Elf Blood

Since this is the internet, and I have a generally good grasp of Elf Blood’s general audience, I’m sure that many of you are familiar with the nominally-childrens’ cartoon Adventure Time. Note the use of the word ‘nominally’ there, as Adventure Time has proven extremely popular with a wide range of ages, from high school students to grown, mature professionals.

Why is a weird show like Adventure Time so popular? I’ll tell you why: It unleashes the child within us again, by forging a world both fantastical and familiar to anyone who has spent time in an imaginary world in their early years; A group that, I hope, should include EVERYONE. In this world, anything can happen, and everything works out for the best with an action-packed scrap or two along the way with a cast of bizarre and endearing characters. Is this not what we used to do when we were younger and more fun? It’s such an appealing thing to us, as students and working adults, to be reminded of a time when we didn’t have so much to worry about. When nobody depended on us, and all we had to do was spend a few hours a day learning and the rest playing or sleeping or eating.

Wait, isn’t that what I do? No, not the spending all my day sleeping and eating. Not sleeping, anyway. Imagining. Don’t I spend most of my free time conjuring up whole new worlds complete with inhabitants, and enacting dramas in my mind as a kind of escapism? Then there’s the other evidence at hand: I still watch cartoons, I still play with lego, I would happily sit and draw all day if somebody let me. I’m hardly the most ‘grown up’ of people. But if you look at a lot of creative people, there is a certain element of this. Hell, the best example I can think of is the Mythbusters. Sure, they don’t tell stories that often, but they’re damn ingenius in the experiments they devise. And there’s something sweet, entertaining and deeply unsettling about the childlike glee that Jamie gets when he destroys something with a high calibre rifle, or the springy, youthful energy Adam exudes when… Well, pretty much all the time. The thing is, though, that this ‘childishness’ if you will serves a purpose. We don’t necessarily CARE about logic, or standards, or social norms. If it results in awesomeness, we’ll do it; surely a much valued tool in creating something truly original.

An intriguing question would be the basic chicken and egg principle (the answer is egg, by the way): Are creative people somewhat child-like by nature, or does getting involved in creative work drive a more child-like attitude? Personally, I reckon it’s something in all of us, but gets developed over time as a natural part of the creative psyche. Perhaps subconsciously we understand that breaking norms and doing things differently, our way, results in better works and we begin repeating this behaviour, honing our creative, boundless instincts and generally not letting other worries get in our way.

I’m hardly apsychiatrist, though. I’m just an inside observer! What d’you guys think? Is it even necessary to retain a kind of child-like love of the bizarre to be a good creator, or even to be a creator at all?

By the way, don’t forget to check out my Twitter feed @ChrisLauManson, and the Elf Blood Facebook Page. I’m actually using them properly now, so drop in and say hi, won’tcha please?

M.