In our previous Creative Juice Blog post, we explored a few mega-hit pieces of pop culture and how they reference works from our past. After mind mapping the nostalgia behind those works, we’re left marveling at the creative process that goes on in writers’ rooms, or between collaborating music producers and other artists. Surely there’s wisdom there to be had for our clients and their creative work.
Another piece of media today that is turning on light bulbs for us–giving us “a-ha!” moments–is Baz Luhrmann’s biographical film about Elvis Presley. Still showing in theaters and newly available streaming on demand, the movie is remarkable to us in that it creates relevance almost in the reverse direction as the ‘nostalgia’ we looked at last week. The film takes a seemingly familiar subject–as well as the “biopic” genre altogether–and turns it on its head by rooting it in modern frameworks.
Let’s unpack how Bax Luhrmann’s Elvis achieves a unique freshness, and what we can learn from it.
We’ve mentioned in this blog that “freshness” is one of the behaviors highlighted in the book, Sticky Wisdom, that supercharges creativity. The idea behind freshness is that when you are in routines, doing the same thing, seeing the same thing day after day, your opportunities to be inspired are limited. Finding freshness means switching up routines to gain new perspective and, from there, new insight.
We share a bit on our philosophy on creative mindset and introduce the concept of ‘freshness’ as described in the book, Sticky Wisdom: How to Start a Creative Revolution at Work.
How does Elvis achieve freshness? In a few ways, actually. First, as the world might have guessed from Baz Luhrmann, it isn’t your traditional biopic. The genre, which easily veers into sleepy, formulaic territory, is of course snappy, fast-paced and dazzling in the hands of auteur Luhrmann. There’s a Tiktok sensibility about the photography and editing, making it a fully modern-day telling.
Also hitting the freshness button in a major way is how the music is handled. This is a big one, especially knowing the huge impact of both Luhrmann and Elvis. Without Luhrmann in the picture, you might hear the pitch of “Elvis biopic” and summon a pretty standard music-legend biography in your head. But this film seeks to present Presley’s oeuvre both in the glory of its original presentation and with connections to music of today, in equal parts.
What can we take away from the freshness of Elvis?
For our clients who are staging ideation sessions and flexing their creativity for their companies, what are some key takeaways from the success of this movie and others like it?
For one: There’s value and excitement when you bridge two opposite ideas. In this film, there’s magic in the melding of history and modernity.
- What are the two (or more) seemingly disparate angles through which your idea or product can be viewed?
- How can you use both angles at once, creating a unique perspective that is unexpected, or even groundbreaking?
Additionally, sometimes ideas that aren’t the most exciting have the most hidden potential. It’s likely many folks did not expect to feel invested in a biographical movie of Elvis, feeling that jukebox biopics are stale or unexciting. But with some inspired storytelling and a priority on freshness, this film has engaged broad audiences on a global level.
- What are the ideas or products that your team has had either on the sideline collecting dust?
- Or, what are the old standby products/services with ongoing, though meager, success, but that are stuck in their original or classic frameworks?
- How can we put these things into the spotlight for our team and renew or reinvent their relevance for today’s sensibilities?
Our clients come to Catalyst Ranch to work and create in our one-of-a-kind environment. In putting themselves here, they bring a vital freshness to their team’s collaboration. How do you add freshness to your creative process? What other art has reenergized you with its freshness? Tell us in the comments!
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