Letters to the Editor
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What does this say about today’s parents?
There’s a reason that the Olmsteads’ story struck a chord with so many people. Who among us hasn’t secretly harbored a belief in our own children’s genius? The fact that young Marla’s mode of expression was abstract art makes it all the more appealing. Most kids are capable of splotching paint exuberantly about, so a parent can readily believe that his own child has a touch of Marla’s gift. Early talent in music or math is more objectively determined and so doesn’t lend itself as readily to a parent’s unrealistic fantasizing.
Also, the art itself seems to answer the question of "Are her parents pushing her too hard?" Well apparently not – this is joyful expression, driven by the boundless creativity that supposedly exists in all children and should be nurtured above all other qualities. Whereas the five-year-old who can play Mozart or do long division is viewed as a bit of a freak, Marla can be held up as the idealized 21st-century child, the embodiment of modern pedagogical theories that left to their own devices, children develop naturally and happily into creative geniuses. Marla becomes a paragon not only of talent but of well-adjustedness, and her parents bask in the glow not only of her accomplishments but of their own evident wisdom and impeccable parenting.
So that’s why Marla was bound to be celebrated in the press, which after all consists mostly of upper-middle-class parents. For the same reason, the backlash is inevitable too. This happens on a smaller scale all the time in affluent areas – parents surreptitiously sizing up each other’s kids intellectual and athletic ability, extravagantly praising the gifted ones, while waiting for them to screw up so they can gossip with other insecure parents about how so-and-so’s child is very bright but a perfect nightmare behavior-wise. Marla was held up as an exemplar of our brilliant children to make us feel good about them and ourselves, and then chopped down to size to make us feel better still.
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why should the artist matter?
We deserve to be hoaxed.
Whether it's James Frey or JT LeRoy or, for that matter, Bob Dylan pretending he's Woody Guthrie, in order to get recognition (that is, media coverage), artists feel pressure to create a personal narrative that makes their work "authentic" - whatever that means. I would venture to say that true authenticity does not lie in the biography of the work's creator, it resides somewhere in the audience's reaction to the art itself.
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Mozart Did It
During Mozart's early years, many people would not believe a child composing and playing great music.
How wrong they were.
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child prodigy
the story brings up an interesting observation...i wonder if she is on the low to medium end of the asperger's spectrum? the standoffishness, aloof behavior...the concentrated effort....her age - these are all worthy factors of consideration in a possible diagnosis. has somebody done any psych testing on this child?
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Art
As noted in other letters most work done by children in public schools is "stick figures", but I wonder if this isn't because of time restraints and the teacher's desire to have "something" made by "Johnny/Suzy" to hang up to be slobbered over on "Parent's Night"? Children usually draw/paint what they're told/shown. It can be suspiscous that Marla didn't perform to expectations when being filmed; however, that assumes that she wasn't aware whe was "on camera". Inspiration can be fleeting enough without having an eye on you. And why is nayone in George Bush's Amerika surprised that parents would "hustle" their own kid? Just be greatful its painting that they're hustling!
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oh boy
I read a book on gifted kids which differentiated between little "C" and big "C" creativity. While kids can display remarkable talent at early ages, the theory goes, it takes years and years for a creator to reach the point where he/she reshapes a field and changes it significantly. I believe it was Howard Gardner who said it took ten years. While a prodigy might take less, they still require time to let their talent develop. What looks remarkable from a seven year old, will look unimpressive if the artist does not continue to challenge herself as she matures. Some kids become so disenchanted with their parents' forcing them to perform that they wind up hating anything to do with their talent.
Young creators also need to spend time on their own, without their parents hanging over their shoulder, in order to develop their craft. In fact, some studies have found that a high number of famous creators grew up with a deceased or absent parent.
Gifted kids also display a "rage to master" that does not result from parental pushing. In fact, it is parents who oftent say they cannot keep up with their child's request for learning materials. In this day and age, every child is supposedly "gifted" but what will the child do once Mommy and Daddy stops pushing? Keep drawing, composing or writing? Or go surf the Internet? Neither parent pushed me to become a writer, or my sister who also displayed talent writing stories. I stuck with it, she found other interests and now works in the financial field. They didn't pressure her into that either.
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Here's looking at you, Kid
This is more about modern art than anything else. Most people focus on her age. Not the art. Someone said, "She isn't drawing stick figures." No, she isn't drawing any figures. Nor portraits. Nor still lifes. You see, it has to be "modern art," otherwise the jig would be up. The figures would be stick figures, if she tried to do realistic art...plain old four year old stick figures.
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Art is art, but...
...we are always going to ascribe larger meanings to it. I find many of the paintings, whoever did them, gorgeous and full of internal images and meaning, much on the order of abstracts made by Australian Aboriginal artists and yeah, some of those dead white European dudes.
You can't tell me, though, that the sudden skyrocketing of fame -- and selling price -- isn't largely due to the novelty factor that they were supposedly painted by a pint-sized prodigy. Some 30-something office worker putzing around in his kitchen might be able to get a grand here and there...but his adorable mophead gets 5 figures.
What I haven't seen addressed in any of the articles about the film is whether Marla is still "creating" new works. She seems to be forever stuck at 4 years old, but if you do the math, she's a grand old 7 years old by now.