Volitional Science

In an earlier article I talked about Clarke-Willson's law: All Creativity is Derivative.

Here is an example of an interesting derivation.

George Lucas, tiring of coming up with names for his fantasy creations, started taking existing names and then dropping a few letters from them.

Some of these are on purpose - for instance, Luke Skywalker as an alter-ego for George Lucas. Some are just names made up to populate the Star Wars universe. Tatooine is derived from the name of the actual place in Tunisia ("Tatouine") where many of the desert scenes were shot.

I know the answer to where Anakin Skywalker got his name.

Anakin Skywalker is named after Ken Annakin, director of many Disney family films such as The Swiss Family Robinson, and many other romantic and adventurous films.

It was one thing when I saw Ken Annakin's name come up in the opening credits while watching Swiss Family Robinson. I thought, "Hey, look, that guy's name is just like Anakin Skywalker but with an extra 'n'. I wonder if George Lucas was inspired by that name?"

Later, in the final battle scene of the movie, I was convinced of it.

In the final battle scene of Swiss Family Robinson you'll see shots that are almost exactly the same as shots in Return of the Jedi. When those little Ewok guys are cutting lumber lose to knock over the chicken-walkers, they are imitating almost exactly what the Swiss Family does to repel the pirates. It was eerie to say the least. Watch the sequence and decide for yourself.

It's made me want to watch more films by Ken Annakin if George Lucas was willing to name the main character of the entire six-ology of films after him. Too bad I haven't got around to it. (With a family I can't keep up on current films let alone start doing too a lot of film archeology.)

Still, I invite you to make your own judgements. Rent Swiss Family Robinson and decide for yourself. Worst case is that you'll watch a great family film and decide that I'm smoking crack. Best case, I'll convince you of the origin of Anakin's name and I'll be a famous Star Wars film archeologist.

One thing I've been waiting to see in the prequel films of Star Wars is an adaptation of the race sequence in Swiss Family Robinson. In the SFR, there is a clever sequence where each of the family members get on various exotic animals (such as an ostrich) and have a race. It's very clever and cute.

It would be perfect for a Star Wars movie to have a sequence like that except on exotic alien animals.

And then I thought of another very cool sequence George could work in. How about an Indiana Jones horse-riding sequence except on exotic alien animals? Obi-wan and Anakin could jump on some kind of weird horse-like creature go up against nasty machines, rather like the sequence in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Sure it's been done before - but lots of film sequences have been done before. The trick is making them fresh and interesting.

Sometimes it's done with humor. For instance, in The Mummy with Brenden Frasier, the wind keeps coming up in little gusts just like in Raiders of the Lost Ark. Finally, Brenden says after one particular gust, "That happens a lot around here." Okay, you had to be there for it to be funny.

I don't know many people (actually, I don't know anyone) who can start with a completely blank sheet of paper and come up with something 100% new. I don't think there is any such person. But you can still make derivative work that is fresh and interesting, and where appropriate, maybe even throw in an "homage" to the original source.

When you're stuck with writer's block, searching for that totally original idea, give yourself a break and look "outside the box" for some inspiration. Make the material your own, as James Cameron says, by filtering it through your own unique sensibilities. Clarke-Willson's law, All Creativity is Derivative doesn't mean you have to steal - it means you have to add value, which you can do by digging down into your soul and putting a new perspective on old material.

Someday, if Galambos' ideas take root, there will be a mechanism whereby you can compensate other writers or creaters that have inspired you. As I write this in the year 2000, it appears that the release of his system for primary property protection (or intellectual property protection) is still five years away, and probably many more years away from implementation, and even more years away from acceptance in the marketplace. In the meantime, keep creating, and when the opportunity arises to give credit to your sources of inspiration, don't hold back.