fake gods i.b.m.
“The word art, as least as far as we are concerned, is related to work”
(Dario Fo).
Actors have become a marketable product these days. Their saleability to mass markets is far more important than the quality of their work. The worst thing about the above is not that this art form has chosen its modus operandi to be as such, but the fact that many actors totally believe in this system: “I am photogenic, therefore I am an actor”.
This reality has caused many people to think that anybody can become an actor, and they’re not far wrong. What’s the end result? The lack of talent is not even made up for with work; “I was born for this, therefore I am an actor”.
Well, it’s not enough to have been born to acting, you have to work at it just like everything else. The fact that you can play a song on the piano doesn’t automatically make you a piano player. A quick course in Flamenco doesn’t make you a dancer.
However, it’s seems nowadays that a small role in a TV series is enough to make you an actor.
And if acceptance of that wasn’t enough, we now have this new TV fad: “become an artist in three months”. TV has the amazing power to make a “professional” out of anybody, the power to grant an unquestionable divine- like air to anybody. Everybody wants to be Penelope, but why? Is it because of her talent or because of the social status she has gained?
“Technique has a background role to play in the creation process, it’s an auxiliary(...), it doesn’t produce inspiration or talent, although it does soften the latter and helps prepare it for other terrains”.
(Stanislavski).
The actor, not the medium, is the only person who can contribute talent. The thing is that this art form uses tools that any society can claim as its own. Even if the expression of emotion is an everyday occurrence, that doesn’t mean that anybody has the capacity or talent to do so once real context has been removed.
Nobody would ever think that even though they sprint for the bus everyday, they are an athlete, or that even if they write loads of greeting cards at Christmas that they’re writers.
We have reached that woeful and gaping rut in creativity once predicted by Stanislavski. There are no new playwrights, actors or talented directors coming through. The situation will certainly remain the same until we award acting and talent the consideration it deserves.
(Dario Fo).
Actors have become a marketable product these days. Their saleability to mass markets is far more important than the quality of their work. The worst thing about the above is not that this art form has chosen its modus operandi to be as such, but the fact that many actors totally believe in this system: “I am photogenic, therefore I am an actor”.
This reality has caused many people to think that anybody can become an actor, and they’re not far wrong. What’s the end result? The lack of talent is not even made up for with work; “I was born for this, therefore I am an actor”.
Well, it’s not enough to have been born to acting, you have to work at it just like everything else. The fact that you can play a song on the piano doesn’t automatically make you a piano player. A quick course in Flamenco doesn’t make you a dancer.
However, it’s seems nowadays that a small role in a TV series is enough to make you an actor.
And if acceptance of that wasn’t enough, we now have this new TV fad: “become an artist in three months”. TV has the amazing power to make a “professional” out of anybody, the power to grant an unquestionable divine- like air to anybody. Everybody wants to be Penelope, but why? Is it because of her talent or because of the social status she has gained?
“Technique has a background role to play in the creation process, it’s an auxiliary(...), it doesn’t produce inspiration or talent, although it does soften the latter and helps prepare it for other terrains”.
(Stanislavski).
The actor, not the medium, is the only person who can contribute talent. The thing is that this art form uses tools that any society can claim as its own. Even if the expression of emotion is an everyday occurrence, that doesn’t mean that anybody has the capacity or talent to do so once real context has been removed.
Nobody would ever think that even though they sprint for the bus everyday, they are an athlete, or that even if they write loads of greeting cards at Christmas that they’re writers.
We have reached that woeful and gaping rut in creativity once predicted by Stanislavski. There are no new playwrights, actors or talented directors coming through. The situation will certainly remain the same until we award acting and talent the consideration it deserves.
