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EQ vs CQ

Why we like something so much, like a song or music or a movie or a book or a painting, etc. why we get emotionally bonded to a creative work. Is it because of its creative value or its emotional content.

Since Raavan is around the corner, I was searching some film videos by Mani Ratnam in youtube. In between I came across ‘Mouna Raagam’ bgm which is very close to my heart for a long time. Some sort of strange feeling which keeps you hunting for days together. What Mozart and Bach have done for the west, Ilayaraja has done it. So, there was other video which caught my attention. It was by an unknown band of some four members who have composed a song which starts and ends with this theme music. Clearly they are very much inspired by this thirty second music. Though it’s a mediocre attempt, their creative and emotional outburst has to be lauded. I couldn’t understand what actually made them to do that song with this BGM. Is it purely an emotional outburst or result of the creativeness which the bgm has or a combination of both.

Let’s assume that the theme music is purely a creative work while there’s no emotional quotient in it. Pure creative in the sense completely new. Which has not been done before. Which might have been ridiculous and stupid. But it will be done in such a way that it grabs our attention for a second. The best examples are the television commercials. Within seconds they have to attract the customers. Make people understand what the product is all about, who the target customers are, show their brand value and most importantly is to attract the viewer. So, in this case the marketing skills depend on how inventive you are. The best example is Vodafone’s Zoozoos. Voted as the best commercial last year. It is creatively made. There’s no doubt in it. But it doesn’t touch you emotionally. Signboards are the other example where a photograph is beautifully manipulated in a photoshop – some trimming and cropping, some colour tone adjustment will give the best result.

Not all the commercials follow the same rule. There are some which kindles your creative as well as emotional quotient. Airtel started their campaign with A R Rahman’s tune which became their signature tune for all their other ads. My favourite was their three word campaign, for example ‘confess, confide, convey’. Small kids are used accordingly for the three words with the Rahman’s tune has moved me. General motors launched their Chevrolet brand in India with the ad which features some Indian festivals. It was like an international brand has come much closer to us.

So what’s the other thing that has caught our emotional quotient? Television soap operas. Serials have moved our Indian ladies to tears. These serials have changed the definition of television and rewrote the history with their never ending episodes running for years and years. All the satellite televisions are racing against each other with their emotionally charged sans-bahu, father-daughter themed serials. These serials are so successful that they are able to bring out all the possible emotions a human being can feel – happiness, sadness, anger, humour, frustration, sympathy, empathy, etc. our emotional quotient is really checked. But do they leave a lasting impact. We don’t long to see the same episode twice. We may not want to have the same emotions all the time but we will be rather interested to have different emotions randomly. So why is that when we hear a joke for the first time we burst in to laughter and the same joke next time doesn’t seem to be a joke. Why our emotional quotient doesn’t seem to work for the second time.

The same can be applied to creative quotient. When we see something new, something creative, we feel surprised. But the same surprise may not be there for the second time. Because what was new for the first time will become old by the second, third and fourth time. Now, why our creative quotient has stopped working.

The only possibility is that when both the quotients get proper attention, we feel a sense of satisfaction. If we talk about senses, food is the only thing that can satisfy most of our senses. We can see, smell, touch, feel, taste. So when most of our senses gets proper attention, we are able to make a decision. What we feel tasty remains tasty for the rest of our lives. Emotional and creative quotients are just like twins. When something satisfies the both, we feel a lasting impact. When something is creatively engaging and emotionally charged, we feel a complete sense of satisfaction.

posted by Vinod @ 5:17 AM