I had a long, arduous argument with my father this evening about what exactly a "genius" is; what it consists of to be one, what classifies a human being as a genius, etc. The conversation started over George Lucas vs. Ben Franklin (for some reason, I don't really remember why). Now I know that the term "genius" is used very, very liberally. I could (and have) called certain people I know geniuses. Wether it be their originality or their beyond average intellect or maybe the fact that they say phenomenal things or perform said tasks in such ways. The conversation was over originality. George Lucas created something special, something huge, something profitable. George Lucas and"Star Wars" was something that no one ever saw before in their lives (if I could go back in time I would grow up in the 60's and write "Star Wars" before that fucker did.) My father continued to insist that Lucas was a genius, I on the other hand insisted that Lucas was merely someone who created a world that was interesting to a lot of people and because of his creation of the films created a "phenomenon". I then went on to say that Ben Franklin was a TRUE genius. Mr. Franklin created things we use every day. Along with bifocals, he created many musical instruments, along with social inventions: such as the idea of "paying it forward", if you do something nice to someone randomly than that person in which you helped will affect someone else positively and in return they will do something else helpful to a complete stranger (see Pay It Forward!).
Ultimately I was wrong. If you look at the Wiki page it will tell you that according to the terminology, George Lucas is in fact a genius. I will not dispute that. His originality is predominately higher than many filmmakers of today and yesteryear. So I conclude that Mr. Lucas is indeed a genius and not a seriously talented nerd who incorporates Greek and Roman Mythology into his films to create a whole world of commercial shit from Burger King toys to pictures of Darth Vader on Sun Chips bags.
Genius
Disclaimer: Wikipedia.com is not the most scholarly refernce on the internet, however, I find it quite ueseful.
5 comments:
Star Wars is based on Akira Kurosawa's Hidden Fortress. If originality is the mark of genius (and I don't entirely believe that it is) then Lucas is no genius.
You may be right, Joshua Francis Zita, but genius is all about creativity (I believe). So if he saw that film and based his on said film that perhaps he is. My point, I guess is that the word genius is hard to pinpoint. Perhaps he is a genius, not nessicarily for his creation of Star Wars but perhaps for his marketing of it and so on. I guess I wrote this because I feel that the word genius is thrown around an awful lot. I'm just trying to figure out what consitutes 'genius'. It's difficult I think.
E: Why would a review make the point of saying someone's "not" a genius? You think I'm especially "not" a genius? I know w...You didn't even have to think about it, did you?
M: Well, I just don't use that word lightly. I have to go, Eli.
E: Margot?
The romanticizing and dehumanizing of the addition of talent and ambition. Or just talent.
i think a lot of times people use the word "genius" to describe something they could not imagine doing or thinking of doing but which they enjoy/ support. in that way, it's kind of a knee jerk description for something that surprises you in a good way. and i like your description, tyler.
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