From: owner-chakram-refugees-digest@smoe.org (chakram-refugees-digest) To: chakram-refugees-digest@smoe.org Subject: chakram-refugees-digest V6 #76 Reply-To: chakram-refugees@smoe.org Sender: owner-chakram-refugees-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-chakram-refugees-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk chakram-refugees-digest Friday, April 7 2006 Volume 06 : Number 076 Today's Subjects: ----------------- [chakram-refugees] Xena cast 2 for 1 sighting [cjlnh@webtv.net (Cheryl La] Re: [chakram-refugees] OT: Acting methods ["Laconia" Subject: Re: [chakram-refugees] OT: Acting methods Your reply was very interesting and quite educational. The two main points I've absorbed that make me feel better about this whole thing are that (1) the distractions on a movie set keep the actor from getting swamped by the emotion for long, and (2) the actor's ability to control how much s/he gets into the emotion keeps her/him from getting PTSD from it. Thank you for a most interesting response. ******** - ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mirrordrum" To: "Laconia" Cc: Sent: Wednesday, April 05, 2006 10:28 PM Subject: Re: [chakram-refugees] OT: Acting methods > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Laconia" > To: ; > Cc: > Sent: Tuesday, April 04, 2006 7:13 PM > Subject: Re: [chakram-refugees] OT: Acting methods > > >> I've been thinking about this idea of "method" acting and how the actor >> really gets into the emotions of the character s/he is playing. I know >> that people who experience trauma sometimes develop post-traumatic stress >> syndrome, which is supposedly an actual change in the person's brain. >> From then on, the person's brain "resonates" when s/he thinks about the >> trauma or one similar to it. And it's as if they're reliving the >> original trauma. >> >> The reason for this is apparently that brains cannot distinguish what is >> really happening from what the person is just >> pretending/acting/visualizing is happening. If an athlete repeatedly >> visualizes a certain athletic act, like accurately hitting a tennis ball, >> that athlete's brain believes that the act really occurred, and the >> athlete hits the tennis ball better the next time s/he plays after the >> visualizations. > > it's sort of like that only the reason that you can use visualization *to > a point* to enhance skills is that when you visualize an event, for > example flexing your biceps, the neurons that work that muscle actually > fire, albeit below the proprioceptive level. that is to say, neural > activity takes place within the muscle and brain even though you can't > perceive it. the firing of the neurons can be measured which is how they > know it happens. > > taking that to the next level, if you already have the basic cognitive, > emotional and behavioral skills to perform a complex action, whether it's > a tennis stroke or asking a question in class, imaging the action as > vividly and with as much complexity as possible allows the brain and body > to rehearse. this strengthens the necessary neural pathways and makes it > more likely that you'll perform what you're visualizing better than if you > didn't visualize. it *is* a form of practice. the snag here is that if you > visualize an incorrect backhand or a negative consequence to asking a > question or asking someone on a date or whatever, your brain will react > just as though those things had actually happened *if you do it often > enough*. you're lucky i don't go into the complexities of that. from long > habit and practice, it's what i'm most likely to do. but i restrain > myself. > >> >> So I've been speculating about method actors who really get into the >> emotions of, say, a rapist, a murder victim, a child molester, an insane >> person, etc. Do you think that some method actors eventually develop a >> kind of post-traumatic stress syndrome in regard to "traumatic" >> characters they play? > > an interesting question. i'd doubt it very much unless there's some link > to previously existing trauma in which case the person wouldn't, or at > least shouldn't, go there. > > ptsd has gotten a bit overused as a term in the psych biz and that's > spread, not surprisingly, to the general public. it refers, or should be > used to refer, to a *disorder* [not a discomfort] that arises when someone > experiences traumatic stress. it's usually defined as stress that's beyond > the ordinary realm of human experience. of course, "ordinary realm" > varies between and within societies. what's traumatic to most westerners > is minor compared to the ordinary lived experience of, say, people in > darfur or baghdad. > > ptsd is a complex of symptoms and signs following a traumatic event or > events that may include, but isn't limited to, nightmares, clinical > depression, anxiety and/or panic disorder, agoraphobia, hypervigilance, an > exaggerated startle response, sweating, withdrawal, so-called "flashbacks" > [this is where the traumatic event replays during wakefulness and can't be > stopped], and so forth. it's very difficult, and sometimes impossible, for > a person with ptsd to function normally in social situations. people with > ptsd, even extreme ptsd, can be helped, but it takes a lot of time and > intensive work. > > there's a huge difference between a stressful experience, say playing a > character experiencing traumatic circumstances, and an experience that's > deeply traumatic in itself. > > for an actor to develop ptsd from enacting a character, the experience of > that enacting would have to become a traumatic reality. but on a set or > stage, reality is continually intruding if only via context. > > you're absolutely correct that our brains have difficulty in a given > moment telling what's really happening from what is happening internally. > that's why we can frighten ourselves or make ourselves happy. that's part > of why theatre works: the human brain can symbolize and reacts to symbols > as if they were real. > > in the case of an actor, though, the external context in which you're > enacting a character is, or should be, clear evidence to the brain that > you're not, in fact, being shot, blown up or raping someone. there's the > script, director, rehearsal, goofs, all the paraphernalia, costuming, > retakes, pauses for setups, possibly an audience, and so forth. these > things should help actors' brains discern between enacting a role for the > duration of a take or even an entire scene and actually being the > character and enduring the circumstances. if they don't, if the actor > believes he or she *is* xena or hannibal lecter, then it's not acting, > it's delusion. there's probably a fine line sometimes. > > there were several examples of this with xena. in the fireside chat scene > in [callisto], remember they went to all that great trouble with the sound > so that she wouldn't have to loop the emotional bit in the studio? i just > scurried over to my xwp official guide to check that and yeah, it was > messing about with the dolly and the grip and the fire and i don't know > what else so lucy wouldn't have to "post-sync" it but could do the emotion > live. so she's rehearsing ahead of time and there are all these plans so > that she can do the emotion realistically but it's within a very definite > acting context. > > that's just not the same as actually believing she burned a village. it's > about being very good at behaving "as if" for however many takes it. . > .takes. she might go home and be stressed out about the thought of a > village burning or something, but that's work stress or angst or > weltschmertz or something, it's not ptsd. > > then wasn't it in [aitst] where lucy was wandering around in the rain for > some scene [which scene?] and wouldn't let anyone talk to her between > takes or something because she didn't want to lose whatever it was she had > going emotionally? well, if you can "lose" an emotional state that easily, > you know the state and the circumstances aren't real. again, that's not > traumatic though it may be emotionally exhausting and stressful. > > renee also talked about the exhaustion of spending that day emoting for 8 > hours over eli in, uh, [sof]--i can't believe i had to go look that up on > whoosh! i really love that ep. i can only shake my head. > > anyway, ren talks about how stressful it was to do something that's hard > for her which is to display that kind of raw emotion. she wasn't stressed > by believing eli was actually killed or that she actually allowed it to > happen but rather by the personal difficulty of enacting something that's > hard for her. > > streep once said on [inside the actor's studio] that actors go places that > everyone hopes they'll never have to go. james lipton said something about > actors really going there by choice and iirc, streep said something to the > effect that, "yeah, but we can come back." > > i'm intrigued by where and how people define their edge. i know actors, or > good ones anyway--maybe all actors, try to push that edge in some way in > using "the craft". i think many of us do that in our different ways. > > it's my belief that when you do that knowingly, intentionally, you may > stress yourself but you're not going to give yourself ptsd because you > have at least the illusion of control. part of the definition of trauma, > and of ptsd, is that you're completely out of control, you're waaaaaay > outside the box. whether it's war, abuse, a terrible death, a hurricane or > some other awful circumstance, a trauma to the mind and emotions is > something that can't be encompassed by an individual's previous learning > history. there are no mechanisms in place to handle it. > > trauma happens often in life and afterwards people experience lasting > repercussions. i doubt very much that it happens in the course of acting > itself. > > well. that was a fun ramble. i haven't thought about this kind of stuff > for quite some time. see what you get for asking what people think? they > tell you. ad nauseum. *chuckle* > > peace on you, > > md > > > > > > > > >> >> ******************* >> >> From: >> >> (Snipped a bunch of good stuff...) >> >>> Method--Lee Strasberg. Method is an acting technique in which actors try >>> to replicate the emotional conditions under which the character operates >>> in real life, in an effort to create a life-like, realistic performance. >>> "The Method" requires an actor to draw on his or her own emotions, >>> memories, and experiences to influence their portrayal of a character. >> Richan >> ========================================================= >> This has been a message to the chakram-refugees list. >> To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@smoe.org with >> "unsubscribe chakram-refugees" in the message body. >> Contact meth@smoe.org with any questions or problems. >> ========================================================= ========================================================= This has been a message to the chakram-refugees list. To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@smoe.org with "unsubscribe chakram-refugees" in the message body. Contact meth@smoe.org with any questions or problems. ========================================================= ------------------------------ End of chakram-refugees-digest V6 #76 *************************************