DEATH MATCH - Shakespeare vs. You

Sure... When I was a little boy, I heard about Shakespeare. Who has not? School teachers and book-wyrms everywhere hail him as the greatest of the greats. Shakespeare wrote the BIG ONES (You know, the ones we are forced to read in school, OR ELSE) -- Romeo & Juliet, Hamlet, Macbeth, Julius Ceasar, King Lear, A Midsummer Night's Dream... So, how did he do it? Why did he do it? Can it be done again... by us?

When I was little I just assumed that the greats like Shakespeare were some sort of living god that pulled their ideas out of thin air. When I was in school, no one ever asked the important questions: WHY & HOW? If you are a creative person too, then these are VERY important questions-- and it just so happens, today I am bringing you the answers.

I saw a documentary on Shakespeare last night and it opened my eyes. It is on Netflix now, and if you are the sort that can stay awake through that sort of thing, I highly recommend it. While I love shows like Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead, and Doctor Who... I have been more and more fascinated with the REAL LIFE things that inspired most of our favorite parts of them. Take Game of Thrones for example... (very vague safe-spoilers in this paragraph only) The famous scene at the Night's watch was a direct rip off of from Julius Caesar where the senate stabs Caeser to death including the final blow from the young Brutas "et tu, Brutas?" Almost everything in our fantasy is based on something in real life. So where did Shakespeare get his stuff from?

Surprise... Shakespeare stole all his ideas from other plays, books, and real life too! In his early childhood he saw plays... plays of the very same plays he would go on to re-write as his own. The most shocking part is many of his plays were inspired from a single large book! He was not alone either, he had a lot of help. Most people would probably not talk about Shakespeare doing it for the money... but he was certainly not poor. In fact, he was one of the owners of the theater. Sort of like owning his own movie studio. I think many people view him as unique and alone... but I would offer up a parallel between him and JJ Abrams and Michael Bay. Re-telling already famous stories in a new way, making them more exciting, and more interesting. (At least Shakespeare did not put teeth on any of the turtles in his plays.) I wonder what the credits list for Shakespears plays were like? (Did those have those hidden bonus things at the end?)

If you are a creative person, there is something important for you to take away from this. While Shakespeare was awesome, he was not doing anything that we could not also do. The creative process he used is the same one that great movie makers, and great video game makers, and book writers are using right now. So we can apply everything we know, love and feel into our own masterpieces-- until one day someone comes along to tell us we were the legendary greats who made the next BIG ONES.

There was an undead invasion scene in the movie Army of Darkness that deeply inspired me. You may have heard me talk about it before. I wanted to be there so bad... fighting those skeletal knights. I can still close my eyes and feel the cool air, stench of death, and battle cries as I hold a heavy sword in my hands on the battlefield there. This scene has been a muse that I have attempted to create in almost all of our games. Just like Shakespeare, I am inspired by all of the things I have watched, read, heard, and even the newest popular things coming soon. 

So to all of my creative friends, I offer you this.

Someone: "It has all been done before!"
Artix: "Actually, it was all done before the ones you are referencing did it too!"
Someone: "What!?"
Artix: "We live in a continuously evolving line of creativity... it is not whether or not it has been done before, it is whether you can make it fresh, new and take it to an interesting new level."
Someone: "But how can I compete with all the super famous things that came before?"
Artix: "Just follow your heart and make what you love... and it will happen. One day, someone else will be wondering how in the world they will ever compete with the great thing that you had made."

P.S. Shakespeare is still awesome! 

 

 

 

 

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