My early novels were written in quite a dark place. I stand by them, but I would never write them again. I think it is subversive to embrace emotional optimism, because it goes against the grain.
I like to say that it never rains on 'Lifestyles.' There is no bad news. It's a very up show.
When I write a song, the music comes from my spirit, which is very playful and optimistic, but then the lyrics come from my head, which is in a different space.
The similarity between my music and The Beatles' music is it has within it a very positive quality. It's woven with humor.
There is something about the melody of 'Thunder Road' that just suggests 'new day.' It suggests morning; it suggests something opening up.
Vaudeville was characterized by sunny optimism, acts that were uplifting, cheerful, and clean. It provided a fanciful, magical escape, but after Black Friday, the tone of American entertainment changed almost overnight.
Dad and I did not care at all for your story in The New Yorker … [I]t does seem, dear, that this gloomy kind of story is what all you young people think about these days. Why don't you write something to cheer people up?
I want my work to always be hopeful, in the end. You're giving me two hours, and, in Shots Fired's case, 10 hours of your life. I don't want you to ever leave something I've done feeling worse than when you came in. I hope the work can be aspirational, and aspirational doesn't have to be corny at all.
It's nice to see a movie where people are actually succeeding.
I don't want an angry song with no silver lining ending up on my album. Then I'd have to play, or feel obliged to play, that song every night in repetition as a mantra of anger.
I feel like there's a lot of beauty in the darkness of 'Narrow Stairs,' but that's not really a place I'm ready to go to for a while. I'm interested in taking a different approach and having the next record be different in tone - I'm just not interested in making another dark, dark album.
The Conservatives win when we have a positive message, an aspirational message.
A romance novel should leave readers joyous. My books all have happy endings.
I call white the most powerful non-color; it's clean, optimistic, powerful.
'Mask' wasn't the version that I wanted when it was originally released. It made money, but it would have made a lot more money. My version was a lot less depressing - tragic, but a lot less depressing.
Far be it from me to paint a rosy picture of the future...But I should be failing in my duty if, on the other side, I were not to convey the true impression, that this great nation is getting into its war stride.
