Disney's The Princess and the Frog is an important film

I like this film, it has a lot of problems, but I think it's an important film and I was reminded of that today while driving to school. NPR was doing a segment on an entrepreneurship class for young girls ages 5 to 8. Seems like a weird thing to teach at such a young age, but if you think about it, this is probably the perfect time. We live in a world where young girls are discouraged from pursuing careers in which they fill roles of leadership, and this idea gets put into their heads at a young age as well. They interviewed one of the girls who took the class and she listed off a couple of ideas she had for businesses that you would expect out of a 5 year old, but she also said some things that you wouldn't. One of them being just because someone tells you that your idea or dream won't work doesn't mean it's true. She went on to say that as long as you believe in yourself and work hard you can make your goals a reality. Not in so many words, but that was what she was getting at in five year old speak. She also mentioned that she wanted to open a beignet shop because she saw Tiana achieve her dream in The Princess and the Frog and that Tiana is one of her heroines and that just made me really happy. Despite the many flaws of this movie it's message is very powerful and something very important for young children, and young girls in particular to hear. You have to believe in yourself, you have to work hard, and you can't let anybody keep you down. Because of the strong message of this movie I will always defend it especially when you think about the audience it reaches. There are plenty of great indie films out there aimed at children and they are wonderful and important, but the reason we criticize the likes of Disney, Dreamworks, Blue Sky, etc. so harshly is because they are going to be what is seen by the majority of movie going children and they are the ones that are going to have the greatest impact. I don't want to get into a full on analysis of this movie or children's entertainment as a whole, but I thought this minor point warranted a bit of discussion.

Consumption of narrative is good for your soul

Piggybacking off the topic of my last blog post, I have a little bit more to add to the subject. I realized that it wasn't so much video games and Youtube videos as mediums that were sapping my creative energy, but more so the content of the games I was playing, and the things I was watching. In general games have little to no narrative present, and whatever they do have tends to just be a call to action to get the game play flowing properly. This is not a bad thing, games are so versatile that they can work well in many different formats. Conversely there are many games with astoundingly good narratives that allow for an experience that cannot be replicated with any other medium, The Last of Us being a prime example and a personal favorite of mine. What I'm getting at here is that when I chose to lay off books and movies, and instead chose to indulge in video games with no overarching narrative, I was cutting off my consumption of narrative as a whole. Something that I have found to be true for myself is that consumption of narrative is not only entertainment, but nourishment for the creative part of your brain. Ranging from some minute detail in the work of another person to it's over arching theme can jump start something in you that you could have never imagined was there. It is also a motivating force if nothing else, you tend to be more likely to act on your creative idea if you are constantly viewing those of others who have finished what they started and shared it with the world. The "if they can do it, so can I" mentality. To sum things up, if you need motivation or inspiration to get something creative done, consume a lot of things that are creative in similar ways that people have already finished.

Video games are my personal creative kryptonite

It is no secret that I love video games...a lot...probably too much...okay, certainly far too much. Video games are wonderful things that I could spend a series of blog posts praising, but that isn't what I wanted to talk about today. In addition to enjoying video games, I like to spend a good portion of my spare time doing creative things such as drawing, writing, animating and things of that nature. In the past couple of months I have come to a very saddening realization, playing games in moderate to excess sessions (and I tend to do so in excess) leads to, writers block, and a general disinterest in doing things of a creative variety, at least that's how it is for me. The weird thing though is that this doesn't tend to be the case for other forms of entertainment, in fact, it's usually the opposite. I went through a period in the last month or so in which I almost exclusively spent my free time consuming books and films with little to no video games being played. I noticed my appetite for writing came back to me, and toward the end, the same thing occurred with my drawing.

Somewhat tempted to learn a new instrument

I played the alto saxophone for about four years in middle school and part of high school, but I eventually gave it up due to lack of interest. I still have my saxophone and as much as I enjoy it's sound it still doesn't really interest me as something that I would ever want to play again. The sounds are wonderful, but playing anything with a reed doesn't really appeal to me after having done so for a while, it's a lot of work and playing with your mouth can be quite cumbersome at times. After seeing The Wind Rises about a month ago my interest in stringed instruments started going up. I've always liked them, but something about the main theme from the film really got me listening to a lot of stringed music of that nature. I've thought about maybe picking up the violin or viola, but I don't want to jump on that impulse in case it's just kind of a passing curiosity. I have had flitting thoughts of playing something new for a while now, but those just kind of come and go with my mood. If I did pick up something new, I want to be sure I'd stick to it. Not sure where I was going with this, just something to think about I suppose.