusing more of their effort on the simple, labor-intensive tasks of survival. As technology advances, culture comes along for the ride. The advent of fire allowed us the see the pretty colors painted on the walls of caves, advanced metalworking allows us to improved the tone and timber of our instruments, understanding of physics and chemistry opened the doors for photography and motion pictures, and so on through time. At the same time, the art and culture of the times influences the use and invention of new technologies.

As creators, producers, technicians, etc. we have an interest in the arts, many of us have a love for the products of our and other's efforts. But ultimately our efforts are possible because of the efforts of others. If others weren't working to provide food and shelter for us and our families to buy, we wouldn't have the luxury of pursuing our creative dreams. Yes, the arts and humanities are important for our quality of life, but they are not essential for our survival - and the most noble pursuit of any entertainer or artist is to explore and support the efforts of those working so we can survive.

I don't think there is any more self-interested art than motion pictures. Painters create self-portraits, but rarely are they exploring themselves as painters rather than as people - the same for song and dance, few are about songwriters, musicians and dancers. There are, however, many examples of films about filmmakers. And I must confess, I enjoy most of them, even if their quality is not universally great. How can I not, they're about me.

But most people aren't filmmakers. In fact, most people aren't interested in filmmakers, except for the occasional celebrity, and even then they aren't interested in the celebrity on set as much as the celebrity on the town and in the bedroom. We are most interested in celebrity when they are being the most human. Truthfully, we are most interested in people being human - no matter their celebrity.

Films about filmmakers aren't necessarily bad, but I can't think of one that is particularly appreciated outside filmmaker circles.

Preston Sturges' classic "Sullivan's Travels" (one of my favorite films) is, perhaps, the best film ever made about a filmmaker. But the film isn't really about a filmmaker, it's about a man learning about what it is to be human. Sullivan just happens to be a filmmaker - and that might be why it's the best film about a filmmaker, his career and character serve the larger point of the story. Robert Altman even as goes so far as to examine and comment on "Sullivan's Travels" in another movie about movies called "The Player".

So what's my point? As artists we have a duty to explore humanity. In order to understand the shared experience of the human condition, we must have a broader view of humans than just as filmmakers, or dancers, or writers - and in order to gain that perspective we must spend time with people other than filmmakers, dancers and writers. Just as ideologues who surround themselves with like-minded ideologues, filmmakers surrounded by filmmakers become more and more extreme. As we concentrate our experience and purify our singular identities - we distance ourselves from humanity.

Hopefully your drive and focus won't blind you to the greater, human experience. If you can maintain your human perspective and communicate it honestly through your work, humans will respond.