A closet genius.

The general feeling one may experience when watching In the Realms of the Unreal may differ from one person to another. The feelings I felt were very mixed. In some parts the movie made me feel pity for Henry Darger, in other parts it made me feel disgusted. This documentary showed the potential of people that most would consider ordinary, or even quite uninteresting. Nobody knew about the epic that Darger had spent his life working on until, as he said shortly before he died "Its too late now." Darger used his twisted childhood to create an epic that was over 15000 pages long. He painted thousands of paintings illustrating the grotesque, violent, and chilling events that took place "in the realms of the unreal". The most amazing part of Dargers story is that not only did he write and paint it, but he lived it. There were numerous accounts of Henry speaking or arguing to people that he was writing about. To someone that didn't understand what was happening it may have seemed absolutely crazy. However I don't believe the underlying cause was insanity. What was actually happening was that Darger completely immersed himself into the epic that he wrote. Much like an actor will take on a role, and then not break character even when off camera or when they go home. They stay in character until the entire production is done with. It takes a truly creative mind to weave together such a plot as shown in The Realms of the Unreal. Darger used events that took place in his own life, and used these events to drive the plot of his story. Aside from his creation, look at this man as himself. To others he may have seemed different or mentally ill, however I believe that most geniuses in the world aren't fully understood by most people. There are many examples in literature that can compare to Darger. One of which is Viktor Frankenstein, who cut himself off from all family and friends for years, and completely immersed himself in his work until it was completely finished. Darger was like Frankenstein in this sense. They both kept to themselves (other than the few acquaintances Darger acquired) and generally tried to completely immerse themselves in the amazing work that they were creating. Darger wasn't insane, he wasn't crazy, and he certainly wasn't stupid. This was a man that simply had a completely different view of the world that we lived in. He blamed God for the evil in the world, other than blaming the true evil, which is the dark hearts of the men who control this world. He saw children as absolutely pure and all that is good, and longed to be a child once more. He didn't see war as means to an end, he saw war as something that destroyed and made situations worse. This mans art is something everyone should educate themselves on. Much like all great novels I believe there is something different that everyone could take away from his works. Every painting should be appreciated, his style of art was unique, and rightly repetitive. The image of the girl being strangled was duplicated over and over, there's no reason this should be viewed as lazy or un-creative. Rather, it should be seen as something that was greatly highlighted. The weak being conquered by the strong and the struggles that are caused by overbearing tyrants and rulers. Henry Darger was not a normal man, he was a better man then most.

Humor and being creative

Everybody laughs, and everybody has some sense of humor. John Cleese and many other writers and performers have used humor or satire to get across a serious point. Though satire isn’t always comical, it can have a bit of humor to it. When being creative, it’s great to have a good sense of humor about whatever issue the writer is writing about.

                Humor gets the audience engaged in what the writer is trying to say. Making people laugh makes people happy, so an effective way to address an issue is humor. If a performance has a serious meaning behind it, yet still adds humor it achieves several things. It keeps the show interesting, but it also makes the audience sit back and think about what they just watched. Many TV shows use this strategy to promote political, socio-economical, and moral views. Many popular hot topics in television today may be shown in a way that is indirect, yet still effective. South Park, for example, is a hilarious adult cartoon show. One may only see a group of swearing fourth graders on the screen if the viewer had only watched the show. However, South Park has been known to address many current issues in almost every single episode of the show. Issues such as Immigration laws, legalizing marijuana, gay marriage, abortion, socialized healthcare, world poverty and many more have been greatly highlighted in the course of the series. Even if the show doesn’t come out and directly state “legalize Marijuana!” it pushes the agenda in a humorous fashion that makes the audience think about the issue after the show is over.

                Many times throughout history have great writers used humor to get a point across, or even just to keep an audience engaged. William Shakespeare, for example, used humor in even his darkest tragedies. One such example would be King Lear. Shakespeare highlights on issues such as the monarchy system, abandonment, trust, and family in a very tragic way, yet still adds in the Fool to help lighten up the play every couple scenes. More recently in novels humor has been a bit more direct, as it seems with each generation literature becomes duller and less meaningful. Creativity can be just fine without humor, and there are many examples to show that point. However, John Cleese and many other well humored performers have impacted people’s lives in a very special way. Humor takes creativity to be successful, and successful humor leads people to understand how creative a great writer or performer actually is. 

My first blog

Hello, my name is Quinton Cutler. I am writing this blog for my first year seminar class. I am a Freshman at the University of Mount Union. I like sports; specifically lacrosse, golf, and football. My birthday is November 15th and I'm 18 years old. Below is my own opinion on the definition of creativity.

Quinton Cutler           

4^th September, 2012

Freaks, Geeks, Weirdoes’

Dr. Cordaro

Creativity

            Every human being in the world is unique. Every man and woman has different lives, ideals, and thoughts. Every person has created something at some point in their life. The creation of life is something most people are a part of at some point in their lives. However, the line between creation and creativity is vast.

            In my youth I was greatly intrigued by model airplanes and model cars. I built over one hundred models and still have them all set up in my room back home. I created these models from the parts that came in the box when I bought it. I already knew what the finished product would look like. The creativity aspect was taken out of the equation on my part. Some other person had designed these models and sold them on the shelves. I simply put them together and built what some other person had created. This summer I built a computer. A computer is different than the models, and did require a bit of creativity. I personally picked the parts I wanted for it, and created a machine that no other human in the world possesses a carbon copy of. I believe that when I created my computer I was required to use some creativity. However, there were basic guidelines I had to follow. The first thing was the company I wanted to use. The two companies are AMD and Intel. After choosing an AMD motherboard, I knew my choices for CPU, Graphics Card, RAM, Power Supply, Fans, and the case were all limited to products compatible with AMD motherboards. The only amount of creativity I had was actually envisioning the machine I wanted to create and buying those parts. The actual creation of the computer was similar to the creation of my model airplane and cars that I constructed so many times in my child hood. All the pieces just fit together like they were meant to. Some other person had made the basic guidelines that I followed for building my machine.

            Creativity is unique in the fact that everyone is creative in their own way each and every day. Whether it be the motion of the toothbrush you use every morning and night while brushing your teeth, or creating a new engine for a super car that the world has yet to see. Creativity doesn’t need to be an elaborate compendium of blue prints for a device that will change the world. Creativity doesn’t need to be a great mural painted on the side of a downtown orphanage showing the unity of man in a time of peace. Creativity is simply the creation of something new, a new idea, a song, a novel, a machine, or simply a new way to go to your place of employment to work your usual five to nine job in the morning. Creativity is the tool of a creator, and is a very powerful one at that.