There is very little difference between the ridiculous and the ridiculously sublime. Maybe it is so because in truth, actual works of genius cannot be achieved without going crazy at some point. People become true artists when they become so inescapably engrossed in their “art” that they recognise creation as the only work of true substance. To others, they may seem deluded or even insane and to some extent, they are. You have to lose a part of yourself, even if only a small one, to fully imbibe a creative action within you. You can’t merely adopt it; you have to give yourself to it, to the point where it becomes, not just a part of you, but resident in your being itself.
The world has numerous creative art forms and each with its own masters. But movies and cinematic arts are, according to me, more recognized and more inclusive than most creative arts. To create an exceptional movie, it takes not only one or two artists or art forms but a staggering amalgamation of innumerable art forms and creative masters. Any work is turned into a creative art when the person doing it takes up a creatively inquisitive and revolutionary approach to it. When said person realises that how one does a thing doesn’t have to be defined by pre-existing rules and regulations and steps out of the box to create a real work of art, which can disrupt or redefine a social construct to become a part of human legacy and history, is when the artist is truly awakened. A movie which transcends into the artistic, near-spiritual plane has to have an electrifying synergy of writing, directing, acting, music, cinematography, editing, and more recently, even VFX. Together, all these creative arts work to produce a single movie which, if balanced correctly, can bring about a storm of emotions and resonate deeper in the hearts of people than most things in life ever will.
A single remarkable movie is a collection of the creative expression of a multitude of artists. It can even be said that a movie is the most democratic creative art based in the fact that it allows numerous artists to contribute to one project and uplift each others’ work through their individual contributions.
All art is a way to honestly express your feelings, emotions and thoughts. Writers do it through storytelling, painters do it through colours, and musicians do it with mellifluous sounds. A movie does exactly that just in a more visual manner. It is that much more alive. A movie is a visual story, a cinematic expression of human imperfections, as is every other art form.
We are imperfect beings, riddled with pain, confusion and longing. A movie shows these in a visually appealing way. It shows how hard life hits you and how hard you try to fight back. Or you don’t. You let go and see how infinitely meaningless everything is. It shows everything that can be shown. The virtually endless possibilities of being born into the apex species on this planet can perhaps be condensed into the events of the top two hundred movies with the most Oscars. A movie can highlight a single emotion to the degree that you feel it thunderously, almost as if that is the first time you’ve ever been in touch with it. A movie can rattle you, terrify you, depress you, delude you, and disillusion you. It slaps you in the face with the harsh, magnified realities, the facts you choose to ignore and the desires you repress. It can rejuvenate you with a dose of hope and joy or show that a nihilistic way of life is the only one that makes sense. A movie can tell the story of the lives of people who were kinder and acted with more humanity in a single day than most do in their lives. Or it can recount the events of absolutely horrific crimes and injustices, the mere mention of which will send chills down your spine and haunt you to the depths of your soul.
A writer births a raw, profound story filled with brutal angst, delirious joy, unbound pleasures but above all else, the truth. The director shapes it from behind the cameras, turns the words into pictures and actions for the actors to breathe life into. Among all this artistic genius at play, the single quality which makes it, not better but more honest than other occupations, is the ability and freedom to create. People create something brand new, with their words, their thoughts, their actions, their eyes, trickling in even their heart and soul. When all this is poured into an idea, the idea is brought alive. In this process, people get as close as they can to being godlike because they create something new and alive from intellectual chaos.
This is the answer to why creative geniuses are the people most in touch with their human emotions yet the ones farthest away from the forced realities of what it means to be human. They understand that their dreams are too incredible for this world or maybe this world can’t compete with their dreams. Either way, they don’t trap themselves into a façade of a life. They tear away the masks and layers society has all of us build and wear; most of us will die within them. They liberate themselves from the notions that were jammed down their throats since birth. They break the chains and end their imprisonment in the doubts and hesitations of their minds. They create their own worlds, for they know that life is too damn short and uncertain to not live out your dreams.
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