Original ideas hold a lot of weight in our culture. As creatives we are pushed to create never before seen content. <\/strong>Government reinforces this with copyright protection. And while this protection is valuable in keeping your intellectual and artistic property protected, could it also contribute to the hindering of creative innovation?<\/p>\n In the following article we will examine if completely original artwork is even possible – and why the focus should be placed on creating innovative<\/em> work. We’ll examine a few films who pull influence directly from other films and expanded on their techniques\/ideas…in some cases making them even better.<\/p>\n \u201cGood artists copy, great artists steal.\u201d – Pablo Picasso<\/em><\/p>\n We learn by copying. From our infancy we learn to do basic life skills by mimicking those around us. For example, language isn\u2019t something we just learn one day. We copy the sounds used by others because the words hold meaning to those hearing them. Without a common language we would all be speaking without mutual understanding thus making it impossible to transfer ideas or innovate in any way (i.e. Tower of Babel<\/a>)<\/p>\n Language however is more than just the words we speak. As artists we speak to the world through recognized\u00a0mediums <\/strong>(film, paint, instruments)\u00a0and styles<\/strong>.\u00a0Just as a baby learns to use certain words when they are hungry or tired, artists select certain mediums to convey ideas to the outside world through their work.<\/p>\n As we stated before, our society places a huge emphasis on being wholly creative, while at the same time rewarding artwork that resonates with that society. This harsh double standard<\/strong> impedes innovation by forcing many artists to focus more on creating original artwork than creating meaningful artwork.<\/p>\n Let’s take a look at the insanely popular Star Wars franchise…Star Wars<\/strong> was a combination of dozens of previous ideas and common story arcs but it has arguably changed American culture more than any film in the last 50 years. Why? Because George Lucas knew that the secret to success was innovation, not necessarily originality.<\/p>\n Lucas expertly combined well known film conventions (shots, character types, story structures, etc) in a unique way. The following video by Kirby Ferguson expertly articulates this point:<\/p>\nHow We Learn<\/h2>\n