Originality by Nazia

Originality by Nazia - October 2018 Scholarship Essay

Mark Twain asserted "There is no such thing as a new idea... We simply take a lot of old ideas and put them into a sort of mental kaleidoscope". It combines old ideas with new perspectives. Many people call this "thinking outside the box". There are indefinite combinations of a person can make. At first, stories were passed verbally down from one generation to the next generation. However, many of the stories have evolved along with time.
Look at the fairytale Cinderella, many cultures and eras have their own version of Cinderella. Apart from cultural and time influences, the central theme of the story remains the same; be kind to others and good will come to you. For instance, Grimm Brothers' version ends with Cinderella's Step-sisters getting blinded by birds because they treated Cinderella and others like dirt. Then there is a modern adaptation of Cinderella, "Ella Enchanted", 2004 movie starring Anne Hathaway has the same theme but with the twist of obedience curse. Likewise, Shakespeare's' stories got retold with new twists.
They created these fanfictions because someone was taking an old idea with their own variation. This concept in various ways. Therefore, 'thinking outside the box" means to take what you know and add a new idea to create something new.