The video of Neil Gaiman giving a speech is a very interesting video. It is of him presenting a speech to a bunch of graduating students. The main idea of his speech is about art and a little bit of his life story. His speech was funny and inspiring and it was really well presented. He explains to the graduates that it is okay to make mistakes, it is okay to have no idea what you're doing. One thing that really stuck out to me in his speech is that it is okay to fail. You are not a failure if you fail at doing something.
"A freelance life, a life in the arts, is sometimes like putting messages in bottles, on a desert island, and hoping that someone will find one of your bottles and open it and read it, and put something in a bottle that will wash its way back to you: appreciation, or a commission, or money, or love. And you have to accept that you may put out a hundred things for every bottle that winds up coming back." - Neil Gaiman
Something he kept repeating was "make good art, in bad times and in good times, make good art". This saying describes that you should make art if you're feeling down or happy. "Make good art, in good times and bad times" because art is about expressing one's feelings and emotions. When there is a meaning for why you are creating art then that is when the best art is made.
Why do you think the idea of failure stuck out to you? I really like this: "You are not a failure if you fail at doing something", but why does this seem like such a revelation to us? When we were all younger, it was ok to try something over and over again (talking, walking, making art). We weren't expected to be perfect -- we enjoyed the process and we were getting better. Do we have different expectations of ourselves now? Why the need to appear perfect instead of just getting better?
ReplyDeleteWhat are your thoughts?