Is Everything Derivative?
“Creation requires influence.”
Melancholy. That isn't something I normally feel. Nor is it a state in which I find myself even rarely if at all. In fact, I probably err on the side of optimism and positivity - almost to a fault. A healthy dose of realism does me good from time to time. But I digress. There is at least one event that I still remember where I felt melancholic.
It was when I learned about the genius and inspiration behind Star Wars.
Like many people do (and like everyone should, at least in part), I appreciate the Star Wars universe George Lucas created in his set of trilogies. (Yes, I even like the prequels trilogy with the exception of Jar Jar. Oh well, no universe is perfect...) I like the characters, the story, the visual effects, the care to details, and the novel application of technology. In my opinion, they remain a unique and different type of sci-fi genre and have really changed the direction of Hollywood, even to this present day.
However, the question can be asked: was the galaxy adventure story inevitable? Was someone going to come along and eventually make these types of movies? A few years or a decade later?
Well, yes and no.
Starting as a young boy, with my R2-D2 pillowcase, I would come across various Star Wars references. Star Wars topics would come up naturally in my conversations at school and on the playground. Over the years, these references came up through discussions with friends and reading articles on the quickly expanding Internet in the ‘90s. The older I grew, the more interesting these findings became to me; specifically, the modeling and technical details of the movies’ complex fight sequences, various behind the scenes’ facts, and the complete failure of the Star Wars Christmas Special.
Much later in life, my world collapsed when I watched Kirby Ferguson’s short documentary series, “Everything is a Remix” presented in four different parts. Ferguson considers a variety of creative arts and shares compelling evidence of how popular bands, famous movies, and other artists borrow, or perhaps even straight-up steal, from past musicians, filmmakers, and artists. Star Wars is among them...
To create Star Wars, George Lucas borrowed heavily from Dune, Flash Gordon, and not surprisingly, Star Trek. And those are only the beginning…
At first, I felt a little down with this discovery. For some reason, any new development (not just in Star Wars) seemed to be just that: Not new. For a short time, I lost all respect for any advancement, claiming to be new. Was any idea truly novel? Is everything derivative? Can one ever come up with something independent of anyone or anything else?
Ultimately, it was a sign of my immaturity regarding how the creative process works. As a young boy, I wanted the Star Wars Galaxy to simply exist and all Lucas had to do was document it. If Lucas had to design it, it seemed less real.
But designed it he did and the output is amazing. So, what was my problem?
Well, I think it was a false belief that great things start out as great, that value can simply appear without blood, sweat, and tears…and a host of other platitudes that we print on inspirational posters to keep us going.
We call some product or technology “transformative” but we don't see the years of slow, methodical progress in lonely cubicles and on initially blank screens. We don't observe the evolutionary experimentation, the trial and errors, and the recombination of past ideas.
But by necessity, those ideas must come from somewhere, and they often come from cultures, experiences, and others - “Creation requires influence” (Ferguson). Indubitably people were thinking about space travel in the mid-1900s, so Lucas or someone else was going to take the leap and bring those concepts and elements to the big screen. Lucas was simply the first to do it well. The rest of us, and perhaps Lucas too, may not remember the catalysts that led to the final product. But if we find them, we shouldn't be surprised or disappointed. Especially since we didn't observe every waking hour of what he thought, heard, and saw that led up to Star Wars. Even the gifted writer, Hellen Keller, who was blind and deaf, was once embarrassed for writing a story she thought was her own but was later revealed to be one that had been read to her on her hand through touch.
So, everything is a remix, and everything is derivative, but that doesn't mean it's the same thing. A derivative is not the same as its parent.
Therefore, don't feel badly drawing heavily upon others’ ideas like I initially felt with Lucas. Cite whenever it’s appropriate, give credit where it's due, and be honest as much as possible, but… don't resist building upon the shoulders of giants. After all, those same giants built on the shoulders of giants too.
