Despite my fervent desires to the contrary, John Key hasn’t done much wrong in his first two weeks as PM but I was disappointed with this comment about Flight of the Conchords, quoted in Stuff this morning:
“I think they are great actually,” he said of the Grammy Award winning artists. “They are a great example of a Kiwi export that ends up being picked up on the world stage … they are taking a bit of humour and music to the world. We are lucky to have such talented individuals.”
Does Key really think that producing this sort of talent (and the global reach and ambition that is also required) is a result of luck? Or is it more to do with the dramatic increase in support of our creative sector over the last nine years, support and commitment that allowed talent like Bret and Jemaine to consider careers here and overseas. If it’s just about luck, why support our artists at all?
This reminds me of a story told to me by F&S commenter Gary H. He was a relieving teacher at Parkway Intermediate in Wainuiomata and sometimes played guitar and sang songs in class. In the staff room one day another teacher said, “Gary, you’re so lucky you can play that guitar in class” and he thought to himself, I taught myself to play it and practiced for hours and hours to get good at it. Luck has nothing to do with it.