David Lynch on Where Great Ideas Come From

In 2008, The Atlantic sat down with the filmmaker David Lynch as he mused about inspiration and how to capture the flow of creativity. Now, we’ve animated his words of advice. “A lot of artists think that suffering is necessary,” he says. “But in reality, any kind of suffering cramps the flow of creativity.”
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[@tristanrow4951]

I kind of can't overstate how accurately Lynch describes the flow of creativity here

[@kagarii]

@Phil “PM” Modesto no this is accurate. think about getting an idea for a story or something, its only a scene not the whole thing but that one scene overtime blossoms and becomes your full story. Thats how it feels for me anyway

[@jdnm797]

Agreed. I love his thoughts about parts of a movie being puzzle pieces which are really abstract, then as more ideas come it starts forming a 'thing'. That's a really smart way of describing creativity. It has to be worked on and developed, yet keep it true to its essence to build it in to something tangible and worthwhile. It really is a journey of discovery.

[@alvinhaglund5811]

"I kind of cant of overstate how" ... what a gay way of starting a statement. what lynch here describes is pretty much basic knowledge (and he's right, of course), but the weird cartoon movie going along with it tries to make it appear more original than it is. a similar example is the youtube video "this is water" that superimposes a david wallace reading with wannabe meaningful images

[@emperorjoop]

That Twin Peaks animation @ 1:01 was awesome.

[@MrYulienskate]

"Let's say that Van Gogh, everytime he went out to paint he got diarrhea" lmao

[@clarathordiss3663]

Everyone has ideas. Creatives are the people who have the skill and the capacity for hard work to turn those ideas into works of art - films, books, paintings, plays.

[@MightyEFX]

not entirely true, i know some people who are utterly creatively bankrupt which i blame to be because of their lifestyle

[@CielBlanche]

lots of people have bad ideas

[@normanoro206]

Although I've never been a filmmaker and I don't foresee ever becoming one, I think David Lynch's work is pretty amazing. I've self-published some science-fiction stories as a hobby; and though people probably vary, my experiences do largely jibe with what he says.

[@IdiotForLove]

The animation on this is just brilliant

[@DanielThePoet22]

David Lynch is the man we need for our madness world

[@farzanamughal5933]

They did the corporate art thing on Lynch

[@Ari-ww3fv]

I actually appreciated it because it visualized the abstract things Lynch was saying. Maybe I’m just an idiot lol.

[@farzanamughal5933]

@@Ari-ww3fv Yeah I just found it funny bc I associate that art style with something that is the opposite of Lynch

[@MM-bw1lo]

Wow, what a great approach to creativity, love the illustrations, made the message come to life

[@kirigrant3439]

The legend. The description of how creativity is formed is perfectly put.

[@jdnm797]

@@philpmmodesto He made total sense. Who said creativity should be 'fun and easy'? I don't think you understand what creativity is in this context.

[@Yuckod]

@@philpmmodesto What makes you think that one can't feel through abstraction? In a way, our own thoughts and feelings are their own abstractions, humans just apply their own understanding of what they feel/see in each moment. Like how some people associate anger with the color red. The color red has no intrinsic meaning, it's just the result of light refracting off of cones in our head. It's the context of life and humanity that applies meaning to everything. Also, addressing your statement, "It's like saying I am going to make you laugh by making you feel sad", let me ask you this: what determines something to be funny in the first place? Is it because something is intrinsically funny or is it because somebody finds their own humor in something?

[@Yuckod]

@@philpmmodesto what the fuck are you talking about

[@scazab6408]

Extremely accurate, I have a folder with ideas that I write ever since I was like 13 lol

[@NadavMerom]

Very nice animation!

[@Space_Writer]

"you don't make the fish, you catch the fish." I like that. I'd say that it feels like my head is a fishbowl, full of ideas and stories but its more like a giant lake. Only I don't have a fishing pole, a net, or even a sharply pointed stick...only my hands. By the way, the imagery for this piece brilliant.

[@mikeydashank3897]

I think he may be right that there are no original ideas, we just catch the ones that already exist. sometimes I come up with something really creative when I'm drawing or playing piano, and I think to myself "there's no way somebody else hasn't thought of this before, I just may be the first to actually put it into reality"

[@chaoswitch1974]

... that you know of.

[@mikeydashank3897]

@@chaoswitch1974 yeah I'm pretty sure I made that clear in my post.

[@darshanpatil7777]

Suffering cramps the flow of creativity ✔️

[@aaronwimberleymbamsf5776]

Classic & timeless=]

[@themanhimself5650]

love this

[@TrippingTheTube]

Love this.

[@tgchan]

What a beautiful video/ Amazing job/

[@MightyEFX]

i love david lynch

[@blueabattoir]

Always, always carry something to write down your ideas, or carry a recording device to make notes. Any artist can tell you how ideas can disappear in a moment. Never fool yourself that you will simply remember the ideas.

[@sambarker6312]

Love it

[@bodomiller4275]

Very nice video

[@ellisparrish5002]

God loves David Lynch. ✌🏻❤️🙏🏻

[@simonabbott]

trillions and zillions of ideas!

[@andygtmo]

Massive, massive quantities!

[@tejvirmann]

took my metaphor

[@zeepickens9049]

💝

[@ericheine2414]

Sometimes I have a catch-and-release program. I catch an idea and then I let it go. I returned it to the circle of life.

[@randomone4832]

Yes, ideas are important, but what you do with them is even moreso.

[@Qliphirot]

Alan Moore has a very similar concept and he calls it "idea-space". They're both influenced by Plato.

[@Leksy728]

💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖

[@buranopeach5245]

Van gogh would have to be crazy! He was!!!

[@u-tubeeditor6696]

...the worst problem with the universe, is the inability to stop laughing at how close together [war & peace] are in logic...next thing we know, all we see is an elderly person looking like a child, swimming in fire...”totally a peace with the world, yah...right...”

[@marymauntz5805]

How are they close together in logic?