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TODD HENRY

Three Invaluable Lessons For Creatives From Caine’s Arcade

OK – I’ll admit it. I nearly cried multiple times while watching the short film Caine’s Arcade. I’m a sucker for the beauty of pure, passionate pursuit. I’m especially prone to leap for joy when I see someone unexpectedly rewarded for their effort. I love a good underdog story.

All of that said, I think that this short film is much more than just a feel-good story. I pulled at least three solid, valuable lessons from this film that I plan to immediately apply to my work.

1. Boredom is more of a statement about the person than the situation. “Hey Caine…want to come spend the summer with me in the back of my barely-trafficked auto parts store?” For most kids this would be summer vacation equivalent of the kiss of death. There was no gaming system. No swimming pool. No television. A perfect excuse for “I’m booooooorrrred.”

But NO. Caine looked around and saw opportunity. Everywhere. Cardboard boxes, packing tape, gadgets and doo-dads. He chose not to be bored. It’s totally a state of mind.

My lesson: If I am bored with my work it is my problem, not the work’s. It is my responsibility to stay interested and forward-looking. Stop whining. The world doesn’t owe you anything.

2. Keep working while the world ignores you. How long was it before Caine had customer #1? How many entrepreneurs or artists would have given up by then, or stopped working at their craft and improving their skills? Caine approached his arcade with craftsmanship and fervor, and that’s what I aspire to do too.

My lesson: Attention is a secondary luxury to the artist focused on craft. It may come, and it may not, but devotion to craft is the one thing I can control.

3. Your craft will cost you something. Did you notice the prizes in the arcade? Caine’s own toys. His vision for his arcade required (demanded!) that he use all of his resources to make it work, and this meant forfeiting his own stuff for the sake of his vision.

My lesson: Ask frequently and answer honestly “am I really putting all of myself into this?” I need to make sure I’m fully backing that which I’m asking others to believe in.

These are just a few things I pulled from this gem of a film. PLEASE add to the list below so that we can all learn from one another. What lesson would you add? Please let us know in the comments.

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  • http://www.facebook.com/mullens4mac Jeremy Mullens

    #4 – Stop and Smell the Roses.  What is this life worth living if you pass up an opportunity to enjoy anything that is home made.  Love this story – thanks for sharing Todd!

  • bshawise

    Caine is my hero. I want to hire him to run a production studio called The Cardboard Arcade. The big lesson I think he teaches us is the golden rule of improv; always say, “Yes, and…”
    You don’t have to wait until you have all the various resources to do something. Want to make an arcade? Yes, and I have these boxes and markers. Want to make a fun pass? Yes, and I have these scissors and a calculator that I can use for the code. “Yes, and..” makes magic happen.
    -brad

  • http://www.craigmcbreen.com/ Craig McBreen

    What a cool kid :) I guess he’ll be running a giant amusement park of his own in the future, huh?

    From “Door handle for ’96 Corolla” … to a “Fun Pass with Caine” I like the claw machine too, but the best part … those tickets coming out.

    Bad thing is … at a certain point, kids start to develop self awareness which gets in the way of inventiveness and artisty. And we all know what happens when we reach adulthood … Booooring! Probably won’t happen to him. :)

    Anyway, it even had a Hollywood ending.

    Thanks, Todd.

  • http://www.writeawaywithme.com/ Beth

    I watched this movie a while back, at the end of a long day and it made me cry. I have been thinking about it a lot since. The creativity, the commitment,the patience of that kid! The image that stayed with me was him sweeping the path outside his arcade. No one there, but still he is out there with his broom, keeping his dream alive. That’s the hard bit isn’t it? To sustain the vision, to nurture the passion, to support your dreams while they are still bogged down in the mud. Before they get off the ground. 

  • http://www.esrati.com David Esrati

    And that people will respond to dreams- he’s got over $175K in a college fund already. It’s sad that Americans can waste $10 Billion on elections- instead of giving kids like Caine all the tools his creativity needs.

  • Susan McIntire

    I too loved this video. Just a great kid. Sometimes I feel like Caine when I sell Art on The  Zoo Fence here in Honolulu and it’s like a ghost town but I keep showing up for the few meaningful conversations I have with people from around the world and the few sales.

    Maybe there are more productive ways I could spend my time, but I make the best out of it and I enjoy the connections I make, even if brief. I can go for hours without a soul to talk to but I’ve met someone who works for Tony Robbins who talked with me for like an hour, a producer for Lost, a woman in China who is hanging my picture in her entry way to bring good luck to all those that enter, a retired social worker who survived a brain aneurysm and is putting herself through cooking school at 72, tour bus operators, the gamut…And it’s such an honor when people want to hang my art and photos in their homes…

    I think the thing I can relate to with Caine is that unending optimism and desire to connect with and make people happy.

  • http://www.accidentalcreative.com Todd Henry

    I agree. I think that’s what connected with me the most, too. I loved the simplicity of his pursuit and that he was having an absolute blast in the process.