From real life to (succesful) fiction

Subject of inspiration is surrounding us.

Just a few examples taken from Mass Culture icons. TV series and Movies!!

Once upon a time, I read that Marc Cherry , scenarist of the famous show Desperate Housewives had not been so successful in the past as a film writer. With all the competition in the industry, nobody wanted to put his stories on screen, until he found in the Miscellaneous pages of newspaper the inspiration that would finally make him rich (?) and famous (well, not as much as Teri Hatcher, Marcia Cross, Felicity Huffman and Eva Longoria Parker). What did he read that was so inspiring? If I recall correctly it was the story of a commonplace mother who had killed her toddler in a quiet and commonplace American suburbs. That's was the starting point of the stories of desperate housewives in the suburbs...

What about Truman Capote? This writer began famous after writing his non-fiction novel In Cold Blood (1965) inspired by a brief news: the true and dramatic story of the Cutter family shot death in their farm. All this inspired two movies with different approach: the oscar-awarded Capote (2005) and the not so famous Infamous (2006), release one year later.

Well, that's it for tonight. We could add a long list of such real stories that inspired best seller novels or award-winning movies. The main idea is that, what makes the difference is not the story, not the fact, but the way one counts it, the details one enhances or hide, the details which are only suggested, the focus you give to the story.

Mere facts are short of striking. The way you dramatize and direct them is the real question.

Quote of the day!

Just read Toby Jone's Q&A from the Guardian Week End Magazine.

I don't know Toby Jones (born in 1967), and it appears that he plays the role of Truman Capote in a movie called Infamous , released one year after the famous Capote (2005) on the same story.

This is not funny, nor witty, but fairly true.

So, here are my fave Q&As:
Q- If you could edit your past, what would you change?
A- Time spent worrying about the future.

Q-What do you consider your greatest achievement?
A-The last time I had concrete sense of achievement was at school. Everything since has felt like an ongoing process of mistake and discovery.

Q-What is the most important lesson time has taught you?
A- To endeavour to live in the present.

What about Picasso's genious?

It's commonplace to hear people comment on Picasso's paintings swearing that they can't guess why he is such a famous artist and that their children could produce even better pieces of art.
Does that mean that they are not blessed by the artistic vibe or that they cannot detect their offspring's unveiled talent?

Yes, he created Cubism. "So what? Was it is unique talent the art of convincing a mecene, fool enough to believe in his tales?" would you say.

I don't think so.

Reading books about Picasso, you will always find some lines claiming his endeavours to draw like a child. So, where is the truth? where is the true beauty?

Watching his first drafts and drawings, one can tell his skills in drawing and painting. Reproducing images, nuances and colours was definitely one of his gifts.
Now, I have a question for you. Once you know that you can draw anything, whatever you want just as (almost) everybody can see it, can you be satisfied? Don't you want to add your personal touch? To show how you see it, how you can see it? or just play with the codes and rules of what is art? It's like adding more or less salt in a recipe. Isn't it?

Picasso's genius is more about its creativity in art, its research in volumes, representations, mixing textures, mixing feeling also, than about aesthetics. The development of its art beyond drawings, painting to sculptures like Picasso's goat or impertinent collages is simply the demonstration of his appetite for creation, trying to put things up side down, to change perspectives to creation. Everything but not following a path.