Sunday, November 12, 2006

an itch...

just must get this simian off my back...like an itch that must be scratched till it bleeds...

acting is fake, actors are fake, they are pretending to be someone else in a story.

hence the story is more important becos you know it is XYZ playing that role. it cd be nicole trying a new nose in 'the hours', de niro playing a disturbed guy in 'cape fear' or amitabh pretending to be an asthmatic on-the-verge-of-retiring honest cop (in khakee... one of his best ever!)
...its still just them, memorizing lines, learning their cues, knowing the spot to stand in, putting the paint on, the wigs....all that doing homework, getting into the skin, living the role...

how has it become such a godawful hyped up thing today...!!! all the sundry awards and accolades, the big O being especially hallowed and sucked up to...the crazy fans, the websites, the tabloid frenzy, the papparazzi, the red carpet...just for pretending to be someone else or for being something good yourself?

or are we finally just devoid of any real sensibility or any real reason to celebrate and adulate...?!

SO, the big deal is really just about that element, known to lit students world over as 'willing suspension of disbelief' (coleridge, i remember)...I know its braindead, its just a story, edgy or mushy as the choice of flick might be, but it lets me forget my humdrum life for 1 and a half or 3 hours...

yes, it is an art form....yes it is entertainment, that lowest common denominator for humankind at large..

but does it or rather do the players have to be taken SO seriously! you just need to look at our own film industry where even mediocrity is adulated over...the good ones are not surprisingly then treated as absolute gods and all kinds of titles are bestowed on them....and somewhere inside despite their apparent humility, they do buy into all this...they do think they are IT. and for what?

pretending to be someone else, faking all emotions known to humankind and taking a paycheck which would embarass a top-notch scientist or a solitary soldier perched in Siachen?

I know, tomorrow I might sing a different tune...but the fact remains...the monkey will remain perched on my back, somewhere.

4 comments:

qsg said...

Well, let's not forget that the adulation is for stars, not actors! :)

And, I do think that there is talent and work involved in playing the characters in a story. Like everything else, they also deserve to be rewarded / awarded for good work! Don't you think?? :)

Phoenix said...

you missed the point, they do...but not this kind of hype and definitely not this kind of money...you seriously think they deserve the obscene sums they get for this kind of *hard* work?! seriously!!

qsg said...

hehehe - well in your naivete you are trying to marry the remuneration with the level of effort required. At the end of the day, its about a skillset, time, opportunity - being a movie star requires a lot of different things - its a huge money making machinery and therefore ppl get paid more!
Again, back to the age old thing: Industry, company, job - and when this industry makes so much money, the ppl within it obviously get paid more!! :)

Phoenix said...

I know that, sweetheart, I am not *that* naive...was just a little rant at the seeming unfairness of it all, that a scientist working on synthetic biology or biocomputing isnt getting even a percent of what your Brad gets, and I realize the production costs and selling price of actors today....anyway it was all meant to be in the abstract, dont worry your lil head about it! :-)