Greg
Bayles
Research
Paper
Dr.
Gideon Burton
6/5/2012
The
Fountainhead of Human Creativity
From
the very genesis of recorded history, mankind has sought to create,
to bring his thoughts into reality and leave his indelible mark upon
the world around him. For some civilizations, that has meant erecting
massive monuments to gods and men; others preserved their ideas and
culture through literature, within epics and songs and the tales of
the past. In the modern, globalized era, however, the rules of
creativity seem to be changing. Especially over the last few decades,
the desire to create has taken on new forms as the Internet and other
digital media resources have revolutionized the realms of thought and
creativity for the world as a whole. Ayn
Rand, in her landmark novel, The
Fountainhead,
investigates the concept of creativity but warns against the
collectivization of creative thought, indicating that in following
after and yielding to the opinions of others, the creator compromises
his virtue of self and betrays his individual creative identity.
However, a
thoughtful study of digital media through the lens of Ayn Rand's The
Fountainhead
clearly reveals the value of independent creativity and unveils
digital media's role in providing a new and living medium through
which creative thought may find expression.
Scholars
seem to be at odds one with another as to the value of independent
creativity and the role of the Internet in stimulating or said
creativity. Doctors Kylie Peppler and Maria Solomou of Indiana State
University, have suggested, “...more
recent scholarship on creativity has recognized the genesis and
development of creative ideas as being part of a broader, socially
determined process (13). Commenting on a blog post by the author,
Peppler added to this idea, stating, “Creativity is really about
learning more about what has been done and posing something new from
your unique vantage point... this goes against the common myth of the
lone artist in our sense of creativity. Rather creativity (like
learning) happens when we're seeing and building off the ideas of
others.” This concept discords sharply with the individualistic
ideas presented in Rand's work, and other modern scholars have
similarly spoken out against this idea of collective creativity. Alan
Kirby, for example, an Oxford professor involved in digital studies,
suggests that globalization and development of social media have
caused much of modern 'creativity' to become “unreal, trite, vapid,
conformist, consumerist, meaningless and brainless.” Interaction
with the masses, he claims, seems to compromise depth and meaning
within the creative process, "mak[ing] the individual's action
the necessary condition of social product" (Hickey). William
Thomas, a Randian scholar associated with the Atlas Society, takes a
different route in his negation of the ideal of collective
creativity: “[T]he
internet has drawn people together and allowed them to live more
independently at the same time... one can often live where one wants,
and work the hours one wants, and do jobs that otherwise wouldn't be
available, but the price is less interaction across the board and
more individual work at an individual pace” (personal
communication, June 2, 2012). Thomas proposes that while perhaps more
interaction is had through the medium of the Internet, creativity
itself is actually isolated and individualized as part of the
process.
It
will be noted, of course that definitions for creativity differ from
person to person. Indeed, as Peppler and Solomou explained, “Central
to a system's view of creativity is the premise of how the extent and
longevity of a community's permutation of new ideas ultimately
defines each idea's value as a creative act” (14). Peppler
and Solomou, in their study of creativity through Quest Atlantis, an
online social learning environment based around the architectural
premises of the The
Fountainhead,
noticed that certain constructive ideas were first realized and then
rapidly disseminated among the users. Based on these findings, they
conjectured that one person's creativity spread abroad is equivalent
to many people expressing creativity simultaneously. Solomou
described the
use of digital media as “a very powerful way of enhancing
creativity,” and advised, “The emergence of ideas and their
development seems to be better enhanced through collaborative
practices rather than merely individual work” (personal
communication, May 23, 2012). While perhaps true that ideas are more
easily disseminated through the Internet and while collaborative
works may find a ready home within the online community, Peppler and
Solomou's conclusions drawn from the Quest Atlantis experience
represent a false paradigm. While users may find expression in
adopting and sharing ideas conceived by others, the process is not
one of direct creation but rather of collective recognition of a
single or small number of creative acts. The words of Shoshana
Milgram Knapp of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
serve as a corollary to this idea. She affirms, “many creative
endeavors require the work of more than one person, but this does not
mean that each of them does not create independently” (personal
communication, May 25, 2012). Rather, each individual component of a
creative endeavor represents the labors and strivings of a single
person or a small group of individuals, and collaborative projects
are simply the summation of these individual efforts.
Ayn
Rand's ideological foundation finds its abode within this
individualistic realm of thought. In
The Fountainhead,
Rand presents the oppositional creative ideologies of Howard Roark
and Peter Keating and in so doing provides a contrast that leads the
reader to understand more fully the value of individual thought and
creation. Expelled from his architectural school for non-adherence to
classical forms and styles, Roark embodies the independent fire of
creativity and innovation and remains, throughout the novel, an
entity unto himself, a brilliant and unapologetic creator. Keating,
on the other hand, plays the game of popularity and people-pleasing,
compromising any sense of personal creativity that might have once
existed within him by simply rehashing the same antiquated styles and
passing off Roark's brilliant designs for his own when a real bit of
innovation is necessary. The differing, almost one-dimensional
characters represent two extremes in relation to people in the online
world – those who use digital media to create and innovate, and
those who, to a lesser or greater degree, use it to recycle the same
old memes and ideas, passing them off as their own in the pursuit of
the ever-elusive “Likes” and +1's (Fand 488). Steven Mallory, a
somewhat minor character in The Fountainhead,
recognizes at one point the sad state of those who embrace this
latter, attention-hungry and fickle creative ideal, stating that in
following after it they “...kill
some part of themselves. They change, they deny, they contradict–and
they call it growth. At the end there’s nothing left, nothing
unrevered or unbetrayed; as if there had never been any entity, only
a succession of adjectives fading in and out on an unformed mass”
(___). Rand's views on
the matter are, perhaps, too stark, too black-and-white, for the vast
majority of people, but her general concept holds a sure beauty and a
certain truth: a person may, by virtue of his own integrity and
dedication, come to discover his own creative identity and make a
gift to humanity through the works that he brings to life (Young).
If, as author Joyce
Carol Oates writes, art constitutes “... a genuinely transcendental
function—a means by which we rise out of limited, parochial states
of mind,” a person, though perhaps inspired by the creators whom he
emulates, will
not be able to fully discover his creative potential until he steps
beyond his fears and his notions of second-hand creativity.
Some
perceive this idea of personal aspiration and discovery in creation
to be foolishness, painting the independent creator as a creature of
the past, a dying breed. Tennessee State University's James
Montmarquet, on the other hand, declares the need to reclaim the
independent creative ideal. In his article, “Prometheus: Rand's
Epic of Creation,” Montmarquet describes the state of the
so-called 'Promethean creator' as that of an “endangered species,”
a being that because of the pressures of conformity and orthodoxy
placed upon him, trembles on the brink of extinction. Digital media,
however, offers a new promise and a haven. If there remains a hope
for the Promethean or Roarkian creator, if there is to be new life
for the independent creative ideal, then it courses through the veins
of digital media. Indeed, the Internet, in rekindling the dying
embers of creativity and original thought, has become a veritable
fountainhead of creative expression, a well of living water to quench
creation's thirst.
For
Howard Roark, granite was not just
granite. It was a medium and a muse, a block from which could be hewn
great, triumphant walls or delicate, airy sculptures. He viewed the
terrain, the resources, the space as living, and armed with this
perspective, he sought to incorporate into his work the integrity of
each of these elements. For
the modern creator, however, the Internet is the new and living
medium through which creativity finds its expression.
Digital media stretches the mind, frees people from the limiting
confines of their immediate environs, opens the way to a world
unknown and almost magical in its possibilities. Roark remarked, “I
thought of the potentialities of our modern world. The new materials,
the means, the chances to take and use. There are so many products of
man's genius around us today. There are such great possibilities”
(E-book 466). The digital world supplies
creators with a means whereby to discover and share their creative
ideal. Joseph
Tabenkin, a young and aspiring musician and Rand enthusiast, uses
Youtube and other social media sites to promote his band's music and
has been able to use his experiences with social media to begin an
actual career in music. Audrey Mereu, another Youtube user, shared
her journey through The Fountainhead
in the form of a video book review: “The
Fountainhead was the first book that truly inspired me to define the
morals I want to live by.” In some sense, digital media can serve,
as did The
Fountainhead for
Audrey, as a tool in the self-actualization of creators.
Some will find their voice in making and posting videos online;
others will take up blogging and uncover a whole new world of
expression and thought. Yet others will discover a sense of wonder
and imagination in online photo galleries and 3D environments. The
world of digital media, however, is not just a filing cabinet,
apathetic towards its contents and unconcerned with whom contributes
or what they have to say but is rather a living, breathing organism
that grows and changes and finds life in the contributions of
millions and millions of independent creators from all around the
world. The call of the creator, then, is to express, however
clumsily, the yearnings and trepidations of the human soul, to
capture in words or music or images an emotion, a thought, a
realization. (Add something here to tie back into main thesis)
As
a creative medium, the Internet and other digital media resources
serve as both a source of inspiration and a means whereby creativity
can be shared. Creative expression itself represents only a small
portion of the creative process, and as such, the Internet holds
inestimable value in its potential to expose creators to new ideas
and to contribute to the formation of their respective creative
identities (Graham Wallas, Art of Thought).
With the knowledge and wisdom of the ages at the click of a mouse
button, creators, now more than ever, can find inspiration in the
muses of modern media. Emily Coleman, a student studying digital
literacy at Brigham Young University, echoed this sentiment, stating,
“there
are countless people who never would have dreamed of creating
anything except that they saw someone else do it... [T]he Internet is
a source of inspiration, if not the actual creativity itself.”
Digital media resources do not, in themselves, cause
people to become more or less creative. There is no magical link that
upon clicking makes people suddenly burst forth in song or pen a line
that captures the enigma of the human soul. Nor is there a website
that instantly drains a person of all sense of creative vision and
compels him/her to post pictures of cats with misspelled subtitles.
Rather, the Internet gives mankind the ability to enact his creative
visions by providing access to both the resources and audiences
necessary to realize his specific creative endeavors. “[M]achines
will be common to a free and an unfree society,” to one fed by or
starved of creation's lifeblood (James Montmarqet, personal
communication, May 25, 2012). “If, then, a difference emerges, by
her lights, it must be something that an individual, or perhaps
collection of individuals do, by way of using the machines for
creative purposes.” (Add something here to tie back in)
Some
argue that the Internet and, more particularly, social media detract
from the creative spirit, founding their argument upon the 'rehash
and recycle' culture that has evolved on social media sites like
Myspace and Facebook. The Internet, however, is not at conflict with
creativity and rather serves as a medium, like stone or paint, that
can be used to bring life to an idea or an emotion (Sorensen).
One Facebook user, Stella Knickerson, expressed her thoughts on the
matter, stating that, "New
technologies have no power to change who people are at the core. If
you could somehow objectively measure pure 'creativity,' I don't
think the internet would change what's inside of people."
Indeed, the modern
creator must look to his/her inner creative vision in determining how
he/she will make use of digital media's potential, as did Howard
Roark:
He
looked at the granite. To be cut, he thought, and made into walls. He
looked at a tree. To be split and made into rafters. He looked at a
streak of rust on the stone and thought of iron ore under the ground.
To be melted and to emerge as girders against the sky... These rocks,
he thought, are here for me; waiting for the drill, the dynamite and
my voice; waiting to be split, ripped, pounded, reborn; waiting for
the shape my hands will give them (4).
Digital
culture has spawned all sorts of new media through which creators and
innovators are able to develop and share their ideas. Recent years,
for example have seen the birth of Minecraft, an online 'block world'
wherein players extract resource blocks and from them are able to
construct basically anything that they can imagine. One user
captivated Rand enthusiasts in crafting a true-to-form, block replica
of Atlas, the namesake of Rand's paramount work, Atlas
Shrugged.
Similar re-adaptations to different media are broadening the scope of
creativity and expanding digital society's ability to experience
ideas through various forms of art and creativity. It is, of course, not so much about novelty for the sake of novelty
as it is about both recognizing the things that digital media can do
for creativity and learning to make maximum use of these advantages
(Fand
489).
As Adam Sorensen, a student in digital literacy, stated, “[T]he
creator takes the spark that is already there and uses digital media
as one of his mediums , just as an architect uses many different
materials. The person already has the creative spark, but... digital
media allows them to amplify that spark and disseminate its effects
across the world."
To
a certain extent, the use of digital media itself represents a
departure from the doldrums of conformity and creative stagnation.
The
way of the modern philosopher, of the thinker, of the dreamer, of the
revolutionary lies not in dusty tomes in dustier libraries but in the
living, breathing atmosphere of the now, in the coursing, pulsating
vitality of modern media, of innovation, of change. In The
Fountainhead,
Ayn Rand
champions the value of individual creation, encouraging her readers
to break away from stale and unfeeling orthodoxy in creating, to be
true to one's own personal vision in denying the structured
arbitrariness of conventional thought. She gives the reader the
larger-than life characters of Howard Roark and other creators as a
far-off ideal, a goal to which man might aspire. Algis Valiunas, a
Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, carried on this idea:
These
great figures are meant to inspire readers to go out and do likewise.
When an unnamed young man with sublime but indefinite longings sees a
summer resort designed by Howard Roark, he feels a strength that will
sustain him in his ambition to realize his vision, whatever that may
be. “Don't work for my happiness, my brothers – show me yours –
show me that it is possible – show me your achievement – and the
knowledge will give me the courage for mine.” Rand wants to send
tremors of possibility through her readership (62).
Ultimately,
creativity is a manifestation of the human soul and intellect, and
the Internet acts as a facilitator of that creativity, a vehicle
through which the creator can make infuse personality and soul and
life into his work. The ideas of others will, of course, serve their
purpose in shaping a creator's ideas, but the creator must find
within himself and within the world about him, within the sea of
digital media and whatever is to follow, the courage, integrity, and
confidence to go forward with his labors and bring the spark of
creation to the world.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Randomness
to potentially incorporate
The
value of the Internet and digital media in the creative process is
perhaps best summarized with the simple affirmation of an online
blogger:
"[m]y voice matters" (Anderson, personal communication, May
22, 2012). The
best thing about creation is that voice of humanity within it.
Creation is great not because of the end product but because it
captures a little piece of the human soul and causes one to realize
himself a little bit better than he previously might have.
I
have felt a little bit like Michelangelo inserting Charon into the
Last Judgment
“Why
is truth made a mere matter of arithmetic--and only of addition at
that?”
...each
individaul must discover the truth and come to his own existential
self-realization (Powell 64)
Something
inherent within us all. I don't think anyone can teach the kind of
creativity that a child exhibits, and I feel like people trick
themselves out of their creativity and their imaginations as they get
older and start to care more about what other people think.
realizing
our individual creative ideals
“he
wanted to stop, to lean back, to feel the reality of his person
heightened by the frame of steel that rose dimly about the bright,
outstanding existence of his body as its center.” [Creative
endeavors as an extension of the person]
He
studied Roark and the house with the same meticulous scrutiny; he
felt as if he could not quite tell them apart.
Birchbark
letter – captures a very personal aspect of modern-day life rather
than just big events
Roark's
problematic clients insist upon big, fancy facades, with useless
collonades and superfluous ornamentation --> digital extensions of
the ostentatious facades proliferated in Classical architecture.
Everyone
has their own destiny, their own calling in life, and it's up to us
to discover it and then bring it into reality.
Societies
are created from the minds of individual men. In quoting Nietzsche,
“...In the final analysis one experiences only oneself” (Thus
Spoke Zarathustra 173) (Powell 64)
"[t]he
architecture of the mind" (Cashman)
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