In the 1950s, the actors Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift and James Dean (mostly Brando, the other two copied and idolised him and appeared in alphabetical order B-C-D) put into practice the teachings of the legendary Russian theatre giant Konstantin Sergeievich Stanislavski through the medium of Stella Adler’s Academy and thus the method actor was born. Whilst most acting in the theatre and on the silver screen was ‘classical acting’ (think Christopher Lee in Dracula ‘I ammmm an acccctooooor playing a vammmm-pie-y-aaaah!’ or most Shakespeare you may have seen) in which an actor quite clearly portrayed a character, method acting was when the actor ‘ceased to be’ (so to speak) and became the person they were playing (think Brando in On The Waterfront and the glove or ‘I couldabeen a contender’ scenes). In this the person ceased to be and the character was born.
I have long held an interest in acting in terms of the development of the personality and masks. Often, we don a mask before going out of the house, or even out of our bedrooms, to face the day. This is done to protect ourselves against the world, and is very wise, as Leonard Cohen said
‘…it’s always painful for (one) to take off his armour. He gets wounded immediately because there’s arrows flying all over the place. As soon as he takes off his hero’s costume he goes down with an arrow in his heart, that’s why, you know, the figure of cupid arose. You go down with that arrow in your heart, it’s no joke. It’s no joke. You feel it with your children, you feel it with your mate, and you feel it with your parents, you feel it with your friends. If ever you take off the hero’s armour, you get hit right away.’
Yet if we leave these masks on for too long then it is possible (as with Batman (note: I am not Batman)) that we become the mask and our ‘real self’ is lost maybe even to us, the character becomes our ‘real’ self and the actor playing the role is lost. Yet, what is more interesting is what happens if this armour, to use Mr Cohen’s term, is removed, if the ‘arrows’ pierce us.
Adversity is where a person’s true nature is shown. Dylan once wrote with scathing irony about a lost love who, seemingly, has gone off with his friend and were gleeful to see him suffer:
‘Pain sure brings out the best in people, doesn’t it?’
And yet this can sometimes be true. Often when people are hurt, exposed and battered they become harder yet harder doesn’t necessarily have to equate with colder. There are some people, some remarkable people, who understand that true strength lies in gentleness, that to be able to take off the armour, be it by choice or cruelly ripped for them, and behold another for who they are and accept them completely, in what Martin Buber would call ‘I-Thou’ (I’ve written about this often so feel no need to repeat but if you are curious use the search engine on this page to search ‘I-Thou’, it is a truly beautiful concept). It is in this moment when one understands that all truths and meaning in/of life is far beyond us, that we cannot wholly understand another, or even our self, and yet the only thing which matters is love. As Mr Cohen wrote, and has been repeated in different forms at different times, it is the cracks in us, in our masks, in our characters, which lets in the light, the light of gentleness, of kindness, of everything which has always been missing from the mainstream world and, as Mr Cohen said when talking about his song Hallelujah and its meaning,
‘That’s what it’s all about. It says that none of this – you’re not going to be able to work this thing out – you’re not going to be able to set – this realm does not admit to revolution – there’s no solution to this mess. The only moment that you can live here comfortably in these absolutely irreconcilable conflicts is in this moment when you embrace it all and you say ‘Look, I don’t understand a f*****g thing at all – Hallelujah! That’s the only moment that we live here fully as human beings.’
And after all isn’t that the point of life? To be human?
‘till next time
thegreaterfool2016 