|
Recently an acting teacher friend reminded me that emotions aren't actable. Of course we've all heard this statement from acting teachers before. We've attended the lectures. The message has been drummed into us over the years and most probably for good reason. The maxim goes something like: "from intention comes action from action comes emotion", or words to that effect.
So which does come first? Is this a chicken and egg argument? Does it matter?
Perhaps my question around this maxim stems from my resistance to accept ultimate statements at face value. However to reverse the statement doesn't satisfy either. From emotion comes action.
I suspect that the emergence of the former statement was a response to the original Method movement which certainly gave the impression that if you found the emotional truth in the scene you found the scene.
However the argument that one must come first is less helpful and in most cases a distraction. I prefer the position that both states need to exist in a Yin Yang arrangement. The force behind action-driven processes implies the use of logic and a rational 'doing'. Discussions around motivation, intention, actions and tactics – all playable and doable can at times drive even the best actor into work that is so head-driven the heart has all but ceased to beat within the work. Conversely the approach that centres on understanding the emotions of the character, the feelings and sense memories can equally provide a separation from function and form.
If we suspend the debate about which comes first and we can agree that a predominance of one state over another is disproportionate, how do we resolve the question to some level of satisfaction?
Let me share this analogy with you: I see a coin, heads represents action and tails emotion. When placed on a flat surface the coin is only viewed from one perspective. It is clearly a coin, a flat disc and all the details of one side are clearly visible. Depending on our preference we can view the coin from one side or the other and even argue that the side that cannot be seen does not exist. But when we take that coin and flick it into the air, it spins. And as it spins the flat disc disappears and becomes a sphere – it becomes an orb following an arc or trajectory through the atmosphere. The coin as it moves, combines heads and tails: action and emotion – and this becomes the story. We are no longer bogged down by the argument over which comes first – we see both working together and the flat coin disappears, manifesting (if just for a while) 'as if' it is a sphere. This is the story. Action and emotion working together. Does it matter which comes first?
I'll toss you for it. Heads or tail?
|
