The Weight Of Expectation
Expectation is a funny thing. It means that there are people who like what you do (always a positive), that you have had success in the past (another positive), and there are people who are excited about what you’re going to do next (yet another positive).
Expectation is a funny thing. It means that there are people who like what you do (always a positive), that you have had success in the past (another positive), and there are people who are excited about what you’re going to do next (yet another positive). But with all of these positives, there is a certain weight that comes with other people’s expectation that can stifle and restrict creativity or, alternatively, challenge the artist to rise above that expectation.
In recent months, there have been several examples where the weight of expectation has been placed on particular studios and artists: Pixar with Cars 2, Lady Gaga with Born This Way and Andrew Lloyd Webber with Love Never Dies. I’m sure there are many others, but these are three examples that immediately come to mind.
Pixar has a tremendous history of creating amazing, clever and completely relevant cutting edge animation. Take one look at the Toy Story series, The Incredibles, Finding Nemo and my personal favourite Wall-E. The history speaks for itself. So when Cars 2 came out, there was a huge weight of expectation that it too would be brilliant. I saw it on Friday morning and thought it was a superb action packed spy adventure. Did it have much to do with the first Cars? Not really, other than the characters. Some have complained that it lacked heart – but maybe that wasn’t the point of the film. The expectation for some wasn’t met.
Lady Gaga released Born This Way with the weight of all her “little monsters” and many a critic hanging onto it. After the incredible success of her previous releases (including the repackaged The Fame Monster), expectation was high. One browse through the iTunes reviews for the singles from Born This Way tell a very interesting story – it’s divided people, even fans. Some love it, others loathe it. There’s very few who stand on the fence. Was the expectation met?
Finally, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Love Never Dies has been playing at the Regent Theatre for a little while now. Heralded at the sequel to The Phantom Of The Opera, there was a certain amount of expectation placed on it, and Lloyd Webber, as well. Granted, Lloyd Webber has had a rather spotty success record since Phantom (The Beautiful Game, Whistle Down The Wind, The Woman In White to name a couple), so there was a sense of muteness when it came to his new musical. Still, to place it alongside Phantom immediately weights it in a positive light. Again, opinion is divided, though more positive than his previous shows – but then again, the positive reaction was for the Melbourne reinterpretation, and not for the original version that took to the stage in London.
Personally, the weight of expectation is something that I’ve been fighting with over the last year or so. As a composer, I too have had some success with my shows. Not as much as many, but success that I’m proud of nonetheless. A couple of years ago, I decided to start my Masters’ degree in Performing Arts, with a focus on creating a new musical. Bizarrely, the moment I began walking that path, I found myself almost suffocated by the expectation of the task. Today, I have deferred the Masters degree for a time for several reasons, ranging from personal to this very issue of expectation.
So, what is it about expectation that seems to challenge the inner creative “being” and often raises expectations of others beyond a reasonable standard? Now, I don’t want to speak for every creative person out there, but I think the main fear that the weight of expectation brings is fear itself. Fear stops us from doing all sorts of things; it confines and restricts us, makes us question what we’ve always taken as a given and, most importantly, it certainly stifles creativity. The fear that we feel is a combination of the worry of letting people down, and what other people are going to say or think of what we’ve just created. The fear can also come from a concern of what further success may bring: the good and the bad. Fear makes us stop the creative process in its tracks, even before it’s had a chance to birth what is inside of us.
Stephen Schwartz once said that you have be careful not to edit yourself before you even start writing. That’s what fear makes you do; you cancel out perfectly good ideas before they can be realized, because you are worried that they’re not good enough. That begets a further cancellation of your own creativeness and suddenly you’re in a fear-based-expectation-inspired limbo that is content in getting you perfectly nowhere.
What’s the answer? Remember the reason you started creating in the first place. For many, it was just for the sheer joy of creating something new, something that you have done, and something that (strangely) other people liked as well. Recently I have done just that – started writing again for me, and not for other people.
You are the person who has the story to tell; and it’s coincidence that other people are able to empathize with it. It’s your heart, your story, your art that’s put you where you are. And the challenge is to rise above that expectation that others have of you, and decide that you really don’t need to care what they think. I know that may seem a little arrogant, but remember: they like came to like what you did simply because of what you do. Therefore, what you do takes precedence. Have confidence in your ability, in your talent, and in what you produce. Other people do: so should you. Forget expectation, and remember inspiration.
As always, please feel free to leave a comment!
Until next time,
Drew
