In the article, Flaum tells the story of the near extinct red wolf forced into captivity in hopes of protecting the species. Their offspring were released into the wild as an experiment but they had forgotten their howl. Mumon, one of the red wolves, knew he had to find his howl to lead his pack to survival. During his journey, he learned to hunt to end his painful hunger and through this act he became fearless, learning that the answer he was looking for was in him the whole time.
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Just as Mumon, we must all find our own howl or voice in ourselves. The only way to get there is by suffering through pain and uncertainty until we are reborn with a voice of our own. Another thing we can draw from this story is that Mumon couldn't have completed his journey alone. The deer provided Mumon nutrition that gave him a strength he never had before, urging him to run. Like the deer, we draw upon creative strength from various films, songs, quotes, books, or other forms of media that we use to push us forward as we grow as artists.
One piece of media that I draw from is a music video from the Spanish musican El Guincho for his song "Bombay". Completely in Spanish, it has a worldly quality that opens a window into a culture I'm not very familiar with and explores the wildness of youth. Quick, sporadic cuts go from a slow-mo action hero jumping into a pool to topless women doing meaningless actions such as smashing eggs on their head, licking a branch, or balancing laundry on one shoulder while trying to smoke a cigarette.
Despite the craziness throughout the video, the introduction is stuck with me when the video was over. It opens ominously with the artist walking among a backdrop of planets giving this coy narration with English subtitles:
"The cosmos is all there is, or ever was, or ever will be. The cosmos is also within us, we are made of stars. We are about to begin a journey through the cosmos, though the story of our planet, and the plants and animals that share it with us, it's a story about us. We wish to pursue the truth no matter where it leads. But to find the truth we need imagination and skepticism both. We are going to explore the cosmos in the ship of imagination. Perfect as a snowflake, light as a feather, the ship will take us to worlds of dreams and worlds of facts. Come with me."
This fantastic verse really made me ask myself deep questions about our very composition and how our imaginations play into what makes us up as people. The artist states that we are all made of stars and in a way that could very well be true. All matter recycles itself though the universe. If this is in fact true, there is a high chance that we could very well have molecules that once powered a once brilliant star making up the vessels that hold our consciousness. Our creativity is powered from essentially star power which is why I believe we can learn about ourselves by contemplating the great sea of space because they are connected. Our minds create ideas that sustain our society while stars create energy that fuels the universe.
To find creative answers or "howl" I need to take a journey into my own mind. Instead of focusing on a specific area I let my mind find its own way until I start to perceive images and clear sounds. Aimlessly it wanders from old memories to random images that seem to be burned into the front of my head until it hits something incredible. Images start to move and from perfect cinematography. Colors are brighter, lighting is absolutely perfect, and sound or voice resonates in all directions. I really couldn't follow this process until I understood that our mind is "the ship" and our subconscious is the unexplored "cosmos". El Guincho literally showed me this process with his music video and let me find myself creatively. The frame seems like scattered altered memories among wild dreams of sex and visual aesthetics. I felt like he was trying to show the world how his mind works when coming up with inspiration for a new song.
This video taught me how to explore the inner workings of my mind for idea. Now I am able to see my dream productions visually with perfection and takes me a step closer to sharing it with the world.
To find creative answers or "howl" I need to take a journey into my own mind. Instead of focusing on a specific area I let my mind find its own way until I start to perceive images and clear sounds. Aimlessly it wanders from old memories to random images that seem to be burned into the front of my head until it hits something incredible. Images start to move and from perfect cinematography. Colors are brighter, lighting is absolutely perfect, and sound or voice resonates in all directions. I really couldn't follow this process until I understood that our mind is "the ship" and our subconscious is the unexplored "cosmos". El Guincho literally showed me this process with his music video and let me find myself creatively. The frame seems like scattered altered memories among wild dreams of sex and visual aesthetics. I felt like he was trying to show the world how his mind works when coming up with inspiration for a new song.
This video taught me how to explore the inner workings of my mind for idea. Now I am able to see my dream productions visually with perfection and takes me a step closer to sharing it with the world.
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