Experiences: Where the Wild Things should be
Wednesday, October 28, 2009 at 7:15AM Brands should be inseparable from culture, the voice through which the human condition speaks. Every individual has something to say, a story to tell, or a dream to share. At a particular moment in time there is an opportunity to make that "space" memorable. That place could be at the local ice cream shop, at a party in a room full of friends and strangers, or on a park bench with a loved one. There's an opportunity for that experience to put a smile on your face, make you want to share it with your friends, or take you back to a place that you once forgot.
As a design thinker (my degree is in architecture) I look at life through the lens of "space," both physical and abstract. So when i came across an article, written by Tali Krakowsky, in Creativity Magazine, about Where the Wild Things Are (and I just saw the movie this past weekend), it deepened how I thought about the movie, space and experience.
More than an exploration of anger, escape or even storytelling, Where the Wild Things Are is a stunning reminder that spaces and how they are designed transform experiences - whether in film, in reality or in the imagination. By Tali Krakowsky
Max, fortuitously played by Max Records, is a little boy who imagines running away from his family to an island inhabited by giant, cuddly, child-like creatures.
He meets the Wild Things in a forest - a place for wilderness where animal-like behavior is cultivated and celebrated.
In close proximity is a a desert - an uninhabited place for more personal exchanges that are exposing and revealing. It is through this journey that Max discovers Carol's secret cave.
Inspired by a safely hidden physical model of a fantastical dream land constructed by Carol, Max decides to bring the group together to build a home for the Wild Things.
The collaborative construction effort of the fort leads to excitement, creation, friendship, leadership, war, injury and pain – the stuff of everyday life.
Ultimately, Max decides that it's time to return. . .
craving his home and the familiarity that he left behind, he returns to devour his dinner in front of a lovingly staring mother.
He returns changed. Although no real-world time has passed, Max's imagined journey has actually taken place. In the virtual world of his dreams he lived, loved, laughed, learned and he returns to his real world transformed.
As we travel through our physical environments into where our Wild Things are and back again, we might want to remember that our virtual and tangible experiences are equally as real and that they all operate in space – a place that shapes and effects them. As we construct the environments around us we shape our ideas and behavior. That's why we sometimes fear books becoming films or our imagination becoming real.
Space matters. Let's stop talking about just what's in our screens and talk about how it fits into our bedrooms, living rooms, offices, restaurants, stores, museums, entertainment spaces, hospitals, trains, airplanes and landscapes.
Reader Comments (2)
There is another aspect of the piece that is interesting. Your references to the Wild things is experience through the lens of a young child. That proposition has been advanced by some others who we regard as the leading thinkers of our times. Alex Bogusky, states that he became in line with his genius when he started to rethink in the manner he did as a 12-year-old. Beethoven's greatest compositions literally mimicked the sounds of children make when playing, Matisse's cut out series and Miro's works appear to work of children. All reflect a kind of genius one comes to once inside a space.
Good job, my friend. Very good job.