Do you find this cartoon funny?
Do you know the single powerful element that makes it funny?
And what makes one person creative and the other, um, not so-creative?
It’s the understanding of disconnection.
It’s the understanding of talent.
And creativity.
Talent is the combination of many emotions, memories, patterns and repetitions, implemented at high speed.
So what’s creativity?
Creativity, is simply ‘talent’ + ‘disconnected objects.’
So what is the meaning of the term ‘disconnected objects?’
When two objects or situations aren’t related, and force-fitted together, they form something we call ‘creative.’
To explain ‘creativity,’ we actually have to put in a few examples. And let’s take those examples from cartooning for instance.
Cartooning is ‘supposed to be’ a highly creative ability (yeah right)!
If you could take a movie of a cartoonist’s brain in ultra-slow motion, here’s what you’d see. You’d see the combination of many emotions, memories, patterns and repetitions. And the you’d see how that cartoonist was drawing a cartoon that’s super-funny.
So what made the cartoon super-funny?
They took a regular situation. And disconnected it.
Example 1: On Air-New Zealand we have the Koru Hour. The Koru Hour is when you actually get served cheese, grapes and wine on your flight at no extra cost. Well, so what’s so funny about an air-hostess serving cheese and wine?
There’s nothing funny.
Yet, if we changed that plane into a canoe. And an air-hostess like person was serving cheese, grapes and wine as everyone paddled. Now that’s funny.
Example 2:
Imagine a person saying in the Arctic, fully bundled up with warm clothing, saying: “I don’t care what they say. I feel cold.”
That’s not funny is it?
Now imagine Mamma Polar Bear and Baby Polar Bear in the Arctic. And baby polar bear is saying: “I don’t care what they say. I feel cold.”
Instantly, the image brings a smile to your face, doesn’t it?
Example 3:
When a person leaves a relationship, they often say: “You’ll never find another person like me.” And they storm out.
(Ok, so that is anything but funny).
So let’s tweak that situation a bit. Let’s say a comedian is reciting the same thing. Here’s what the comedian would say: “I hope I never find another like you. I mean you don’t get out of a bad relationship expecting to find another exactly like the person who’s left do you? You actually hope you don’t find another like her. Man, that would be tough on you. Having back to back trouble. You get out of a relationship, because you think it’s bad, don’t you? You don’t get out of a relationship saying: “Hey do you have a twin?”
So let’s analyse what made that funny
Oh, we covered that at the top, didn’t we?
What made the cartoons and the gag funny was a single element in each case.
In Example 1: We changed the plane to the canoe.
In Example 2: We changed the freezing person to a freezing polar bear.
In Example 3: We took a standard, stock statement, and put in a disconnected person like a ‘twin.’
In every instance, what stamped a factor of creativity, was simply one disconnection.
When every black singer was singing soul back in the 60’s it wasn’t considered creative. When Elvis Presley started singing soul, it suddenly became creative. When you write a term like “he fell to the carpet,” it isn’t considered creative. When you write “The carpet rushed up to meet the falling man,” it becomes creative.
You want the definition of creativity?
There it is: The definition of talent + Disconnection.
A to-do list isn’t funny.
Thinking about a to-do list when fighting a dragon, is um, creative. 🙂
That’s all there is to it.
Sean,
You said “So what’s creativity?
Creativity, is simply ‘talent’ + ‘disconnected objects.’”
I think you are missing one more part. And that is the ability to see it and put them together.
A musician improvising on a piece of music, may have talent, and can take any note and play it against a chord. The notes are disconnected, but the musician must see in their minds eye (or actually hear in their minds inner ear), the better notes to use that will express what they are attempting to express. Otherwise you may end up playing lot’s of C#’s against a C major chord and get a lot of dissonance done not on purpose.
Or say with the cartoon you have at the top of the page. You can twist the cartoon and the thought together. But you have to see it… like Gary Larson does in his “Far Side” cartoons. He sees the concept no matter how twisted and puts those disconnected parts together in ways others simply have not thought about… of could not do.
Excellent post Sean.
Have you read the book: The Medici Effect? It leads to a similar conclusion on how to be more innovative and creative.
“When you step into an intersection of fields, disciplines and cultures, you combine existing concepts into a large number of extraordinary new ideas! Innovations and creativity flourishes at the intersections.” – Frans Johansson (The Medici Effect)
No I haven’t, but hey, that’s my prompt, eh?
Let’s take your answers step by step.
1) The question about ‘seeing’ is a factor of pattern recognition. I’ll get to that shortly, and in great detail, in posts to come. It’s not talent. It’s just recognition of patterns, and playing them back at high speed.
2) No doubt Gary Larson can see the concept to create the Far Side. But you’re assuming you cannot. Now that’s a big assumption to make, and it’s not because of a lack of talent. I can prove that anyone can not only draw as well as, or better than Gary Larson, but write gags as well as, or better than Gary Larson. And do so in less than a day? Would that suffice to prove that cartoonists are not born talented—but actually work out patterns instead?
Nice post, Sean.
And building on the concept, I really think there are things we can do to cultivate disconnection.
Foster disconnection, and all of a sudden, we make new connections more readily. New patterns emerge, and light bulbs go off. Creativity.
Think:
-Having the “aha moment” in the shower or bath tub
-Applying something commonplace in one industry to a completely new industry
-Solving problems with people that have dramatically different points of view
-Asking powerful questions that are designed to “disconnect” deeply rooted assumptions
-Consciously creating parameters to paint yourself in a corner to disconnect from old assumptions
All of these are some ways to facilitate disconnection, so that new connections can emerge.
And from a neurobiological perspective, this is exactly what happens between neurons…disconnect and reconnect. 🙂
Very interesting.
Love Manoj’s ‘cultivating disconnection’ build on.
We call that ‘pattern interruptus’, but I like the idea of cultivating.