Chapter 5
Rainn Wilson did an interview with Joseph Gordon Levitt through his YouTube series Metaphysical Milkshake. In the interview, the two discussed whether or not there are unoriginal ideas. Levitt's response? That either every idea is original, or every idea is unoriginal- the spawn of other unoriginal ideas. The bucket of eels. Levitt's logic is this: every idea is original in the sense that no one in all of eternity has ever presented an idea the exact way that you present it. For example, Sacajawea lady, Sarkin Aung Wan. She was like Sacajawea in that she was a stranger, brown, and leading white men where they needed to go. But Sarkin Aung Wan would not have survived as a character if she was not original. Sacajawea: Take 2. The idea was borrowed, but original in that she was a completely new projection of the idea. Outlook #2, that every idea is unoriginal? Levitt backs up that claim by explaining that every new thing is a conglomeration or a remix of something that came before it. From this idea, Joseph Gordon Levitt started a website called hitrecord.org to which the actor began by uploading self-made videos. From there, the site took off. hitrecord.org is all about collaboration- users are given free license to remake or add on to whatever they would like, as well as the opportunity to upload their own creations for others to branch off from. Levitt gives an example: one person uploads a short story, then another adds a voiceover. After that, who knows. Someone else may make a short film using the script and voiceover. Levitt has been running the website now for 4 years, turning it into a real, respected production company.
The author of How to Read Literature Like a Professor, Thomas C. Foster, mentions that there are many facets used to compose a personal story. "childhood experiences, past reading, every movie the creator has ever seen, last week's argument with a phone solicitor." While reading this line, I was reminded of a quote in Mr. Davison's room of which the theme is that an author/writer is nothing without his or her experience. To the professor of literature, or to the student who is learning to read like one, many literary works from the past are included in that category. Foster is just explaining a phenomenon that people have been noticing for a very long time- and teaching us not only how to recognize unoriginality, but how to appreciate it as well.
Just in that while reading this chapter I was reminded of multiple different similarly-structured ideas proves that ideas are derivative of other ideas and that no idea is truly original. But while the barrel of eels is growing, each eel must create its own path. The little glimmer of originality will never die out.
