Phineas and Ferb: Some Lessons on Life and Art

I read Wired so I’m not totally out of the loop technology-wise now that I no longer live in San Francisco (not a replacement for weekly beers with friends doing the newest and coolest stuff, but not a bad substitute). November’s issue has an article by Gavin Edwards about an animated cartoon called Phineas and Ferb, created by Dan Povenmire and Jeff Marsh. The cartoon’s about two geeky stepbrothers who are “fun, imaginative—and smart” and spend each day of their summer vacation “attempting an activity that is (1) unauthorized, (2) potentially hazardous, (3) absurdly impractical and (4) utterly fantastic. Like tying giant weather balloons to the underwater city of Atlantis and brining it to dry land. Or riveting bolts into a hand-built roller coaster—which also functions as a space rocket.”

Lesson 1: “Be smart. Be creative. Have fun. Life is an endless summer—never waste a single day of it.”

A couple things struck me about this article. First is the boys’ philosophy regarding life, as quoted above.

Lesson 2: Good works of art doesn’t always get snatched up immediately.

The other thing I thought was interesting was how the show came into being. Right now, it is wildly, wildly successful. But it was created ten years ago, and at that time Povenmire and Marsh shopped it around Hollywood, and were unable to sell it. They put it away and tried again years later, this time meeting with success.

Lesson 3: It’s good to be in a place where you don’t have to compromise.

What else I really liked was how once the show was picked up, the creators were able to push back as far as compromising their vision. They wanted to do it as they wanted or not at all.

This is why I work in advertising, and how I feel about my writing. I compromise my vision all the time in the advertising world based on the demands of the client. But because I do this, I have total creative freedom in my own writing, because it doesn’t really matter if it sells or not. Povenmire and Marsh “had good jobs to return to if things didn’t work out. They weren’t desperate, so they could afford to stand up to the network on deal-breaker demands.” I’m in that position too, and I’m glad.

P.S. Watched a couple episodes. I’m clearly not the target demographic, but still, pretty dang cute. :)