I Should Not be Blogging Today
Seriously, I shouldn't. Because I am in such a bad mood. I mean, the kind of bad mood where you start to not care what people think.
I'm in a bad mood because both the kids are sick now.
I'm in a bad mood because I'm getting sick now.
I'm in a bad mood because it's Monday.
I'm in a bad mood because I got no new words made yesterday.
I'm in a bad mood because it's cold.
I'm in a REALLY bad mood because nobody's beaten the fucking New England Patriots yet, which is a huge pile of shit, and yes, videotaping other teams' practices IS cheating, you shitheads.
Mostly, I'm in a bad mood because there are some people on this planet who fucking refuse to think, speak, or write logically about anything, who refuse to use their brains, who insist they know everything about places they haven't even been or industries they haven't worked in or whatever the fucking topic of the day happens to be, and I've had enough of it, and I should seriously probably get offline before I start cussing them out.
You know what? Some things relating to your life, are not my fucking responsibility. If you fuck up your life, that's your problem, and I resent that I'm supposed to step in and help you or hold your widdle hand and tell you yes, it's awful those big bad people are being so darn meeean to you. When if you'd just done what you were supposed to do in the first place, you wouldn't be having this problem.
Today's post was supposed to be about art, and creative arts specifically. This stems from a conversation my husband and I had, ages ago, which I believe related to the whole "Hannibal" movie Jodie Foster refused to be in, which I know I've mentioned here before. Because Jodie Foster said Clarice would never do what she did in that book, and I got all irritated, because how the fuck would she know? She didn't create that character. She interpeted it.
Actors may be artists. I suppose they would be, in the same way that a dancer is an artist. But not quite. Because while I consider dancers to be creative artists, I consider actors to be reactive artists--they interpret what is already there. They didn't write anything. They didn't create a world in their head. They simply took someone else's work and added a face and voice to it.
In other words--and this was supposed to be a longer post but let's just get to the fucking point--without writers, there would be no movies. No TV shows. No plays. Nothing for actors to do but sit around, improv, and irritate people with their childish demands for attention and their self-created drama.
Behind every award-winning performance in a film or play or tv show, there is award-winning writing. Or at least, writing of such a caliber that the interpreter of it can win an award. Without those words to say, the actor wouldn't know what sort of person they were being. Without that speech being written, there is no performance of it.
So sign the petition, because without writers the world would be a much less rich and interesting place.
13 comments:
I'm firmly with the writers here. It's hard to believe they got such a small piece of the pie to begin with.
I totally think Jodie Foster overstepped her bounds in deciding what Clarice would and wouldn't do. I'm glad she refused the role. Personally, I loved the development of that character. I loved the change she went through; that exploration of her own dark side. The character would have ended up totally flat without it.
Your post reminds me of that episode of Friends where Joey claimed to write his own dialogue; the writers killed him for it.
This is making me worry even more about my own character's dialogue. Dammit.
Sigh.
I guess that's one more thing to fix in rewrites.
SdB
*hugs* i hope the week gets better for you. i know how you feel. cold and flu season is upon us, and the bubs don't have school due to thanksgiving week. *pulls hair out*
I'm sorry you feel suckass today, but I must stick up for the actors a bit.
They might not be able to act without the words, but the words don't necessarily sound as good out of any old actor's mouth. A good actor can mean the difference between golden sounding words and completely crappy sounding words. Four years of conseratory style acting school and listening to twenty different men interpret Hamlet certainly brought home that lesson.
Actors are artists too. Artists whose bodies and minds and souls are all part of their art and that can be....trixy. And exhausting and grueling and mind-fucking. At least good actors anyway.
There's a reason I find being a writer much easier. I can make my character a victim of some horrible crime and feel those feelings with her and pour them out onto the page but I don't actually have to feel that ache in my body, let those feelings fill my mind and come out through my eyes so that the actor I'm working with can see and respond to all that awfulness. There were days "at work" when I was an actor that took it out of me in a way writing never could.
Oh, and writing pays better...usually :). For me anyway, lol.
And um, what else was I going to say...oh yeah, I'll have to side with Jodi. The Clarice she brought to life might *not* have done those things the Clarice did in the second movie. That character, that person she made, was more than the lines she was given. And I'm sure that Clarice was real to her in the same way the book Clarice was real to the author...you know?
Anna J. Evans, former AEA/SAG member who honored the SAG strike for almost a year straight out of college and nearly starved to death because of it.
Without writers, it would all go to hell. That's it. LOL...
I had a rant this morning myself. It felt pretty good. And you're right about the writers, who seem to get no respect despite that without them there'd be nothing.
YEAH!!... off to sign. ( Although I have to agree with Anna that actors can indeed make an enormous difference with their intepretation. Reactive or not.)
But...writers have to write first...or there would be nothing to intepret ..so indeed, they should be looked after and appreciated!!!
I'm a little ahead of you there :) I already signed. But *many good hugs* and much sympathy for all the sickness. I've had a two day bad headache now, which is why I put fun stuff up on my blog today. I hope things turn around for you soon.
I think you need to take yourself to the book store for a little treat or two. What applies to the children should apply to Mommy too, right?
I know, Robyn! Shameful, really.
I agree, Seeley. I thought the turn she took in Hannibal was totally believable, and made perfect sense. I would have loved to see more about her in another book.
Ah, dialogue...so tricky. You'll get there!
Thanks, Cyn. I'm hoping if I get a lot of rest over the next few days I can nip it in the bud. Luckily the hubs will be home from Thursday to the following Tuesday, so...sleep for me!
Oh, I agree a good ator brings the material to life, Anna, but the material has to exist first, and that's why I think writing is more important.
Maybe the Clarice Jodie Foster imagined wouldn't have done it, but there was nothing in the film or in her performance that didn't already exist in the character Thomas Harris created. She had an interpretation of that material, sure, but for her to claim her interpretation was The Character and Harris was wrong was presumptuous to say the least.
Lol DH, exactly!
I know, Charles! What reall gets me is the way the actors always fail to thank the writer. Well, not always always but much of the time. Grrrr.
Yes, Rebecca, the right actor makes a big difference. It's not that I think they're useless. But they're creating by template, a basis left for them by someone else who truly invented it.
I know, Michele, I meant to mention it was you who pointed the petition out to begin with, I'm sorry. This post wasn't exactly how I'd planned it.
Oh, McKoala, that would mean going out again in the cold, lol!
Nothing brings you down like the round robin sickness circle when it starts. You no sooner get one of your kids well when another gets sick. Then the parents, back to the kids, and right through to summer. Boy, do I know how it feels to be on that cycle. I hope you can break free of it somehow.
December, you've really got to learn how to speak your mind. That mincing words. ;~)>
As a raider fan, nobody hates the Rats, er, Pats more than me -tuck rule my ass!
Cheer up, my lovely and I hope you and your little angels get better. -V95
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