Aint that the truth.
Throughout his article, Aronson tackles what pushes screenwriters, and indeed any media professional, to create cliched or erratically unusual works. In order to do so, Aronson employs the theories of Edward De Bono. De Bono's theories address that of thinking. On one hand there is vertical thinking - the kind of step by step, logical thinking that results in right or wrong answers. On the other, lateral thinking - a general, associational and personal form of consciousness that generates ideas and answers regardless of their quality.
Aronson advocates that an answer can be found to his topic by considering each facet of these two types of thinking (ironically, this conclusion is achieved through vertical thinking).
The author suggests that cliched works are that of the vertical mind. Whereby one calls upon experience and social and traditional knowledge of events, characters, places etc. in order to create a work, leading to a rehashing of old norms and resulting in a cliched end result.
On the other end of the spectrum, Aronson states that over the top and unguided pieces of artistry only come into existence when one lets their lateral thinking mind on the loose.
Thus, the author champions a combination of the two, for 'great things happen' when they are 'mixed in the right quantity'. Furthermore, Aronson highlights a link between vertical thinking as 'real' and lateral thinking as 'unusual' and that it is only the best films that find the balance between the two.
A bit confusing huh? Well, Aronson makes use of an analogy to better explain his contention.
Script writing is like a car. In order to 'drive a script forward', you use the accelerator (lateral thinking) to give the script originality, and the brake (vertical thinking) to keep the script in check and its credibility in tact. Otherwise, you'll end up over a cliff from over acceleration. Too little and you won't be going anywhere.
What an insightful man..
No comments:
Post a Comment