"It’s really important for a kid to be left alone"- When Taika Waititi made his feelings clear about the role of tech in children's lives
Taika Waititi has built an impressive career as a filmmaker and actor, working across various genres. He has earned major awards, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA, and a Grammy. Even though not all his projects have received the same level of praise, his strong imagination is a constant, clearly shown in films like Thor: Ragnarok and Jojo Rabbit.
The director revealed in a 2020 interview with The Talks that imagination had been a part of him from a very early age, and it eventually became the catalyst behind his numerous creative endeavors, where he witnessed great success. He also discussed how the changing times and technological innovations in recent years have led to a decay of imagination in younger children, something that would impact their creative processes.
Speaking to The Talks, he said about this:
"Exactly, now they’ve all got iPads and it’s done for them! I think it’s really important for a kid to be left alone and left to figure it out for themselves how to pass the time. As a kid, I spent so much time bored and coming up with ideas of how to do things, so I’d write stories or I’d draw pictures or invent worlds through drawing or just in my head, just thinking about things. I think that a lot of my creativity has really come from being bored."
He also spoke about the importance of being bored and needing to entertain himself in this interview by referring to his own childhood.
"I did often spend a lot of time in my own head"- Taika Waititi on having a big imagination as a kid
Taika Waititi's grand imagination is so visible on the screen, whether he is acting or directing, that the first question he was asked in this interview was if he had a big imagination as a child. The director replied affirmatively:
"I definitely did! I had many friends but I did often spend a lot of time in my own head, by myself, using my imagination to kind of… Maybe sometimes to cope, but also just to entertain myself. In New Zealand, in the small towns where I grew up in, you can get pretty bored so you’re spending a lot of time just imagining things and trying to entertain yourself."
He further acknowledged that kids needed to be bored to be able to imagine better. Taika Waititi added:
"I think that’s probably where a lot of our comedy comes from in New Zealand — it’s observational, we’re looking at things from the outside. But I feel like kids today aren’t encouraged to be bored as much as they should be. Kids say, “Oh, I’m bored,” and people freak out and try and stimulate them with other things."
This advancement and the changes that it has caused are quite evident all around, even for adults sometimes, which is perhaps slowly leading to a reduced amount of creativity in most brains.
As for Taika Waititi, his upbringing and his big imagination played a big part in his career in Hollywood, where he has established himself as one of the finest directors in recent years.
In 2023, the director made Next Goal Wins and will soon be back with Klara and the Sun, which is still in production.
