Practice, Practice, Practice

Who says you can’t learn something from Joel and the bots. Not me. The main thing we learn is how to recycle. But it’s not paper or plastics; it’s film. There’s no need to expend resources tediously cutting together a whole new film when you can just mock some horrible, preexisting film.

Mr. B Natural

This is probably the most infamous clip ever shown on MST3K. Here’s an abbreviated synopsis:

The action opens upon the musical stave in which Mr. B Natural lives. Mr. B addresses the audience directly, in an effort to appear welcoming, and explains what it means to be a spirit of music. Awaiting a person’s call for help, Mr. B evinces sympathy and concern for lonely junior high student Buzz Turner.

Buzz shows an interest in music like the more popular kids at school, but is so shy that he makes excuses to not attend a dance, even when a girl directly invites him. Dejected, Buzz returns home and puts on a record. This magically summons Mr. B into the adolescent boy’s bedroom, whereupon the pixie uses magic, music and dance to convince Buzz to take up playing the trumpet. (Wikipedia)

Watch parts 1 and 2:

Let’s review

It’s pretty sad. And not the slightest bit creepy, either, right? We sympathize with poor Buzz. He’s not popular and clearly has some mixed emotions as to his sexual identity. Well, now anyway.

But once he finally decides to commit to playing,we’re treated to a musical montage that completely glosses over the very thing that leads directly to Buzz’s preternatural trumpet abilities: practice.

You know what that is. It’s that thing you have to do – day after day and month after month. You have to put effort in to get results out. Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outliers really drove that point home for me:

Gladwell explains that reaching the 10,000-Hour Rule, which he considers the key to success in any field, is simply a matter of practicing a specific task that can be accomplished with 20 hours of work a week for 10 years….Gladwell continuously reminds the reader that genius is not the only or even the most important thing when determining a person’s success. (Wikipedia)

The manufacturer behind the original video doesn’t care if you’re serious about music. For all they care, the trumpet can sit in your closet for the next ten years. That’s why they blow through the most difficult part of the process. Buzz goes from awkward goober to trumpet savant in about twenty seconds.

The lessons

• Advertisers lie or omit details to manipulate your emotions.
• Practice is essential if you want to get good at anything.
• Do not trust musical, spandex-wearing locker-pixies that suddenly appear in your bedroom.

We could all afford to keep these in mind. Advertisers have become much better at manipulating our emotions. And while this video wouldn’t resonate with today’s audiences on account of its low production values, the lesson still stands.