The video that I watched has always been one of my favorite TED speeches, J.J. Abrams’ “Mystery Box” which he made in 2007. Not only do I find Abrams to be a great inspiration in the film industry, but his speech is universal, about everyone finding what their own mystery boxes are and how prevalent they are in everyone’s life. To Abrams, a mystery box is defined as anything that fuels your inspiration and strives to keep you finding the answers. Some of the mystery boxes that Abrams lists for himself are a blank piece of paper, his laptop computer, the progressing plot in a movie, and his actual mystery box that he bought with his grandfather when he was a small boy. It’s no bigger than a shoebox, cream in color, with a large question mark on it; this can be seen in the featured screen capture from his speech.
He starts out with an anecdote about his popular television
show LOST, explaining how many people
always come up to him and ask, “‘what the hell is that island?’ Followed by… ‘No
seriously what the hell is that island?’” He proceeds by showing a clip from
the show, explaining how fascinated he is by the amount of technology he has at
his disposal these days in order to make the show possible.
The bulk of the twenty-minute speech that follows is Abrams
telling the audience about how much his grandfather touched his life and
spurred his love for mystery boxes. He always deconstructed things like radios
and phones in front of a young Abrams. This experience has stuck with him and
began a lifelong fascination with taking things apart. He produces a
deconstructed tissue box to demonstrate this.
The story was an excellent tool to help you feel close to
both him and his now-deceased grandfather, drawing you in to want to learn more
about his explanation of these mystery boxes. In order to explain something
that is so close to his heart he very passionately talks about a man who was so
important to him and helped introduce him to all the driving forces in his
life. Sharing personal stories is a common way to be able to not only bring
people closer to you, but also help explain deeply personal things, such as
mystery boxes, which are not common occurrences.
“In whatever
it is that I do, I find myself drawn to infinite possibility, that sense of
potential.” (J.J. Abrams)
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