OPINION/ CHRISTMAS
Stories make the seasons
đź’¬ Sir John Hegarty
It comes but once a year. The holiday season is a rare moment for downing tools and pledging to produce zero work for at least a fortnight. Feats of imagination are limited to tree decoration or preparing lunch. While taking some necessary time to recharge, it’s worth remembering how we owe the magic of this time of year to creativity – specifically, great storytelling.
Holidays are about stories. Personal ones – like degenerate uncles causing scenes at festive family gatherings. Popular ones – like Bruce Willis’ barefoot antics in the yuletide thriller Die Hard. And traditional ones – like the Nativity. On this note, one thing has always puzzled me. What happened to the Three Kings? The ostentatious gifts they brought – gold, myrrh and frankincense – seemingly had no impact on the family’s future wealth.
Holidays are about stories.
Perhaps the greatest work of creativity to do with this time of year is A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens. Rather than any divine inspiration, the author was motivated by a factor that more frequently spurs creatives into action – a short deadline. Dickens’ fifth child was on the way in 1843, and he needed to produce a bestseller to support the expanding family. He pulled the draft off in six weeks, and had to finance the book himself thanks to a dispute with the publisher.
The narrative was inspired by Dickens’ travels around the north of the country, where he saw shocking poverty. The tale of retribution, where a miserly man is transformed into a magnanimous one, was an immediate smash hit. And it propagated the mythos of Christmas in Victorian England and beyond. We understand the world through stories, and the ideas within them become increasingly powerful the more truth they express. The holidays are over quickly, so here’s a phrase to hold onto in the coming year (lifted from the book): “There is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humour.”
Thanks for following The Business of Creativity in 2024. We’ll return on Tuesday 7th January. Happy Holidays!
