tag:theconversation.com,2011:/fr/topics/acting-9262/articlesActing – The Conversation2024-03-21T18:01:52Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2262812024-03-21T18:01:52Z2024-03-21T18:01:52ZThe ideal James Bond is an actor on the cusp of superstardom – as film history shows<p>More people have walked on the Moon than have played James Bond, so it’s no wonder that the suave secret agent with a licence to kill is one of the most coveted roles in cinema. The casting of a new 007 always grabs the public imagination – even now, when it’s still only a rumour that British actor <a href="https://www.thesun.co.uk/tv/26774029/aaron-taylor-johnson-offered-role-james-bond/">Aaron Taylor-Johnson</a> has been offered the part.</p>
<p>There have been false rumours in the past. I still remember a non-story that Australian model <a href="https://www.mi6-hq.com/sections/articles/bonds-finlay-light-interview">Finlay Light</a> had been cast as the new Bond in 1986. </p>
<p>Even before social media, the casting of James Bond was always a subject of public intrigue. Before Sean Connery was cast in Dr No (1962), the Daily Express <a href="https://www.mi6-hq.com/sections/articles/history_dr_no_casting_peter_anthony">ran a competition</a> to find the public’s choice for the “ideal” Bond. The winner was model Peter Anthony, who won ahead of several other contenders, including stuntman Bob Simmons.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.express.co.uk/entertainment/films/1676825/James-Bond-Sean-Connery-Dr-No-Michael-G-Wilson">often-told story</a> that Cary Grant was “offered” the part by the producer Albert “Cubby” Broccoli should be taken with a <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/When_the_Snow_Melts/-qocAQAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=When+the+Snow+Melts+cubby+broccoli&dq=When+the+Snow+Melts+cubby+broccoli&printsec=frontcover">large dose of salt</a>. Grant’s picture fee at the time was over four times Dr No’s total cast budget of £25,000. </p>
<p>Harry Saltzman, Broccoli’s production partner, told the press that Michael Craig and Patrick McGoohan had been considered. And the United Artists’ archive reveals that Broccoli and Saltzman saw the war picture The Valiant (1962) but reported that “Robert Shaw in this particular film did not impress any of us as being James Bond”. However, Shaw was subsequently cast as an assassin in From Russia With Love (1963).</p>
<p>Two myths have accumulated around Connery’s casting over the years. One is that he was an unknown when he was cast. In fact, Connery was already a well-established television actor and had meaty supporting roles in films such as Another Time, Another Place (1958) and The Frightened City (1961) before he got the call. </p>
<p><a href="https://cup.columbia.edu/book/dr-no/9780231204934">Broccoli stated</a> it was Connery’s role in Disney’s whimsical fantasy Darby O’Gill and the Little People (1959) that put the actor on his radar. </p>
<p>The other myth is that Bond’s creator Ian Fleming disapproved of Connery, considering him too rough and ready to play the suave secret agent. However, as revealed in Fergus Fleming’s collection of his uncle’s letters, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/may/31/the-man-with-the-golden-typewriter-ian-flemings-james-bond-letters-fergus-fleming-review">The Man With the Golden Typewriter</a> (2015), Fleming met – and approved of – Connery. </p>
<p>The writer told his confidante, Blanche Blackwell, that “the man they have chosen for Bond, Sean Connery, is a real charmer – fairly unknown but a good actor with the right looks and physique”.</p>
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<h2>Next in line</h2>
<p>Bond was the box office phenomenon of the 1960s, and when Connery decided it was time to step back after five films, finding a replacement was a drawn-out process. Australian model George Lazenby, a genuine unknown whose only acting experience had been in television commercials for Fry’s chocolate, won the part on account of his ability to stage convincing fight scenes.</p>
<p>On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969) is the closest of the adaptations to Fleming’s book, but it didn’t perform as well as previous Bonds at the box office. Lazenby carried the can for its perceived failure: he was destined to be the one-time Bond.</p>
<p>American actor John Gavin, best known for playing Janet Leigh’s boyfriend in Psycho (1960), was signed for Diamonds Are Forever (1971). Gavin had the right sort of looks and physique for the part, and would have played Bond as British. </p>
<p>However, United Artists were determined to get Connery back, and made him an offer he couldn’t refuse: 12.5% of the distributor’s net receipts with an up-front cash advance of US$1,250,000 (£983,050) and an agreement to produce two films of the actor’s choice. No wonder Connery seems to be enjoying himself so much in Diamonds Are Forever. Gavin was paid and released from his contract.</p>
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<p>The casting of Live And Let Die (1973) proved controversial. United Artists wanted a household name star and its archive confirms that Clint Eastwood and Paul Newman were approached – but neither were interested. </p>
<p>In the end it came down to a choice between Burt Reynolds or Roger Moore. Saltzman reportedly favoured the former but Broccoli “<a href="https://cup.columbia.edu/book/dr-no/9780231204934">violently opposed”</a>“ Burt Reynolds. Moore emerged as the compromise choice as he was the only actor on whom they could agree.</p>
<p>Moore was the first established star to be cast as Bond – albeit his stardom was on the small screen, as the dashing gentleman hero of The Saint (1962) and The Persuaders! (1971). He was also the oldest Bond at the point of casting. As one reviewer <a href="https://cup.columbia.edu/book/dr-no/9780231204934">presciently remarked</a>: "Roger Moore is 45. I predict he could now be playing James Bond into his fifties.” As indeed he did.</p>
<p>Moore’s successor was another television actor, the Irish-born Pierce Brosnan, star of Remington Steele (1982). But when the network refused to release Brosnan from his contract, Timothy Dalton was a late replacement for The Living Daylights (1987) and Licence to Kill (1989). Brosnan eventually got the role that he thought had eluded him nine years later in GoldenEye (1995). In that sense he was the longest “Bond-in-waiting”.</p>
<h2>Modern Bonds</h2>
<p>Brosnan had been the bookies’ odds-on favourite. In contrast his successor, Daniel Craig, whose biggest role had been in the British gangster film Layer Cake (2004), was a a surprise choice. His casting prompted something of a backlash from fans – that he was too short, too “ugly” and too blonde for Bond.</p>
<p>There was even an online campaign, “<a href="http://danielcraigisnotbond.com/index/blog/2017/02/26/daniel-craig-is-not-bond/">Craig Not Bond</a>”. However, the success of Casino Royale (2006), Skyfall (2012) and three other blockbusters silenced the critics. Craig, one of the few Bonds to leave the series at the time of his choosing, retired from Her Majesty’s Secret Service with the five biggest-grossing Bond films in the series’ history.</p>
<p>So, Lazenby and Moore excepted, Bond producers have usually cast an actor on the cusp of stardom. Aaron Taylor-Johnson – if the rumours turn out to be true – would fit that pattern. He’s not an unknown, but he’s not quite a superstar. And at 33 he’d also be the youngest Bond since Lazenby, not an insignificant consideration given that the producers will want to sign the new Bond for at least three films.</p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>James Chapman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The casting of James Bond has been met with much intrigue and myth over the years.James Chapman, Professor of Film Studies, University of LeicesterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2253102024-03-11T17:18:40Z2024-03-11T17:18:40ZIntuition is the secret to great acting and many other skills – here’s how to train it<p>The 2024 Academy Awards recognised several amazing acting performances, including Cillian Murphy’s portrayal of the physicist Robert Oppenheimer, which won him the award for Best Actor. But what is it that drives such peak performances? When an actor <a href="https://www.screendaily.com/features/cillian-murphy-explains-how-he-transformed-from-cowardly-irishman-to-atomic-bomb-father-in-oppenheimer/5188692.article">fully embodies the character</a> to the extent that it creates an immersive, sustained world of make believe, we say that the actor was acting <em>intuitively</em>. </p>
<p>Such performances are not limited to acting – we might see such intuition in sports and music, too. But it is broader than that. Behaving intuitively is something we all do. It is any type of situation where we just <em>know</em> what to do in the moment – allowing us to be the best versions of ourselves. </p>
<p>So how can we make sure we behave intuitively, where it matters? And can we foster this ability? Our latest research, published in the journal <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2024-52558-001">Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts</a>, suggests that intuition can be trained and that it may be best understood as an “embodied state of mind” supported by the cognitive abilities of being aware of ourselves and our surroundings, and being immersed in an experience. </p>
<p>What does an embodied state of mind mean? William James, generally acknowledged to be the founder of modern psychology, suggested that there are two sides to awareness, the “I” and the “me”. The active aspect of self-awareness is the “I” – this is the part of our awareness that experiences the here and now – sometimes referred to as the “experiential self”. The more passive aspect of awareness is the “me” – this part that observes or reflects upon our actions. We might call this the rational or reflective self.</p>
<p>This distinction has long been recognised in neuroscientific research. For example, studies have shown that <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.1119598109">taking psychedelic drugs</a> and <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/hbm.24616">experiencing awe or wonder</a> can reduce activity in default mode network, which is a self-referential brain network underlying reflective self-awareness.</p>
<p>Moreover, <a href="https://academic.oup.com/scan/article/2/4/313/1676557">recent research</a> has suggested that mindfulness meditation might help us to move from reflective self-awareness to experiential self-awareness through training our attention.</p>
<h2>Immersing with awareness</h2>
<p>Our intuition relies on many unconscious processes that support all of our cognition, perception and interaction with the world. It requires us to take much of that in, but also not lose ourselves in being overwhelmed by our senses. In other words, we need to maintain the right levels of awareness while being immersed. </p>
<p>We perceive the world with our entire bodies, through <a href="https://aeon.co/videos/aristotle-was-wrong-and-so-are-we-there-are-far-more-than-five-senses">all of our senses</a> – from seeing to “thermoception” (sensing temperature) and “proprioception” (knowing which parts of your body are where without looking). This allows us to interact with the world around us in safe and useful ways. Ultimately, intuition happens when we are attuned to both what happens in our body and what happens around us.</p>
<p>But being highly aware of ourselves and our surroundings can’t fully explain intuition. When we are engaging with our intuition, we are acting on what we sense. But it can be hard to maintain our awareness if we become fully engaged with some specific task that uses intuition. This is why another ability is required: the ability for immersion. </p>
<p>The ability for immersion or absorption means that you can stay fully immersed in a task through focused attention. This is very similar to what is dubbed as <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-does-experiencing-flow-feel-so-good-a-communication-scientist-explains-173505">“flow”</a>. </p>
<p>But if you become too immersed, wouldn’t you lose your awareness of yourself and your surroundings? This is why we suggest you need meta-awareness: an awareness of having the experience, rather than reflecting on the fact that you are having an experience. In other words, you have to be in an experiential rather than rational state; you are experiencing, not reasoning.</p>
<p>Take for example acting. When we played a part in a school play, we may have been okay with representing Juliet, up until we realised that everyone was looking at us just as we stumbled over the words. We then switched from experiential self–awareness – in which we embodied Juliet – to reflective self-awareness, where we (over)thought about what we were doing. This type of “choking” during a performance is also really common in <a href="https://hbr.org/2022/04/the-science-of-choking-under-pressure">sports</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://pureportal.coventry.ac.uk/en/studentTheses/developing-an-actors-intuition">An actor acts intuitively</a> when they enter a state of immersion during their imagining, with full attention to and awareness of the imagining, as well as full awareness of oneself and the environment. They become fully immersed in the awareness of the experience – they have experiential awareness.</p>
<p>But we mustn’t make the mistake of thinking that <a href="https://theconversation.com/hollywood-has-got-method-acting-all-wrong-heres-what-the-process-is-really-about-172568">method acting involves immersing one so deeply</a> that the actors are no longer themselves. They have to maintain meta-awareness in other to avoid <a href="https://medium.com/@sm72/the-psychological-impact-of-acting-5ed132d9fc14">mental health problems</a> such as dissociation, and worse.</p>
<h2>How to develop your intuition</h2>
<p>If intuition is an embodied cognitive state rather than an ephemeral phenomenon that may happen by chance, does that mean it can be developed? </p>
<p>Achieving intuition is considered one of the aims of <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/My_Life_in_Art.html?id=n0haDwAAQBAJ&redir_esc=y">Konstantin Stanislavski’s approach to acting training</a> (the foundation of western mainstream acting). But even in this, intuition is often still treated as something that has been handed down from the muses, much like a burst of creativity or insight. </p>
<p>Our research, however, found that intuition can be trained. To do that, we need to train the underlying abilities: an awareness of our internal and external world, combined with immersion.</p>
<p>As part of our research, we invited acting students to <a href="https://pureportal.coventry.ac.uk/en/studentTheses/developing-an-actors-intuition">do intuition training</a>, developed by co-investigator Micia de Wet. This consisted of exercises focused on imagery and structured by using guided meditations to train the actor’s attention and sensory awareness. The training also included exercises to stimulate immersion into story worlds through play and imaginative exploration. We found that this training boosted the actors’ intuition. Our survey of 310 actors also showed that the more they engaged in mindfulness meditation, the higher their acting intuition.</p>
<p>While this training was specific to acting, we suggest similarly guided meditations, role play exercises and mindfulness training can boost our attention and focus. These may increase intuition in other contexts, as these exercises sharpen general underlying cognitive abilities of awareness and immersion, <a href="https://theconversation.com/six-common-misconceptions-about-meditation-90786">bringing awareness</a> to the body and environment. </p>
<p>Rather than an esoteric phenomenon or temporary moment of peak performance, intuition is an important cognitive and emotional state supported by abilities that anybody can continuously use to engage with the world around them – and that, moreover, can be developed.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/225310/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Valerie van Mulukom does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>There are trainable cognitive building blocks of intuition.Valerie van Mulukom, Visiting Lecturer in Psychology, Coventry UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2235002024-03-08T22:16:27Z2024-03-08T22:16:27ZThe failures of ‘Oppenheimer’ and the ascent of the foreign film – 6 essential reads for the Oscars<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580764/original/file-20240308-24-8d2882.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=26%2C4%2C2968%2C1994&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Oscars will be handed out to winners across 24 categories, ranging from best picture to best costume design.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/oscars-are-displayed-at-meet-the-oscars-an-exhibit-news-photo/56822072?adppopup=true">Kevin Winter/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Because movies are so subjective, with views on the same performances and direction veering wildly from one critic to the next, determining the best of anything – whether it’s acting, direction or sound design – can be fraught. </p>
<p>But that controversy also makes for good drama and suspense – fitting for a ceremony celebrating the ways in which actors, directors and cinematographers captivate, move and thrill audiences.</p>
<p>So before you tune into Hollywood’s biggest night of the year, here are five recent stories – and one betting tip – about the films, fashion and actors who will be featured at this year’s show.</p>
<h2>1. Can you want an Oscar too much?</h2>
<p>As Michael Schulman, author of “<a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/products/oscar-wars-michael-schulman?variant=41063519387682">Oscar Wars</a>,” has written, the Academy Awards are not exactly a “barometer of artistic merit or worth.” </p>
<p>For that reason, in the months leading up to the Oscars, there’s a lot of behind-the-scenes politicking as studios and producers make the case for why their writers, directors, cinematographers, costume designers and actors should win the top prize.</p>
<p>Sometimes the actors will make the case themselves. In recent years, more and more will promote the extent to which they prepared for their roles. </p>
<p>You may have heard that Cillian Murphy lost 20 pounds and took up smoking (fake) cigarettes to play nuclear physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, or that Bradley Cooper spent six years training in the art of conducting in order to film a key scene as Leonard Bernstein in “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5535276/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_1_tt_4_nm_3_q_maestro">Maestro</a>.”</p>
<p>The anecdotes are supposed to burnish their Oscar credentials. </p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/bradley-cooper-cillian-murphy-and-the-myths-of-method-acting-224340">Should they?</a></p>
<p>“Yes, the media loves these kinds of stories, and they can demonstrate a certain type of commitment,” writes Holy Cross theater professor <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/scott-malia-1468175">Scott Malia</a>. “But they can also paint actors as pampered and pretentious ‘artistes’ whose process is self-indulgent. A working actor struggling to pay the bills doesn’t have the luxury of, say, insisting that everyone address them by their character’s name.”</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/bradley-cooper-cillian-murphy-and-the-myths-of-method-acting-224340">Bradley Cooper, Cillian Murphy and the myths of Method acting</a>
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<h2>2. The anti-‘Oppenheimer’ crowd</h2>
<p>Christopher Nolan’s “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15398776/">Oppenheimer</a>” is the runaway favorite to be named best picture, <a href="https://www.vegasinsider.com/awards/odds/oscars/">according to Vegas Insider</a>. </p>
<p>But if The Conversation’s coverage of the film is any indication, it doesn’t deserve the win.</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/charles-thorpe-1453180">Charles Thorpe</a> – a sociologist at the University of California, San Diego – explores why J. Robert Oppenheimer, in particular, <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-american-culture-fixates-on-the-tragic-image-of-j-robert-oppenheimer-the-most-famous-man-behind-the-atomic-bomb-209365">has become the focus of so much writing on the bomb</a>.</p>
<p>On the one hand, it’s a lot easier to digest the complexities of science, politics and human suffering through an individual – “a human-scaled way to talk about an otherwise overwhelming topic,” as Thorpe puts it.</p>
<p>But on the other hand, Thorpe argues that American culture’s “fascination with the man behind the bomb often seems to eclipse the horrific reality of nuclear weapons themselves.”</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-american-culture-fixates-on-the-tragic-image-of-j-robert-oppenheimer-the-most-famous-man-behind-the-atomic-bomb-209365">Why American culture fixates on the tragic image of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the most famous man behind the atomic bomb</a>
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<h2>3. Few new insights</h2>
<p>Michigan State University historian <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/naoko-wake-1508370">Naoko Wake</a> also takes issue with what she calls the “inward-looking” nature of “Oppenheimer.”</p>
<p>Like so many other films about the bomb, Nolan applies a distinctly Western lens that, in Wake’s view, <a href="https://theconversation.com/oppenheimer-is-a-disappointment-and-a-lost-opportunity-222591">has become cloudy and cracked from overuse</a>. </p>
<p>In the end, the film’s tension hinges on decisions made by Americans, for Americans, offering “few, if any, new insights about the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and their repercussions.” </p>
<p>“Even if this film is seen purely through the lens of entertainment,” Wake adds, “Nolan could have chosen to recognize why the bombs are such a galvanizing subject to begin with: They have done much, much more than make white, middle-class Americans feel anxious or guilty.”</p>
<p>“Their blasts reverberated across the globe,” she continues, “tearing apart not only America’s wartime enemies but also colonized peoples and racial minorities.” </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/despite-its-big-night-at-the-oscars-oppenheimer-is-a-disappointment-and-a-lost-opportunity-222591">Despite its big night at the Oscars, 'Oppenheimer' is a disappointment and a lost opportunity</a>
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<h2>4. Foreign films take center stage</h2>
<p>But for all the concern about American perspectives dominating interpretations of history, there’s been a striking shift in the film industry, which has taken a decidedly international turn over the past decade.</p>
<p>This year, three non-English language films – “Anatomy of a Fall,” “Past Lives” and “The Zone of Interest” – have been nominated for best picture. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580768/original/file-20240308-24-ik5y2g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An Asian woman in a blue dress stands on a street in front of a big, bright billboard advertising a screening for 'Past Lives.'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580768/original/file-20240308-24-ik5y2g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580768/original/file-20240308-24-ik5y2g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580768/original/file-20240308-24-ik5y2g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580768/original/file-20240308-24-ik5y2g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580768/original/file-20240308-24-ik5y2g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580768/original/file-20240308-24-ik5y2g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580768/original/file-20240308-24-ik5y2g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Korean-Canadian filmmaker Celine Song wrote and directed ‘Past Lives,’ which is one of three non-English language films nominated for Best Picture at the 2024 Academy Awards.</span>
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<p>Miami University film studies scholar <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/kerry-hegarty-1508053">Kerry Hegarty</a> tells the story of how non-English cinema has been gradually folded in the ceremonies – boxed out at first, eventually given its own category and finally winning best picture in 2020, when “Parasite” won.</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/how-non-english-language-cinema-is-reshaping-the-oscars-landscape-222484">Hegarty explains how this didn’t happen naturally</a>; it took work. State-sponsored programs supporting filmmakers in foreign countries played a big role, as did changes in the demographic makeup of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.</p>
<p>“Streaming distribution has also democratized access to non-English language cinema,” she adds, “which was previously limited only to niche audiences in art house theaters in large cities.”</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-non-english-language-cinema-is-reshaping-the-oscars-landscape-222484">How non-English language cinema is reshaping the Oscars landscape</a>
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<h2>5. The guardians of glamour</h2>
<p>In the early years of the Academy Awards, what people wore to the event received little attention. In fact, even after televisions landed in millions of living rooms across the U.S., movie fans couldn’t watch the Oscars on TV: The film industry resisted broadcasting the event on the medium it saw as its top competition.</p>
<p>That all changed once Hollywood ran into some financial trouble in the late 1940s and needed television networks to help pay for the annual event. All of a sudden, how movie stars appeared at the event mattered – <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-academy-awards-became-the-biggest-international-fashion-show-free-for-all-221477">and studios decided that this eccentric coterie needed some corralling</a>.</p>
<p>Enter Edith Head, guardian of glamour.</p>
<p>University of Southern California fashion scholar <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/elizabeth-castaldo-lunden-1482727">Elizabeth Castaldo Lundén</a> tells the story of how Head – and, later, Fred Hayman – maintained boundaries of decorum, while also encouraging stars to showcase the latest luxury trends and attire, turning the event into a dazzling fashion spectacle.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-academy-awards-became-the-biggest-international-fashion-show-free-for-all-221477">How the Academy Awards became 'the biggest international fashion show free-for-all'</a>
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<h2>6. 92 years old, 54 nominations</h2>
<p>When 92-year-old composer John Williams strolls up to Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre, he’ll be looking to secure his sixth gold statuette.</p>
<p>It’s been a while since Williams’ last win – exactly 30 years, when he won best original score for “Schindler’s List” in 1994. Nonetheless, Williams holds the record for most nominations for a living person, with 54. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Elderly bald man with white beard conducts a concert." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580767/original/file-20240308-20-3z5nq8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580767/original/file-20240308-20-3z5nq8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580767/original/file-20240308-20-3z5nq8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580767/original/file-20240308-20-3z5nq8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580767/original/file-20240308-20-3z5nq8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580767/original/file-20240308-20-3z5nq8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580767/original/file-20240308-20-3z5nq8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Composer John Williams will be looking to take home his sixth Academy Award. Williams holds the record for most nominations for a living person, with 54.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/composer-john-williams-conducts-the-concert-celebrating-the-news-photo/1549425746?adppopup=true">Shannon Finney/Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>Rice University music professor <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/arthur-gottschalk-1508701">Arthur Gottschalk</a> <a href="https://theconversation.com/from-jaws-to-schindlers-list-john-williams-has-infused-movie-scores-with-adventure-and-emotion-222694">looks back on Williams’ illustrious career</a> and explains how the composer’s suite for “E.T.” burnished his reputation.</p>
<p>Not only was it Williams’ first score to be embraced by concert orchestras, but it also changed the way director Steven Spielberg edited the film, “inverting the normal relationship between director and composer,” Gottschalk writes.</p>
<p>“The scoring of the finale,” he continues, “in which protagonist Elliott and his friends help the alien escape captivity, is so effective that Spielberg re-cut the end of the film to match Williams’ music.”</p>
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<em>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/from-jaws-to-schindlers-list-john-williams-has-infused-movie-scores-with-adventure-and-emotion-222694">From 'Jaws' to 'Schindler's List,' John Williams has infused movie scores with adventure and emotion</a>
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</p>
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<p><em>This story is a roundup of articles from The Conversation’s archives.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/223500/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Before you tune into Hollywood’s biggest night of the year, check out our coverage of the stars of this year’s show.Nick Lehr, Arts + Culture EditorLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2243402024-03-05T13:58:57Z2024-03-05T13:58:57ZBradley Cooper, Cillian Murphy and the myths of Method acting<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579255/original/file-20240301-26-y48ck5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=11%2C11%2C2544%2C1812&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Bradley Cooper as Leonard Bernstein and Carey Mulligan as Bernstein's wife, Felicia Montealegre, in 'Maestro.'</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.newyorker.com/photos/6580a0cc97c77278da928c1c/master/pass/Maestro_20220928_20662r.JPG">Jason McDonald/Netflix</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Should actors and actresses who go to extremes to prepare for their roles get more love from Oscars voters? </p>
<p>This year, best actor nominees <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0614165/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk">Cillian Murphy</a>, who played nuclear physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer in “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15398776/">Oppenheimer</a>,” and <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0177896/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_1_tt_3_nm_4_q_bradley%2520cooper">Bradley Cooper</a>, who starred as <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2008/12/15/the-legend-of-lenny">Leonard Bernstein</a> in the biopic “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5535276/">Maestro</a>,” are getting lots of buzz not only for their performances but also for how those performances were achieved.</p>
<p>The already slim Murphy lost roughly 20 pounds and took up smoking fake cigarettes to mimic the look and habits of the real-life Oppenheimer. His preparation for the role <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2023/07/inside-cillian-murphy-intense-oppenheimer-prep-i-didnt-go-out-much">was purportedly so intense</a> that he isolated himself from his co-stars during the making of the film.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Cooper allegedly <a href="https://variety.com/2023/film/features/bradley-cooper-spike-lee-maestro-no-chairs-set-method-acting-1235821551/">spent six years training</a> in the art of conducting in order to film a key sequence for “Maestro.” And on a December 2023 episode of the podcast “SmartLess,” best actress nominee <a href="https://podcasts.musixmatch.com/podcast/smartless-01gttmmw40q3na01cxg9j6kp91/episode/carey-mulligan-01hhxzwj46vx83k5ne3vfhv53p">Carey Mulligan</a> recounted how Bradley Cooper called her on the phone and spoke to her in Leonard Bernstein’s voice years before they had begun filming “Maestro.”</p>
<p>Reporting on the actors’ preparation often references <a href="https://www.nfi.edu/method-acting/">Method acting</a>, a psychological approach to performing that’s designed to make the character seem more real and believable. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.holycross.edu/academics/programs/theatre/scott-malia">But as someone who has taught theater for over 20 years</a>, I’ve found that much of what is said or written about Method acting perpetuates a number of myths about the technique. Sometimes, it can be tough to tell whether actors are genuinely preparing for a role or simply “performing” their preparation for their co-stars, the media and the public.</p>
<h2>The origins of ‘the Method’</h2>
<p>Method acting – sometimes called “the Method” – derives from “the system,” an approach to acting developed by Russian actor and director <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/94675.An_Actor_Prepares">Konstantin Stanislavski</a>, which he describes in the 1936 book “<a href="https://archive.org/details/2015.126189.AnActorPrepares">An Actor Prepares</a>.” </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579257/original/file-20240301-48072-drn68t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Painting of a middle-aged man with gray hair." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579257/original/file-20240301-48072-drn68t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579257/original/file-20240301-48072-drn68t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=942&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579257/original/file-20240301-48072-drn68t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=942&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579257/original/file-20240301-48072-drn68t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=942&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579257/original/file-20240301-48072-drn68t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1184&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579257/original/file-20240301-48072-drn68t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1184&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579257/original/file-20240301-48072-drn68t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1184&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Konstantin Stanislavski’s techniques have been hugely influential in the training of European and American actors.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/portrait-of-the-actor-konstantin-sergeyevich-stanislavsky-news-photo/1144560864?adppopup=true">The Print Collector/Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>Stanislavski asks actors to identify the forces that motivate and drive their characters. In doing so, the actor strives to be in the moment with their fellow actors, responding as their character would to imaginary circumstances.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000008/">Marlon Brando</a> brought mainstream awareness to Method acting. To prepare for his role in “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042727/">The Men</a>,” in which he plays a paralyzed war veteran, Brando reportedly <a href="https://www.slashfilm.com/846709/marlon-brando-only-broke-method-once-during-his-intense-prep-for-the-men/">spent time in a veterans hospital</a> using a wheelchair and did not initially reveal to the other patients that he was not disabled. He also reportedly stayed in his wheelchair between takes while filming.</p>
<p>In the decades since, Method acting has become associated with actors losing themselves in their characters, such as Daniel Day-Lewis <a href="https://screenrant.com/daniel-day-lewis-wild-method-acting-stories/">having people spoon-feed him</a> in order to prepare for his role as a painter with cerebral palsy in “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097937/">My Left Foot</a>” (1989).</p>
<h2>This is the new me!</h2>
<p>Despite all of the attention these stories get, some of the extremes actors go to would have likely made Stanislavski laugh.</p>
<p>“An Actor Prepares” is built around a fictional acting class in which a teacher – most likely a stand-in for Stanislavski himself – breaks his actors’ bad habits and teaches them the foundations of the system. </p>
<p>Many of the exercises the teacher designs are to help the actors imagine what they might do if they were in the same situation as their characters – not to recreate those circumstances in real life. </p>
<p>Along the way, Stanislavski’s acting teacher regularly lampoons actors going to phony extremes to achieve what they think is authenticity. </p>
<p>Not unlike the ethically questionable issues of Brando and Day-Lewis <a href="https://theconversation.com/on-screen-and-on-stage-disability-continues-to-be-depicted-in-outdated-cliched-ways-130577">appropriating disability</a>, one of the actor characters in Stanislavski’s book adopts mind-bogglingly racist approaches, including blackface, as he prepares to play Othello. </p>
<p>Decades later, there are echoes of this critique in the work of Robert Downey Jr., <a href="https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/robert-downey-jr-tropic-thunder-blackface-regrets-1202204722/">who wore blackface</a> in an irony-drenched but nonetheless problematic sendup of Method acting in “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0942385/">Tropic Thunder</a>” (2008).</p>
<h2>Does this character make me look fat?</h2>
<p>Much of the debate around <a href="https://time.com/6240001/the-whale-fatsuit-controversy/">last year’s best actor winner, Brendan Fraser</a>, had to do with his wearing prosthetics to play the morbidly obese Charlie in “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13833688/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_8_nm_0_q_the%2520whale">The Whale</a>.”</p>
<p>It should be noted that Cillian Murphy denies that he is a Method actor – as does Day-Lewis – and Murphy has refused to disclose the <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2023/07/inside-cillian-murphy-intense-oppenheimer-prep-i-didnt-go-out-much">weight loss tactics</a> he used to shed pounds for his role in “Oppenheimer.” Yet one of his co-stars, Emily Blunt, semi-jokingly referred to Murphy as eating an almond a day to maintain his underweight physique during filming.</p>
<p>What any actor does with their body is between them and their doctors; however, there are major medical and ethical implications when weight loss and weight gain are marked as evidence of a disciplined commitment to one’s craft. </p>
<p>Stanislavski didn’t tell actors to bulk up or go on a crash diet for their roles; in fact, early in “An Actor Prepares,” the acting teacher admonishes his students for practicing in front of mirrors and being too focused on their outward appearance. Later in the book, the teacher also warns against what he calls an exhibitionistic approach to acting, in which the actor is trying to show the audience how hard they are working at their craft.</p>
<h2>Come at me, bro</h2>
<p>And then there are stories of actors who prod, tease and surprise their co-stars to try to elicit authentic responses.</p>
<p>During the height of the #MeToo movement, <a href="https://people.com/movies/meryl-streep-dustin-hoffman-slapping-overstepping/">a story about the filming</a> of “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079417/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk">Kramer vs. Kramer</a>” (1979) resurfaced. Meryl Streep recalled that co-star Dustin Hoffman slapped her before shooting one of their scenes in order to get a response from her. Those actions were allegedly part of a larger pattern of behavior and strained relations between the two during the making of the film.</p>
<p>Similarly, when “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1386697/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_8_nm_0_q_suicide%2520squad">Suicide Squad</a>” (2016) was being filmed, Jared Leto reportedly sent gag gifts to his co-stars from his character, The Joker, that included dead animals and used condoms. <a href="https://www.eonline.com/news/1309072/jared-leto-defends-his-gag-gifts-to-castmates-says-he-never-crossed-any-lines">Leto has alternately endorsed and walked back</a> the stories about the pranks.</p>
<p>Contrast these stunts with Stanislavski’s take on working with acting partners: Create communion and engage in active listening. Ticking them off, whether it’s in service of a scene or part of their own technique of “staying in character,” is selfish.</p>
<h2>Is it process or privilege?</h2>
<p>Since Stanislavski’s book was published, a number of acting approaches have emerged that do favor the kind of personal psychological investment that seems to blur the line between actor and character, most notably those of American acting teacher and theater director <a href="https://newyorkimprovtheater.com/2023/09/28/the-legacy-of-lee-strasberg-stella-adler-and-sanford-meisner-shaping-american-acting-methods-derived-from-stanislavski/#:%7E:text=Strasberg's%20emphasis%20on%20emotional%20recall%2C%20Adler's%20championing%20of%20imagination%20and,on%20the%20art%20of%20acting.">Lee Strasberg</a>.</p>
<p>However, in Chapter 8 of “An Actor Prepares,” Stanislavski makes a clear distinction between what’s true and real for the actor and what’s true and real for the character they are playing.</p>
<p>In other words, he did not subscribe to the idea that an actor can lose themselves in their part.</p>
<p>Yes, the media loves these kinds of stories, and they can demonstrate a certain type of commitment. But they can also paint actors as pampered and pretentious “artistes” <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/12/13/on-succession-jeremy-strong-doesnt-get-the-joke">whose process is self-indulgent</a>. A working actor struggling to pay the bills doesn’t have the luxury of, say, insisting that everyone address them by their character’s name.</p>
<p>In fact, these narratives about Method acting can swing the other way: Much of the praise around Ryan Gosling’s turn in “Barbie” plays on the idea of a serious actor’s willingness to get blond, goofy and take a decidedly un-Methody approach, something <a href="https://www.vulture.com/article/ryan-gosling-ken-casting.html">the actor cheekily embraced while doing press for the film</a>.</p>
<p>So when the acting Oscars get handed out, hopefully it will be because voters believed in the performances – not because of some meta narrative about their off-screen behavior.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/224340/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Scott Malia does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Hopefully, Academy Award winners will be chosen because voters believed in the actors’ performances − not because of some meta narrative about their off-screen behavior.Scott Malia, Associate Professor of Theatre, College of the Holy CrossLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2180012024-01-12T13:28:40Z2024-01-12T13:28:40ZI wrote a play for children about integrating the arts into STEM fields − here’s what I learned about encouraging creative, interdisciplinary thinking<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/562522/original/file-20231129-27-a3te04.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=18%2C18%2C4007%2C2999&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Scenes from 'The STEAM Plays,' performed in Michigan schools. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Thalia Lara</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Often, science and art are described as starkly different things. That narrative can start early on, with kids encouraged to pursue a STEM – short for science, technology, engineering and math – education that may or may not include an arts education. </p>
<p>As a <a href="https://people.cal.msu.edu/roznows5/">professor of acting</a>, I’d never thought much about the STEM fields until I received a <a href="https://grad.msu.edu/news/steampower-facultystaff-fellows">fellowship to integrate the arts</a> into STEM educational models. I used the opportunity to write and direct a play for elementary schoolers that showed how the arts can improve upon and extend work in STEM fields when properly integrated – but it wasn’t an easy process. </p>
<h2>STEM or STEAM?</h2>
<p>Whether <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-whats-the-difference-between-stem-and-steam-95713">STEM should be augmented to STEAM</a> – science, technology, engineering, arts and math – with the <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci11070331">addition of the arts</a> remains <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/innovations/wp/2018/06/12/why-liberal-arts-and-the-humanities-are-as-important-as-engineering/">something of a debate</a>. </p>
<p>The origins of STEM education can be traced to as early as the <a href="https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/morrill-act">Morrill Act</a> of 1862, which promoted agricultural science and later engineering at land grant universities. In 2001, the National Science Foundation pushed a focus on STEM education in order to <a href="https://www.stemschool.com/articles/rich-history-of-stem-education-in-the-united-states">make the U.S. more competitive globally</a>. </p>
<p>A Biden-Harris initiative launched in December 2022 called <a href="https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/us-department-education-launches-new-initiative-enhance-stem-education-all-students">You Belong in STEM</a> offers support of more than US$120 billion for K-12 STEM education until the year 2025. But, starting in 2012, the United States Research Council has explored the idea of a <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2021.709560/">STEAM education</a>. </p>
<p>Researchers have found that when integrated into a STEM education, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procs.2013.09.317">the arts make space for curiosity and innovation</a>. So why the lack of agreement and consistency around whether it should be STEM or STEAM? </p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/GOYN70wszoo?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Lots of careers bridge both science and arts, from game design to photography and engineering.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The bias toward emphasizing a STEM education could be driven by the <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/10/20/more-students-pursue-stem-degrees-because-of-high-paying-careers.html">higher future salaries</a> of STEM majors or the significant funding that is connected more to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-021-00891-x">STEM-based research</a> and grants than to the arts. A STEAM education takes more time and <a href="https://theconversation.com/improving-science-literacy-means-changing-science-education-178291">is more complex</a> than a traditional STEM educational model. </p>
<p>Or it could simply be that many academics in STEM fields lack the incentive for interdisciplinary work that brings in the arts, and vice versa. In fact, that was exactly the position I was in as an arts-based researcher asked to create something about STEM disciplines that I knew very little about.</p>
<h2>Putting on the play</h2>
<p>It took me several tries and lots of research to get the script of my STEAM-centered play to its current form. </p>
<p>At first, I made basic discoveries. I learned that <a href="https://www.invent.org/blog/trends-stem/stem-steam-defined">there is a debate</a> about whether the arts should be included in a STEM education. I learned that “<a href="https://stemeducationguide.com/is-psychology-stem/">soft sciences” like psychology</a> are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s12124-020-09545-0">not included</a> in many STEM educational models. I lacked a background in most of the disciplines included in STEM. And I struggled to find a project that inspired me.</p>
<p>But eventually I began work on five one-act plays, called “The STEAM Plays: Using the Arts to Talk about STEM.” Each focused on a category of STEAM education. I wrote the first draft of the show with a chip on my shoulder, trying to prove that the arts did indeed belong in STEM education.</p>
<p>The tone was defensive and provocative – and not entirely appropriate for the elementary age range I was focused on. </p>
<p>The new, revised version that toured Michigan elementary schools in the Fall of 2023 contains 20 bite-sized comedic scenes and songs that dramatize how the arts are integral to many STEM fields. These include how engineering skills go into designing a celebrity’s evening gown, how bakers need to know some basic chemistry, and how the mathematical algorithms of TikTok find new videos for each user.</p>
<p>In each of the scenes, students can see how artistic imagination and creative thinking expand STEM education.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563453/original/file-20231204-23-wjyepx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A group of people performing on a stage, wearing brightly colored costumes. The background is a screen projecting blue, green and yellow geometric shapes. The two performers on the left have their arms crossed and stand back to back, same on the right." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563453/original/file-20231204-23-wjyepx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563453/original/file-20231204-23-wjyepx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563453/original/file-20231204-23-wjyepx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563453/original/file-20231204-23-wjyepx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563453/original/file-20231204-23-wjyepx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563453/original/file-20231204-23-wjyepx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563453/original/file-20231204-23-wjyepx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘The STEAM Plays’ in action. Performers, from left: Alex Spevetz, Marcus Pennington, Zoe Dorst, Cassidy Williams and Olivia Hagar.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Rob Roznowski</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Beyond the stage</h2>
<p>These themes emerge from a wider scholarly understanding that STEM isn’t done in a creativity vacuum, and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procs.2013.09.317">stimulating students’ artistic thinking</a> will help them both in the science classroom and the art studio.</p>
<p>One plot point of the show is about an evil genius who views the arts as less important trying to keep the arts out of STEM. He swaps the bodies of a scientist and an actor, as well as an engineer and a creative writer. In each body swap, the STEM professional and the artist recognize how similar their work is. In the final scene, the evil genius tries to switch the bodies of Pythagoras and Taylor Swift, only to realize that music is all about math.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="A square box with the words 'Art & Science Collide' and a drawing of a lightbulb with its wire filament in the shape of a brain, surrounded by a circle." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/567788/original/file-20240103-23-yg479z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/567788/original/file-20240103-23-yg479z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567788/original/file-20240103-23-yg479z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567788/original/file-20240103-23-yg479z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567788/original/file-20240103-23-yg479z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567788/original/file-20240103-23-yg479z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/567788/original/file-20240103-23-yg479z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Art & Science Collide series.</span>
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<p><em><strong><a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/art-in-science-series-2024-149583">This article is part of Art & Science Collide</a></strong>, a series examining the intersections between art and science.</em></p>
<p><em>You may be interested in:</em></p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/literature-inspired-my-medical-career-why-the-humanities-are-needed-in-health-care-217357">Literature inspired my medical career: Why the humanities are needed in health care</a></p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/art-and-science-entwined-this-course-explores-the-long-interrelated-history-of-two-ways-of-seeing-the-world-210250">Art and science entwined: This course explores the long, interrelated history of two ways of seeing the world </a></p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/art-illuminates-the-beauty-of-science-and-could-inspire-the-next-generation-of-scientists-young-and-old-168925">Art illuminates the beauty of science – and could inspire the next generation of scientists young and old</a> </p>
<hr>
<p>Many teachers have provided rave reviews. “The plays did an excellent job of highlighting the importance and value of arts in our educational system,” one noted. “Students walked away enjoying and having a deeper understanding of how all of the different aspects of STEAM were able to work together collaboratively.</p>
<p>A STEAM education in which <a href="https://www.ucf.edu/online/engineering/news/comparing-stem-vs-steam-why-the-arts-make-a-difference/">students learn soft skills</a> like empathy, collaboration, emotional intelligence and creativity through the arts helps prepare students for the job market. And these discussions aren’t confined only to K-12 education – many research grants <a href="https://new.nsf.gov/funding/learn/research-types/learn-about-interdisciplinary-research">encourage interdisciplinary work</a>.</p>
<p>My understanding of the STEM and STEAM debate and my experience writing, producing and watching how people respond to my show have helped me understand how the arts are necessary to every student’s education. I learned that without artistic imagination, STEM students’ big-picture thinking skills can get stifled. </p>
<p>It only took writing a play for children for me to get it myself.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/218001/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rob Roznowski received funding from Michigan State University from two places. As part of the STEAMpower Fellowship <a href="https://grad.msu.edu/news/steampower-facultystaff-fellows">https://grad.msu.edu/news/steampower-facultystaff-fellows</a> $10,000
and the Humanities And Arts Grant Proposal System. <a href="https://research.msu.edu/humanities-and-arts-research-program">https://research.msu.edu/humanities-and-arts-research-program</a>
The first fellowship covered the writing and research. The HARPwas awarded to tour and design the play. $7000</span></em></p>Is it a STEM education or a STEAM education? Integrating arts into science programming and vice versa can pique kids’ curiosity − a play touring Michigan aims to do just that.Rob Roznowski, Professor of Acting, Michigan State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2209522024-01-12T13:25:22Z2024-01-12T13:25:22ZNatalie Portman says method acting is a ‘luxury women can’t afford’ – but my research shows how it can empower them<p>As an actor and teacher of method acting, as well as a mother, I was surprised by Natalie Portman saying <a href="https://www.wsj.com/style/natalie-portman-may-december-skin-care-books-garden-state-7678b097">in a recent interview</a> that method acting is a “luxury women cannot afford”. The actor was questioning how acting processes – most of which have been created by men – clash with parts of the female experience, such as motherhood. </p>
<p>Referencing her experience with the 2016 film Jackie (for which she was Oscar-nominated), Portman explained: “I don’t think that children or partners would be very understanding of, you know, me making everyone call me ‘Jackie Kennedy’ all the time.” However, having used the method style successfully for more than 15 years, I believe there is a way to make it work for women.</p>
<p>Portman was speaking to promote her new film, May December, in which she portrays Elizabeth, an actor cast in a biopic as a sex offender who went on to marry and have children with the underage boy she had seduced. </p>
<p>Elizabeth is presumably a method actor – at one point in her preparation, she sleeps with the victim herself, who is now a grown man. But immersion into the life of a character is not the only way to apply method acting. </p>
<h2>Many ways to approach method</h2>
<p>No one acting method works for everyone. Most accounts of the method style focus on male actors misbehaving under the guise of the character. For example, when Jared Leto starred as the Joker in Suicide Squad (2016), <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2016/08/hollywood-has-ruined-method-acting/494777/">media coverage</a> focused on his decision to gift his costars a range of disturbing items, including used condoms. </p>
<p>However, as I argue in my <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003330882-6/emotion-memory-versus-physical-action-evi-stamatiou">recent research</a>, method acting can empower marginalised social groups including women. This is because it prioritises the actor’s internal process and real-life experience over scripts and fictional characters. </p>
<p>This highly influential technique requires self reflection from the actor, in particular exploring what moves and excites them. Alongside movement and voice exercises, visualisation exercises offer a unique approach to developing the actor’s imagination. </p>
<p>Through visualisation exercises, method actors can blend their real memories with those of their character. This then informs the characterisation processes. </p>
<p>My own method training was accompanied by reading Russian theatre director <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=vnZccrAbPXcC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Yevgeny+Vakhtangov&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=1&sa=X&redir_esc=y">Yevgeny Vakhtangov’s writing</a> about the actor’s process. I believe the Vakhtangov-informed version of the method is most beneficial for female actors.</p>
<p>For example, <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=xiPGBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT34&lpg=PT34&dq=%22We+don%E2%80%99t+need+characters%22%C2%A0Vakhtangov&source=bl&ots=AJhJ4ISCMX&sig=ACfU3U2fOo3_HIU80qZfRdmB7OXt6mfUYg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiWppax1dWDAxXBgf0HHQjPBAoQ6AF6BAgOEAM#v=onepage&q=%22We%20don%E2%80%99t%20need%20characters%22%C2%A0Vakhtangov&f=false">Vakhtangov said</a>: “We don’t need characters, characterisations. Everything you have makes up your characterisation; you have individuality – this is your character.” This contradicts the idea that a method actor would lose themselves into a character, going to the extreme of asking family members to call them Jackie Kennedy, for example. </p>
<p>Similarly, Vakhtangov <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=xiPGBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT34&lpg=PT34&dq=%22an+actor%E2%80%99s+own+appearance,+plasticity,+and+voice%22+Vakhtangov&source=bl&ots=AJhJ4ISDIT&sig=ACfU3U3hRWKzcpqdiODEe25kYsYiQ1PdYg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwicufDL1dWDAxXSi_0HHQiNDXgQ6AF6BAgOEAM#v=onepage&q=%22an%20actor%E2%80%99s%20own%20appearance%2C%20plasticity%2C%20and%20voice%22%20Vakhtangov&f=false">considered</a> “an actor’s own appearance, plasticity, and voice [as] more appropriate than the manufactured characterisation”, urging the actor to “transform by the power of their inner impulse”, while preserving their “God-given face” and “God-given voice”. </p>
<p>Vakhtangov considers it key for the actor to find emotional and experiential associations between themselves and their character, so they can bring their own authentic experience to their acting. Through the visualisation exercises, actors discover their own emotional “buttons” which they can then push as appropriate for a role.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">The trailer for May December.</span></figcaption>
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<p>The above understanding of the method does not align with Elizabeth’s immersive, literal process in May December. Using the Vakhtangov approach instead, Elizabeth would invent and visualise controversial actions from her own life and her own emotional responses to such actions, to consider which could benefit her performance. </p>
<p>So even though the audience watches a sex offender at ease with their sexual crime, the actor’s private creative reality would orient around moments drawn from her own experience. </p>
<h2>The benefits of method acting</h2>
<p>Method acting develops actors who know themselves well enough to trigger emotional responses when acting, while protecting themselves from emotional harm. Self-care is an important part of this. Actors are discouraged, for example, from thinking of loved ones who have recently passed away during visualisation exercises. </p>
<p>In May December, if Elizabeth remained within her own sphere of experience, she would protect herself from the disturbing visualisation of the sex offence that could be traumatising. Keeping the visualisation in control would also keep in check the emotional responses that she would lend the character, allowing for a repetition of the process for the multiple takes.</p>
<p>I suggest that my students use method acting only to solve a problem, such as an emotionally demanding scene – not throughout a film or play. This means that they can choose when to let go of their own emotional buttons. </p>
<p>Contrary to Portman’s comments, I believe that method acting can deepen women’s experiences both on and off screen. A role could inspire an actor to find in themselves a more self-caring mother, for example, or a more assertive partner. Method acting should be envisioned, not as taking work home, but as taking home a playful sense of self-knowledge and self-exploration. </p>
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<p><em>Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/something-good-156">Sign up here</a>.</em></p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Evi Stamatiou does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Having used the method style successfully for more than 15 years, I believe there is a way to make it work for women.Evi Stamatiou, Senior Lecturer in Acting for Stage and Screen, University of East LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2206102024-01-05T16:14:57Z2024-01-05T16:14:57ZTom Wilkinson: an actor of great humanity who seldom played the lead but dominated the screen<p>It is rare that the news of the death of an actor brings with it a pang of loss for something more than their craft, something perhaps more profound. But such was the public regard and affection for <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-65823240">Tom Wilkinson</a> that his death on December 30 at the age of 75 prompted much remembering of something greater than his brilliant acting: his unerring ability to convey a sense of humanity.</p>
<p>Wilkinson seldom played the leading man, and yet he often dominated the screen. That was perhaps most apparent in his appearance in the 2008 HBO series <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2012/jul/26/john-adams-next-box-set">John Adams</a>, where he played one of America’s founding fathers <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Benjamin-Franklin/Legacy">Benjamin Franklin</a> alongside the <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/presidents/john-adams/#:%7E:text=John%20Adams%2C%20a%20remarkable%20political,philosopher%20than%20as%20a%20politician.">titular second president</a> (Paul Giamatti), a role that won him a Golden Globe.</p>
<p>In one scene, when Adams and Franklin meet the French king, Wilkinson stays in the background, but his subtle facial expressions provide a constant commentary on the ridiculousness of the French court which Adams/Giamatti takes in with wonder.</p>
<p>Wilkinson’s Benjamin Franklin is a clever, witty, cantankerous extrovert, often dominating scenes because he has the most dialogue. In many ways, that was unusual in the characters Wilkinson portrayed (with the exception perhaps of Arthur Edens in 2007’s <a href="https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/michael-clayton-2007">Michael Clayton</a>). Instead, his characters were often marked by a quiet but confident presence.</p>
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<p>It is this quiet, watchful presence that many of his colleagues <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/jan/03/tom-wilkinson-bill-nighy-rachel-weisz-david-hare-richard-eyre-jonathan-pryce">commented on after his death</a>, and which some even found intimidating. Wilkinson, originally from Yorkshire, and educated at the University of Kent and then Rada, seemed to inhabit and even become his characters. Actors and directors who worked with him <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/jan/03/tom-wilkinson-bill-nighy-rachel-weisz-david-hare-richard-eyre-jonathan-pryce">have described</a> his naturalness and gentleness, his lack of ego and vanity, and his innate ability to get to the emotional truth of a character.</p>
<h2>Low-key roles that shine</h2>
<p>He was often cast in roles where he played outsiders whose marginalised status is either masked or played down: in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/1997/aug/29/1">The Full Monty</a> (1997) he plays Gerald, the middle-class one-time foreman among a group of redundant working-class steel workers.</p>
<p>His qualifications land him a job interview when the others remain without luck, and his wife’s credit cards point to a level of affluence that the others can only dream of. But while he is clearly different, he manages to become part of the group, best demonstrated in the hilarious scene in the dole office where Gerald sways in perfect harmony with the others when Hot Stuff plays on the radio.</p>
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<p>In <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/feb/23/best-exotic-marigold-hotel-review">The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel</a> (2012) Wilkinson portrays Graham Dashwood, a man who returns to India – where he grew up – to make amends to the young Indian man he was unable to love in his youth. His homosexuality isn’t commented on by the other characters, and Wilkinson carries it with the confidence of full acceptance.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/style/2003/03/16/looking-for-normal-finding-the-extraordinary/60f28ad4-2f0b-4437-bc0d-7271d6a930e4/">Normal</a> (2003) he plays a transgender woman who after years of hiding her truth, opens up to her family and gradually transitions to a female body. Again, the quiet confidence in the conviction of having been born in the wrong body shines through Wilkinson’s performance.</p>
<p>This conviction – of knowing who the character is and, with that, how they should be played – is central to all of Wilkinson’s performances. For me, the film that made this most apparent is <a href="https://variety.com/1994/film/reviews/priest-2-1200438515/">Priest</a> (1994) where he plays a social-activist cleric in a poor Liverpool neighbourhood alongside a naive novice (Linus Roach). Of Wilkinson’s Father Matthew, the local bishop says: “Colonel Gaddafi would be a wee bit more orthodox than you.”</p>
<p>As a Catholic priest he has an illicit affair with his housekeeper, and regularly flaunts the rules of propriety. But in the end, it is clear that his moral compass is functioning better than that of his fellow clerics. It is because Father Matthew recognises his own fallibility and the shared humanity of those he is meant to guide, that he is able to act out of compassion rather than censure. </p>
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<p>This compassion and emphasis on a shared humanity is what made Wilkinson’s performances so quietly powerful. It was there in Arthur Edens’ breakdown, in foreman Gerald’s sense of failure, in Graham Dashwood’s struggle with guilt and sadness, and Father Matthew’s acceptance of his own vulnerabilities.</p>
<p>This focus on humanity gave Wilkinson a reputation for seriousness and as someone who had no time for frivolity, even though many who acted alongside him have spoken of his dry wit and gentle humour.</p>
<p>But it is this sense of deep compassion and knowledge of what is morally right that many, including myself, felt so worthy of celebration. His impeccable performances will be long remembered, and will serve to remind us of what we have lost in Tom Wilkinson.</p>
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<p><em>Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/something-good-156">Sign up here</a>.</em></p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elke Weissmann does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The much-loved Yorkshire actor was held in high regard for his low-key but affecting performances.Elke Weissmann, Reader in Film & Television, Department of English & Creative Arts, Edge Hill UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2154812023-10-12T10:21:08Z2023-10-12T10:21:08ZThe Reckoning: I’ve interviewed over 50 actors who’ve played real people and Steve Coogan’s Savile is the most contentious<p>Steve Coogan portrays Jimmy Savile in the new <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/p0g4swnr/the-reckoning">BBC mini-series The Reckoning</a>. This much anticipated and debated show is the most recent – and perhaps most contentious – in a long line of programmes “based on real events”, that focus on harrowing stories of abuse or murder. </p>
<p>In recent years alone, David Tennant played Scottish serial killer Dennis Nilsen in the ITV series <a href="https://www.itv.com/watch/des/2a7844">Des</a> (2020); Stephen Merchant played British serial killer and rapist Stephen Port in the BBC drama <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m00134hr/four-lives">Four Lives</a> (2022) and Olivia Colman and David Thewlis portrayed the convicted murderers Christopher and Susan Edwards in the BBC series <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-58556857">Landscapers</a> (2021). </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">The trailer for The Reckoning.</span></figcaption>
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<p>The trend is a testament to the public appetite for dramas based on true crime.
But how do actors approach such work? And how is portraying a real person different from playing a fictional role?</p>
<p>When actors play real people – particularly those involved in complex and disturbing events – they often find themselves at the centre of debates about the project. Should the programme be made? Is this a legitimate person to depict? </p>
<p>This debate is perhaps loudest when both the actor and the subject are famous. We know Coogan (and the characters he plays) and we know Savile (how he looked, how he spoke and, more recently, what he did). </p>
<p><a href="https://www.digitalspy.com/tv/a37948450/jimmy-savile-steve-coogan-bbc-the-reckoning-backlash/">Many people have denounced</a> the BBC’s decision to make a drama out of their own failings to stop the serial abuser and rapist. But how do actors navigate these questions? Do such debates about the subject affect their work?</p>
<h2>My research</h2>
<p>Over the past 15 years, I’ve interviewed more than 50 actors about their portrayals of real people. Never before have I heard such public interest and concern about a depiction – or seen an actor’s sense of the challenge so keenly felt. </p>
<p>I’ve interviewed actors playing notorious leaders such as Adolf Hitler and Robert Mugabe, people involved in terrorist organisations, and even <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13569783.2023.2170220">the people who gave evidence</a> at the recent Grenfell Tower inquiry and were held responsible for that terrible fire. But none of these actors spoke of the challenge in the way that Coogan has done.</p>
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<p>Two days before the show aired, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-66987497">he told the BBC</a>: “I knew there was the potential for catastrophic failure if you get it wrong, but that’s not a reason not to do it.” </p>
<p>In other interviews, Coogan has balanced the attractiveness of the role with the sense of responsibility he felt in taking it on. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOG5TxNdbTA">He explained</a>: “As an acting job, it’s what all actors want to play. Whatever your views on him, [Savile’s] a fascinating, although horrific … figure.” </p>
<p>But he was <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOG5TxNdbTA">also aware</a> of the public concern, which felt more personal: “People play Hitler or serial murderers and no one bats an eyelid, but there’s a lot of consternation about me doing this.”</p>
<h2>Concerns over casting</h2>
<p>Some of these concerns may be down to Coogan’s association with comic roles and impressions. Many actors I have interviewed are eager to distance themselves from impersonation. </p>
<p>Actors in the 2007 documentary play <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2007/apr/24/theatre">Called to Account</a>, about the legitimacy of the war in Iraq, told me that: “The most important thing is you don’t imitate.” Ian McKellen <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/playing-for-real-9780230230422/">similarly distanced himself</a> from notions of impersonation when portraying Hitler in Countdown to War (1989). But why? </p>
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<p>The processes that actors described to me often focused on recreating their subject’s verbal idiosyncrasies and physical appearance. For our book <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/playing-for-real-9780230230422/">Playing For Real</a> (2010), <a href="https://www.bristol.ac.uk/people/person/Mary-Luckhurst-1a8ee3be-ee94-41dd-ab13-ff7f4712aa23/">Mary Luckhurst</a> and I interviewed Roger Allam, who played Hitler in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of Albert Speer (2000). He told us: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I found photographs helpful. There was one taken at Hitler’s mountain residence in Berchtesgaden where he was slumped far down in a chair, and I stole that posture for a moment in the play. You steal everything that is usable, really.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>When it came to physical likeness, Allam recalled: “Being able to look in the mirror and think, yes, that passes for Hitler. That’s very, very important.”</p>
<p>What, then, is the distinction between acting and impersonation? I’d suggest that it is the comic connotations of the terms “mimicry” and “impersonation” or “doing an impression” that actors are at pains to avoid, rather than a particular approach. </p>
<p>There is also a snobbery about impersonation, perhaps viewed as a less noble art than acting. It seems likely that Coogan’s profile as both an actor and comic contributed to the questions raised ahead of his portrayal of Savile.</p>
<h2>Rethinking ‘impersonation’</h2>
<p>Coogan’s portrayal has, deservedly, been widely admired – despite <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/2023/10/09/the-reckoning-bbc-review-steve-coogan-jimmy-savile/">significant reservations</a> about the drama and the way that the BBC’s shortcomings were handled. </p>
<p>The praise has often returned to this question of impersonation and acting. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2023/oct/09/the-reckoning-review-steve-coogan-is-chillingly-brilliant-as-jimmy-savile-bbc#:%7E:text=Coogan%20is%20brilliant%20in%20the,the%20two%20in%20perfect%20proportions.">Guardian journalist Lucy Mangan</a> focused on these terms when she wrote: “He is a fine actor as well as a fine impressionist, and the part of Savile gives him the chance to blend the two in perfect proportions.” And <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/21f13f7c-adcd-49f8-a81f-f374fae13eb6">the Financial Times noted</a> that by “transcending impersonation, he reveals the depths of grotesque depravity”.</p>
<p>Here is the other side of the coin. Though playing notorious real people might place actors at the heart of complex debates about legitimacy and representation – and come with a great weight of responsibility – actors’ portrayals of such people are often highly admired. </p>
<p>Six of the last ten best-actor Oscars and three of the last ten best-actress Oscars have gone to actors playing real people. Arguably, this is due to the fact that playing a real person makes the actor’s skill more measurable. We see Coogan and we see Savile – the hidden craft of acting becomes tangible when we can compare the two.</p>
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<p><em>Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/something-good-156">Sign up here</a>.</em></p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tom Cantrell does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Coogan’s profile as both an actor and as a comic contributed to the questions raised ahead of his portrayal of Jimmy Savile.Tom Cantrell, Professor in Theatre, University of YorkLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2146622023-09-29T16:15:44Z2023-09-29T16:15:44ZMichael Gambon: an unshowy actor of enormous range and charm<p><a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/michael-gambon-dies-harry-potter-dumbledore-2bcmw9zc2">Sir Michael Gambon</a>, who died on September 28 at the age of 82, was a hugely versatile actor who enjoyed numerous and varied roles in film and television throughout the course of his long career. </p>
<p>Gambon was also a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2023/sep/28/michael-gambon-obituary">titan of the theatre</a>. His major theatrical roles include Shakespeare’s Othello, King Lear and Falstaff, and Brecht’s Galileo, together with starring roles in works by the finest contemporary playwrights of his era: Beckett, Pinter, Churchill, Hare, Gray and Ayckbourn.</p>
<p>But the reality of theatre is that aside from newspaper cuttings of rave reviews and the fading memories of theatre-goers, very little record of these performances can actually survive for posterity. It is through film and television most audiences know Gambon and these are the media through which his image and presence will continue to circulate far into the future. </p>
<h2>The acclaimed Singing Detective</h2>
<p>Despite recent media obit headlines, Gambon was not just about <a href="https://www.wizardingworld.com/fact-file/characters-and-pets/albus-dumbledore">Dumbledore and Harry Potter</a>. Indeed it was <a href="http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/451441/index.html">another Potter – Dennis</a>, not Harry – through which Gambon first became a household name. In 1986, he starred as lead character Philip Marlow in the TV playwright’s most successful and seminal work for BBC TV, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/historyofthebbc/anniversaries/november/the-singing-detective/">The Singing Detective</a>.</p>
<p>Covered in abrasive lesions and scales from a condition that also afflicted Potter in real life, Gambon’s wracked and hospitalised visage became an iconic part of 1980s British TV culture. The grotesque and tormented character in his hospital bed imagined doctors and nurses dancing all around him as they mimed to old 1940s big-band tunes.</p>
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<p>But watch Gambon more carefully over the course of the six episodes and we get a masterclass in bravura performance. The serial could not have worked without Gambon at its core, making the audience believe in the character’s emotional journey from extreme despair and misanthropy, to more optimistic self-acceptance and a sense of equanimity at its close.</p>
<p>The serial’s director, Jon Amiel, insisted on Gambon for the role, knowing the actor would have the ability to embody not just Marlow’s rage but also, crucially, his vulnerability. This was vital for the audience to go on an emotional journey with the character, learning to peer behind all the anger, railing and self-loathing to the root causes that lay beneath.</p>
<p>And this is exactly we see. Amid all the flashbacks, fantasy sequences and musical numbers, it is Gambon to which the camera always returns as his eyes flash or his face tenses and another unwanted fantasy or forbidden memory begins to surface. It was a towering performance which would go on to win him the Bafta for best actor in 1987. </p>
<h2>Swashbucklers, gangsters, aristos</h2>
<p>The success of The Singing Detective divides Gambon’s TV and film career. Before that, he had acted in a range of plays for television in the heyday of the single play era when drama slots such as <a href="https://www2.bfi.org.uk/archive-collections/introduction-bfi-collections/bfi-mediatheques/play-for-today">Play for Today</a> (BBC 1970-84), ITV <a href="https://thetvdb.com/series/itv-playhouse">Playhouse</a> (1967-83) and <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00l2wcq/episodes/guide">Play of the Month</a> (BBC 1965-83) peppered the TV schedules.</p>
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<p>But he also tried series acting, including an early part as a Scottish swashbuckler in 26 episodes of the 16th-century period drama, <a href="https://nostalgiacentral.com/television/tv-by-decade/tv-shows-1960s/borderers-the/">The Borderers</a>, made for BBC Scotland between 1968 and 1970.</p>
<p>In 1985, Gambon took the title role in the three-part BBC2 serial Oscar, about the life of Oscar Wilde. This gained him critical praise and TV industry attention ahead of being cast in The Singing Detective. Soon Gambon’s screen acting career was flourishing as more television and cinema opportunities came his way. </p>
<p>Interestingly, there is often a division between his “rage” and “vulnerability” parts. In the former camp, there are Gambon’s coruscating turns as various species of gangster, beginning perhaps most memorably with his role as Albert Spica in director Peter Greenaway’s film <a href="https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-cook-the-thief-his-wife-and-her-lover-1999">The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover</a> (1989).</p>
<p>Here, we see extreme levels of rage and misanthropy as Gambon channels the utter despicability lying right at the heart of his character Spica’s name. By the end of the film, Spica embodies all the horrors of conspicuous consumption Greenaway clearly loathed about the 1980s. </p>
<p>If not quite as vivid in their depictions of pure evil, other memorable villain roles would follow, including a warmongering general in Toys (1992) and ruthless Irish rancher in the western Open Range (2003) – both made for Hollywood – as well as wealthy crimelord Eddie Temple in the hit British crime film Layer Cake (2004).</p>
<p>But in amongst the variety of gangsters and villains, not to mention haughty aristocrats in British period films such as Gosford Park (2002) and The King’s Speech (2010), we also see the more vulnerable side of Gambon’s characters, sometimes running parallel to the gruff exterior. </p>
<h2>Older wiser characters</h2>
<p>What pleased Gambon so much about being given the role of Dumbledore in the Harry Potter franchise (taking over from fellow Irish actor Richard Harris who died in 2002), was the recognition and affection from children the world over. And among his numerous television credits post-Dumbledore, we find similar traits of darkness and redemption within his Scrooge-like turn in a special episode of another family favourite, Doctor Who.</p>
<p>Though he retired from the theatre in 2015, Gambon continued to act in film and TV until just before his 80th birthday. It was that mesmerising combination of rage and vulnerability that always made him a compelling screen actor to watch, making audiences always care about the characters he inhabited. </p>
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<p><em>Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/something-good-156">Sign up here</a>.</em></p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Cook does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Britain has lost one of its greatest actors in the Irish-born star who found fame in Dennis Potter’s groundbreaking TV drama The Singing Detective.John Cook, Professor in Media, Glasgow Caledonian UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2131462023-09-12T03:32:44Z2023-09-12T03:32:44ZFrom Deewana to the success of Pathaan: the global impact of Bollywood’s enduring king, Shah Rukh Khan<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547424/original/file-20230911-29-b4t1h0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=5%2C0%2C3988%2C2000&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">IMDB</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the ever-evolving landscape of Indian cinema, where movie stars rise and fall, one name has remained etched in the hearts of millions for <a href="https://www.indiatoday.in/movies/celebrities/story/fans-celebrate-31-years-of-shah-rukh-khan-in-bollywood-by-distributing-food-packets-to-needy-2397989-2023-06-26">more than three decades</a> – Shah Rukh Khan, also known as “SRK”. </p>
<p>Fondly known as the King of Bollywood, Khan’s cinematic influence on Indian cinema is a story that transcends borders and generations. </p>
<p>As people celebrate his remarkable return to the silver screen in 2023 after a four-year hiatus, marked by the resounding global success of <a href="https://www.yashrajfilms.com/movies/pathaan">Pathaan</a>, it’s the perfect time to embark on a journey through his illustrious career. </p>
<p>Here, I explore the timeless Indian classics that catapulted him to stardom and look at the excitement surrounding his latest release, <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15354916/">Jawan</a> (in cinemas now), and the highly awaited Dunki.</p>
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<h2>So, for those who may not be familiar, what is Bollywood?</h2>
<p>Bollywood, India’s cinematic powerhouse based in Mumbai, is where the majority of Hindi-language films are made. It’s like India’s own Hollywood. </p>
<p>But Indian cinema isn’t just about Bollywood. Regional film production centres across India like Kollywood (the Tamil film industry) and Tollywood (Telugu film industry) add their unique colours. India is now the global leader in film outputs, with an astonishing 1,500 to 2,000 films released each year in more than 20 different languages.</p>
<p>And the 57-year-old King Khan has been a pillar of Bollywood ever since he broke through with the 1992 film <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0126871/">Deewana</a>.</p>
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<h2>SRK’s cinematic influence on Indian cinema</h2>
<p>To truly grasp SRK’s impact on Indian cinema, let’s rewind to the 1990s – <a href="https://thesecondangle.com/90s-was-the-golden-era-of-bollywood/">a golden era of Bollywood</a> brimming with iconic Indian films and unforgettable performances.</p>
<p>During this time, a young man without any industry connections in a world built on family ties was about to shape the future of Indian cinema. </p>
<p>In 1995, <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112870/">Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge</a> hit the screens. Directed by the legendary Aditya Chopra, this film told a captivating love story transcending all boundaries. </p>
<p>SRK’s portrayal of Raj wasn’t just a character, it was emotion. </p>
<p>With its enchanting music and a storyline that captured the essence of young love and tradition, the film became a sensation within and beyond India, uninterruptedly <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/19/world/asia/bollywood-ddlj-maratha-mandir.html">running for more than two decades</a> (it’s still running today!) in Mumbai’s Maratha Mandir theatre.</p>
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<p>Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge’s staggering success made SRK a star, or perhaps it was the other way around: SRK made DDLJ. </p>
<p>His later films like Dil Se (1998), Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998) and others solidified his status as the king of romance. These timeless classics not only tugged at heartstrings, but also paved the path for his incredible cinematic journey.</p>
<p>In the 2000s, he continued to shine with family and romantic hits like Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham (2001) and Kal Ho Na Ho (2003). He experimented with versatile roles in films like Swades (2004) and Chak De India (2007), while venturing into film production with his own <a href="https://www.redchillies.com/ourstory">Red Chillies Entertainment Limited</a>.</p>
<p>As the years rolled on, SRK represented Indian cinema globally with films such as Jab Tak Hai Jaan (2012) and Chennai Express (2013). However, he faced a challenging period in the late 2010s when his films Jab Harry Met Sejal (2017) and Zero (2018) failed miserably at the box office, leading many to wonder if his time had passed.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/bollywood-and-australia-worth-making-a-song-and-dance-about-23363">Bollywood and Australia: worth making a song and dance about</a>
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<h2>The return of the king</h2>
<p>Jump to 2023. After a four-year hiatus from the big screen, the king returned with three promised films in one year, and audiences worldwide eagerly awaited to see if his magic still held sway.</p>
<p>Pathaan, with its phenomenal dance, didn’t just meet expectations – it smashed them. It broke box office records and earned global acclaim, showcasing SRK’s unparalleled star power.</p>
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<p>This action thriller has become <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/23592808/pathaan-shah-rukh-khan-bollywood">India’s highest-grossing Hindi film ever</a>, and the first Bollywood film to earn more than US$100 million (A$155 million) without a release in China. </p>
<p>Pathaan’s success was a testament to the love fans hold for SRK, reaffirming his charisma as irresistible as ever.</p>
<h2>Anticipation for Jawan and Dunki</h2>
<p>Jawan, which premiered in Australia on Sept. 7, became the first Indian film ever to claim <a href="https://www.pinkvilla.com/entertainment/box-office/shah-rukh-khan-jawan-historic-first-day-in-australia-becomes-first-indian-film-to-top-australian-box-office-1241687">the top spot in both the Australian and neighbouring New Zealand box offices</a> on its first day. Trailers for the film amassed millions of views, and fans dissected every snippet, making the buzz around it electrifying.</p>
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<p>And then there is Dunki, directed by the acclaimed Indian director Rajkumar Hirani (whose 2009 film <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1187043/">3 Idiots</a> happens to be my personal favourite). The mere announcement of this collaboration sent ripples through the industry. </p>
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<h2>Love beyond borders</h2>
<p>Beyond the box office figures and his <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_awards_and_nominations_received_by_Shah_Rukh_Khan">countless film awards</a>, SRK’s films carry a profound cultural significance. They often delve into deeper social and emotional themes, resonating not just with Indian audiences, but worldwide.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63AZw9muiSU">Dear Zindagi</a> (2016) explores mental health and personal growth, breaking stereotypes about therapy and self-discovery.</p>
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<p>My Name Is Khan (2010) addresses the complexities of racial profiling and discrimination in the post-9/11 world. Its iconic line “<a href="https://twitter.com/paulocoelho/status/1621093765216894976">My Name is Khan, but I am not a terrorist</a>” transcended national borders and touched hearts across the globe.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0UiDOXMkLE">Swades</a> (2004), SRK’s heartfelt portrayal of a NASA scientist’s return to his homeland mirrors the Indian diaspora’s yearning for roots and ignited a dialogue on the duty of reconnecting with one’s homeland.</p>
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<p>Calling himself a dream seller who peddles love to millions of people in his <a href="https://www.ted.com/talks/shah_rukh_khan_thoughts_on_humanity_fame_and_love">2017 TED talk</a>, Khan’s influence is proof to the enduring power of storytelling, and the ability of cinema to connect people across cultures. </p>
<p>He is one of Time’s <a href="https://time.com/6269128/shah-rukh-khan-time100-reader-poll-2023/">100 most influential people</a> of 2023. His fans even set a <a href="https://www.timesnownews.com/viral/around-300-shah-rukh-khan-fans-set-guinness-world-record-by-performing-his-signature-pose-outside-mannat-article-100902884">Guinness World Record</a> for the most people performing his iconic pose.</p>
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<p>Many have labelled SRK’s 2023 as a comeback, but the superstar himself seems not to believe in this notion. Quoting a line from the Hollywood film Gattaca (1997), <a href="https://twitter.com/iamsrk/status/1618906004430913537">SRK tweeted</a>, “I never saved anything for the swim back”.</p>
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<p>As fans eagerly flock to see Jawan and await Dunki, it’s a reminder he continues to “move forward” and redefine what it means to be a superstar, not just in Bollywood, but on the globe stage. He shows us the magic of cinema knows no boundaries, and neither does the allure of Bollywood’s king.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213146/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Yanyan Hong does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Fondly known as the King of Bollywood, Khan’s cinematic influence on Indian cinema is a story that transcends borders and generations.Yanyan Hong, PhD Candidate in Communication and Media Studies, University of AdelaideLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1937542022-11-08T18:17:21Z2022-11-08T18:17:21ZHow early failure can lead to success later in creative careers<p>Failing early in our careers can make us question whether we are on the right path. We may look at people who have succeeded from the outset and wonder why it doesn’t come so easily to us. Classical violinist <a href="https://www.classical-music.com/features/artists/who-is-nigel-kennedy-and-his-best-recordings/">Nigel Kennedy</a>, actor <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000204/bio">Natalie Portman</a> and painter <a href="https://www.pablopicasso.org/">Pablo Picasso</a> are examples of young geniuses who were successful early on. </p>
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<p><em>You can listen to more articles from The Conversation, narrated by Noa, <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/audio-narrated-99682">here</a>.</em></p>
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<p>But for some of us, failure at the beginning of our careers is important to later success. For many creatives, how we deal with those moments when things aren’t going right or you’ve received yet another rejection letter can make or break us. </p>
<p>The author and self-improvement lecturer <a href="https://www.biography.com/writer/dale-carnegie">Dale Carnegie</a> maintained that inaction breeds doubt and fear; action creates confidence and courage, which inevitably ends up helping a person to succeed. This chimes with what American psychologist Carol Dweck outlines in her 2006 book <a href="https://www.shortform.com/summary/mindset-the-new-psychology-of-success-summary-carol-dweck?gclid=Cj0KCQjw--2aBhD5ARIsALiRlwB2uxPXR37uuVSUiQE6T7If4yF05XBmeNhxTO3k5WhKZA9FCDCg8XkaAlUwEALw_wcB">Mindset</a>. </p>
<p>Dweck discusses the concept of people with a “fixed mindset” versus a “growth mindset”. The former is a way of thinking where there is a lack of self belief and a negative persona while the latter is where no challenge or task is too large to take on board. Which mindset you have dictates how you will interpret failure and success and how well you approach everyday life.</p>
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<p><em><strong><a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/fail-better-129121?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=UK+YP2022+Fail+Better&utm_content=InArticleTop">This article is part of Fail Better</a></strong>, a series for those of us in our 20s and 30s about navigating the moments when things aren’t quite going as planned. Many of us are tuned into the highlight reel of social media, where our peers share their successes in relationships, careers and family. When you feel like you’re not measuring up, the pieces in this special <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/quarter-life-117947?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=UK+YP2022+Fail+Better&utm_content=InArticleTop">Quarter Life</a> series will help you learn how to cope with, and even grow from, failure.</em></p>
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<p>A passion for learning and a desire to improve upon failure creates opportunities to learn and challenge yourself. This mentality is a boon to creatives. While yes, there are the Picassos and Portmans of the world, there are also a few famous creatives who had to overcome failure early on in their careers. These individuals demonstrate the “growth mindset”.</p>
<h2>Rejection doesn’t have to kill dreams</h2>
<p>A young schoolteacher from Maine, US, was a passionate part-time writer who worked tirelessly trying to get his novels published (unsuccessfully) in the late 1960s. He continued to believe in himself and chase the dream of becoming a successful author. But sometimes the reality of failure gets the better of a person and after 30 rejections he famously threw his fourth attempt at a novel away. </p>
<p>Fortunately, the manuscript was saved by his wife who, having confidence in his work, persuaded him to continue trying. Eventually, the novel was sold for an advance of £2000, a nice bonus for a schoolteacher. The publishing rights were ultimately purchased for an additional £200,000 and the novel <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074285/">Carrie</a> turned <a href="https://stephenking.com/works/">Stephen King</a> into a household name. </p>
<p>Dreams can propel us forward but they can also be crushed by rejection. The composer <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qcTe_B6CHg">Johnathon Larson</a> spent years working on his 1991 musical Superbia only for it to be turned down by theatre producers. He was told by his agent to “go away and write something you know about”. </p>
<p>This was a crushing moment for Larson. Eight years of work rejected. However, he listened to the advice and his next muscial <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0294870/">Rent</a> premiered on Broadway in 1996, becoming a box office sensation. The semi-autobiographical <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8721424/">Tick, Tick Boom</a>, which Larson began performing as a one-man show in 1990, went on to also be a hit when it premiered in 2001. It has recently been turned into a major motion picture directed by <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Lin-Manuel-Miranda">Lin-Manuel Miranda</a> (creator of <a href="https://hamiltonmusical.com/london/home/">Hamilton</a>).</p>
<p>Larson’s secret was to learn from failure and take on the advice given to him. He used that experience to propel himself forward. Sadly, Larson never witnessed his triumph, he died on the eve of Rent’s Broadway premier in 1996 from an aortic dissection. But his life, including his failures, made him successful. His roadblocks became his inspiration. Both of his successful productions tell the stories of larger-than-life characters struggling with their failings while trying to achieve a degree of success.</p>
<h2>Overcoming difficult circumstances</h2>
<p>There are situations in life that conspire to make us fail. However, adversity can often act as a springboard of determination to succeed. My turning point as a youngster was failing my grade five music theory exam. That one singular event, although heartbreaking, made me determined to succeed in music and become a composer and producer of Scottish Musicals.</p>
<p>Others deal with much more difficult circumstances. Imagine being homeless, penniless with partial facial paralysis, yet dreaming of an acting career. Never-ending rejection from talent scouts and agents, hours of waiting for appointments that never materialise, such a life would be demoralising. However, the realisation of personal failure can become the catalyst for success. </p>
<p>This real-life scenario eventually earned <a href="https://abc7ny.com/sylvester-stallone-rocky-ii-iii/1204319/">Sylvester Stallone</a> over £178 million and catapulted his writing and acting career to stardom. He didn’t let these circumstances, which led to failure, stop him. The key here is that he believed in his ability and that drove him onward. Continual failure reinforced his resolve to succeed. </p>
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<p><a href="https://www.theblackandblue.com/2011/04/05/the-steven-spielberg-three-step-guide-to-rejection/">Steven Spielberg</a> had poor high school grades and was rejected three times from film school. He battled through his early career failures before eventually directing 51 films and winning three Oscars. Again, it was his perseverance and self belief <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPVZzzn31mk">that drove his determination to succeed</a>.</p>
<p>We might never become the next Spielberg, King or Larson but the lesson learnt from their experiences is a sharp reminder of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2016/jul/07/samuel-beckett-the-maestro-of-failure">the mantra of playwright Samuel Beckett</a>:</p>
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<p>Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better. </p>
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<p>Failure is not damaging, it is part of a proactive progression and once we learn to accept that we might be unstoppable. I eventually passed my grade five theory exam and went on to get two degrees and a PhD in musical theatre, the rest is history … my personal history began with a failure for which I am very proud.</p>
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<p><em><strong><a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/quarter-life-117947?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=UK+YP2022+Fail+Better&utm_content=InArticleTop">Quarter Life</a></strong> is a series about issues affecting those of us in our 20s and 30s.</em></p>
<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/193754/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephen Langston does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Not everyone succeeds straight away and how you deal with failure can really make or break your career.Stephen Langston, Senior Lecturer and Programme Leader for Performance, University of the West of ScotlandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1927572022-10-18T15:27:27Z2022-10-18T15:27:27ZRobbie Coltrane: a free-styling talent suffused with intelligence and humour<p>“I believe that men are here to grow themselves into the best good that they can be,” the iconic saxophonist <a href="https://www.johncoltrane.com/biography">John Coltrane</a> once said. Anthony Robert McMillan chose his stage name as a homage to the jazz great and, as the actor <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-31150653">Robbie Coltrane</a>, went on to grow into the best good that he could be. Both Coltranes possessed notes that had a unique flavour and could be delivered with singular skill.</p>
<p>Robbie Coltrane, who died on October 14, leaves behind a rich stage and screen legacy that audiences will continue to admire and enjoy for decades to come. Much of the world will remember him for his performance was as <a href="https://hogwarts-life.fandom.com/wiki/Rubeus_Hagrid">Rubeus Hagrid</a>, full of warmth and humour as the benevolent groundskeeper at Hogwarts in the Harry Potter films.</p>
<p>Being half-giant exposed Hagrid to prejudice, but he vowed to “never be ashamed” of his heritage and advised Harry: “You’ll be just fine. Just be yourself.” That seems to be the mantra Coltrane embodied throughout his own lengthy career. He wasn’t afraid to be himself.</p>
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<p>On graduating from Glasgow School of Art, he connected with fellow artist and GSA graduate <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-john-byrne-is-one-of-scotlands-greatest-artists-186961">John Byrne</a> in the comedy play <a href="https://digital.nls.uk/scottish-theatre/slab-boys/index.html">The Slab Boys</a>, based on Byrne’s experiences working in a Paisley carpet factory in the 1950s. Both had strayed from their brushes into drama, but in Coltrane’s case, it would lead to a permanent separation as he launched headlong into the heady world of theatre, film and television. </p>
<h2>Finding his comedy feet</h2>
<p>His first film was Bernard Tavernier’s <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/jun/03/death-watch-review-bertrand-tavernier">Death Watch</a>. A bleak prophetic 1980 Glasgow-set sci-fi starring Harvey Keitel, this was a typically unusual debut, where his scene-stealing turn in a run-down flea market searching for Romy Schneider was the start of a varied and never predictable career.</p>
<p>Coltrane then embraced the ascendant left-wing “<a href="http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/1085514/index.html">alternative comedy</a>” scene in London that was boisterously sweeping away the well-worn tropes of predominantly male post-war British comedy that was often sexist and racist. Coltrane cut his TV comedy teeth on a variety of shows, most notably <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2007/oct/20/comedy.television">The Young Ones</a>, <a href="https://www.channel4.com/programmes/comic-strip-presents">The Comic Strip Presents …</a>, <a href="https://nostalgiacentral.com/television/tv-by-decade/tv-shows-1980s/laugh-i-nearly-paid-my-licence-fee/">Alfresco</a> and <a href="https://www.comedy.co.uk/tv/blackadder/episodes/">Blackadder</a>. In this series, Coltrane’s Samuel Johnson is one of many memorable larger-than-life comedy characters Coltrane is associated with.</p>
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<p><a href="https://www.scotsman.com/heritage-and-retro/retro/tutti-frutti-30-making-bbc-scotland-cult-classic-1437061">Tutti Frutti</a>, John Byrne’s comedy about a second-rate band on the road in Scotland, was a departure for Coltrane. It returned to the rock'n'roll-inspired Glasgow of the Slab Boys, but this time in the 1980s, with the actor clearly enjoying himself as big loud rock'n'roller Danny McGlone. </p>
<p>With Emma Thompson as his love interest Suzi Kettles, it was exuberant and wildly funny. But at the edges it was painted black, with an air of menace suffusing the character of McGlone. </p>
<p>Coltrane moved on from comedy in Cracker, where the dark notes he captured in Danny McGlone deepened and extended in his portrayal of the physician who could not heal himself. Writer <a href="http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/510555/index.html">Jimmy McGovern</a> consulted Coltrane as he was writing the character of Fitz. Coltrane spoke about drawing on the atmosphere that pervaded his youth in Glasgow to create the intoxicating rhythms of a man of vices, frailties and a genius for criminal profiling.</p>
<p>Coltrane seemed to instinctively recognise this troubled dark edge in Fitz, and indeed his the actor’s own reputation for drinking was legendary. But British audiences really connected with Coltrane’s performance as a criminal psychologist and he won three consecutive Baftas for the role. </p>
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<h2>Exploring his passions</h2>
<p>Throughout his career he had a chance to freestyle like his namesake, to improvise from nobody’s script but his own. He presented a number of factual series that indulged his passion for cars and engineering including <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0130393/">Coltranes, Planes and Automobiles</a>. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/tvandradioblog/2007/aug/16/lastnightstvrobbiecoltrane">Robbie Coltrane’s B Road Britain</a> saw him take an appropriately unconventional route around the UK via back roads in a jaunty red Jaguar XK150, and ended with a paean to his beloved city of Glasgow.</p>
<p>There was also an American road-trip travelogue, <a href="https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/12364365.robbie-coltrane-puts-tv-cadillac-up-for-auction/">Coltrane in a Cadillac</a>, where he crossed the country from LA to New York in a 1951 convertible model of the iconic car. His warm personality shone through with his constant witty quips, and a natural ease with people everywhere he went.</p>
<p>This warmth was clear in his portrayal of Hagrid, which brought him the global fame any actor dreams of. It was a fame, he reflected, that was difficult at times to negotiate as someone so used to playing interesting roles for select audiences, but he made his peace with it. He seemed to recognise that immortality doesn’t always depend on your most challenging solos: </p>
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<p>The legacy of the movies is that my children’s generation will show them to their children. So you could be watching it in 50 years time, easy. I’ll not be here, sadly. But Hagrid will, yes.</p>
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<p>When Coltrane’s death was announced it felt like a real loss to Scotland, and clearly to the world of comedy, which inundated the media with affectionate remembrances. Such warm regard says a lot about the man, his talent and the way he embodied and humorously reflected Scottishness for a wider world.</p>
<p>I will always remember him as a master of many morally ambiguous roles, but most fondly as Victor Hazell, the larger than life villain in the TV adaptation of Roald Dahl’s book <a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/roald_dahls_danny_the_champion_of_the_world">Danny Champion of the World</a>. He was so suitably menacing that my siblings and I would shout at the screen to warn Danny of his approach, little knowing that I was witnessing an artist at work, making his noise, the best noise it could be.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/192757/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kate Cotter does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A talented comedian and serious dramatic actor with a gift for accents, Robbie Coltrane is a huge loss to TV and screen.Kate Cotter, Broadcast Lecturer, University of the West of ScotlandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1880482022-08-01T20:49:11Z2022-08-01T20:49:11ZThe story behind ‘Star Trek’ actress Nichelle Nichols’ iconic interracial kiss<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476990/original/file-20220801-73371-j3yn5e.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C2%2C526%2C371&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The kiss aired one year after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned laws banning interracial marriage.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/nichelle-nichols-as-uhura-and-william-shatner-as-captain-news-photo/156913470?adppopup=true">CBS via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>On <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0708443/">a 1968 episode</a> of “Star Trek,” Nichelle Nichols, playing Lt. Uhura, locked lips with William Shatner’s Capt. Kirk in what’s widely thought to be first kiss between a Black woman and white man on American television. </p>
<p>The episode’s plot is bizarre: Aliens who worship the Greek philosopher Plato use telekinetic powers to force the Enterprise crew to sing, dance and kiss. At one point, the aliens compel Lt. Uhura and Capt. Kirk to embrace. Each character tries to resist, but eventually Kirk tilts Uhura back and the two kiss as the aliens lasciviously look on. </p>
<p>The smooch is not a romantic one. But in 1968 to show a Black woman kissing a white man was a daring move. The episode aired just one year after the U.S. Supreme Court’s Loving v. Virginia decision struck down state laws against interracial marriage. At the time, Gallup polls showed that <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/163697/approve-marriage-blacks-whites.aspx">fewer than 20% of Americans approved of such relationships</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=tMLTqzcAAAAJ&hl=en">As a historian of civil rights and media</a>, I’ve been fascinated by the woman at the center of this landmark television moment. Casting Nichols, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/31/obituaries/nichelle-nichols-dead.html">who died</a> on July 30, 2022, created possibilities for more creative and socially relevant <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&view_op=list_works&authuser=2&gmla=AJsN-F5Tq3S07JaTym4ggipQ2ywifKwXWexcK4OKzMurZJvHMSp4Ay3a-7D2FrPLHlppsoEw7gbBOO8SRsu2uxvQ50GkEDmajw&user=tMLTqzcAAAAJ">“Star Trek” storylines</a>.</p>
<p>But just as significant is Nichols’ off-screen activism. She leveraged her role on “Star Trek” to become a recruiter for NASA, where she pushed for change in the space program. Her career arc shows how diverse casting on the screen can have a profound impact in the real world, too.</p>
<h2>‘A triumph of modern-day TV’</h2>
<p>In 1966, “Star Trek” creator Gene Rodenberry decided to cast Nichols to play Lt. Uhura, a translator and communications officer from the United States of Africa. In doing so, he made Nichols the first Black woman to have a continuing co-starring role on television.</p>
<p>The Black press was quick to heap praise on Nichols’ pioneering role. </p>
<p>The Norfolk Journal and Guide hoped that it would “broaden her race’s foothold on the tube.” </p>
<p>The magazine Ebony featured Nichols <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=6iZkedjSfZoC&lpg=PA70&vq=%2522Nichelle%2520Nichols%2522&dq=%2522Nichelle%20Nichols%2522&pg=PA1#v=onepage&q&f=false">on its January 1967 cover</a> and described Uhura as “the first Negro astronaut, a triumph of modern-day TV over modern-day NASA.”</p>
<p>Yet the famous kiss between Uhura and Kirk almost never happened.</p>
<p>After the first season of “Star Trek” concluded in 1967, Nichols considered quitting after being offered a role on Broadway. She had started her career as a singer in New York and always dreamed of returning to the Big Apple. </p>
<p>But at an NAACP fundraiser in Los Angeles, she ran into Martin Luther King Jr.</p>
<p>Nichols would later recount their interaction. </p>
<p>“You must not leave,” <a href="https://youtu.be/pSq_UIuxba8">King told her</a>. “You have opened a door that must not be allowed to close … you changed the face of television forever. … For the first time, the world sees us as we should be seen, as equals, as intelligent people.” </p>
<p>King went on to say that he and his family were fans of the show; <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/29/gene-roddenberry-son-star-trek_n_1119119.html">she was</a> a “hero” to his children.</p>
<p>With King’s encouragement, Nichols stayed on “Star Trek” for the original series’ full three-year run. </p>
<p>Nichols’ controversial kiss took place at the end of the third season. Nichols <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hKKkGhEDoU">recalled</a> that NBC executives closely monitored the filming because they were nervous about how Southern television stations and viewers would react.</p>
<p>After the episode aired, the network did receive an outpouring of letters from viewers – <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRfRXcP1Gsg">and the majority were positive</a>. </p>
<p>In 1982, Nichols would tell the Baltimore Afro-American that she was amused by the amount of attention the kiss generated, especially because her own heritage was “a blend of races that includes Egyptian, Ethiopian, Moor, Spanish, Welsh, Cherokee Indian and a ‘blond blue-eyed ancestor or two.’”</p>
<h2>Space crusader</h2>
<p>But Nichols’ legacy would be defined by far more than a kiss.</p>
<p>After NBC canceled Star Trek in 1969, Nichols took minor acting roles on two television series, “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053510/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Insight</a>” and “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066645/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2">The D.A.</a>” She would also play a madam in the 1974 blaxploitation film “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072325/?ref_=nv_sr_1">Truck Turner</a>.” </p>
<p>She also started to dabble in activism and education. In 1975, Nichols established Women in Motion Inc. and won several government contracts to produce educational programs related to space and science. By 1977, she had been appointed to the board of directors of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Space_Institute">National Space Institute</a>, a civil space advocacy organization.</p>
<p>That year she gave a speech at the institute’s annual meeting. In it, she critiqued the lack of women and minorities in the astronaut corps, <a href="https://repository.si.edu/bitstream/handle/10088/30908/201302SH.pdf">challenging NASA</a> to “come down from your ivory tower of intellectual pursuit, because the next Einstein might have a Black face – and she’s female.”</p>
<p>Several of NASA’s top administrators were in the audience. They invited her to lead an astronaut recruitment program for the new space shuttle program. Soon, she packed her bags and began traveling the country, visiting high schools and colleges, speaking with professional organizations and legislators, and appearing on national television programs such as “Good Morning America.”</p>
<p>“The aim was to find qualified people among women and minorities, then to convince them that the opportunity was real and that it also was a duty, because this was historic,” Nichols told the Baltimore Afro-American in 1979. “I really had this sense of purpose about it myself.” </p>
<p>In her 1994 autobiography, “<a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=AbtNPgAACAAJ&dq=Beyond+Uhura&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiatNz-xpDdAhXCTN8KHdQ2AdwQ6AEIJzAA">Beyond Uhura</a>,” Nichols recalled that in the seven months before the recruitment program began, “NASA had received only 1,600 applications, including fewer than 100 from women and 35 from minority candidates.” But by the end of June 1977, “just four months after we assumed our task, 8,400 applications were in, including 1,649 from women (a fifteen-fold increase) and an astounding 1,000 from minorities.” </p>
<p>Nichols’ campaign recruited several trailblazing astronauts, including Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, Guion Bluford, the first African American in space, and Mae Jemison, the first African American woman in space.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233939/original/file-20180828-86153-6dakin.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/233939/original/file-20180828-86153-6dakin.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233939/original/file-20180828-86153-6dakin.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233939/original/file-20180828-86153-6dakin.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233939/original/file-20180828-86153-6dakin.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233939/original/file-20180828-86153-6dakin.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/233939/original/file-20180828-86153-6dakin.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Nichelle Nichols speaks after the Space Shuttle Endeavour landed at Los Angeles International Airport Friday in September 2012.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Space-Shuttle-Last-Stop/f4c443def09a428c91ddcc7d6e228dde/1/0">AP Photo/Reed Saxon</a></span>
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<h2>Relentless advocacy for inclusion</h2>
<p>Her advocacy for inclusion and diversity wasn’t limited to the space program.</p>
<p>As one of the first Black women in a major television role, Nichols understood the importance of opening doors for minorities and women in entertainment. </p>
<p>Nichols continued to push for African Americans to have more power in film and television. </p>
<p>“Until we Blacks and minorities become not only the producers, writers and directors, but the buyers and distributors, we’re not going to change anything,” <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=7dgDAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA150&ots=wbTFv3IH98&dq=nichelle%20nichols%20ebony%201985%20billy%20dee%20williams&pg=PA154#v=onepage&q=nichelle%20nichols%20ebony%201985%20billy%20dee%20williams&f=false">she told Ebony in 1985</a>. “Until we become industry, until we control media or at least have enough say, we will always be the chauffeurs and tap dancers.”</p>
<p><em>This story has been updated from <a href="https://theconversation.com/tvs-first-interracial-kiss-launched-a-lifelong-career-in-activism-101721">the original version</a> published on April 15, 2021.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/188048/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matthew Delmont does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>At the time, Gallup polls showed that fewer than 20% of Americans approved of interracial marriage.Matthew Delmont, Sherman Fairchild Distinguished Professor of History, Dartmouth CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1790882022-05-11T19:55:04Z2022-05-11T19:55:04ZFrom the Moscow stage to Monroe and De Niro: how the Method defined 20th-century acting<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462355/original/file-20220511-22-sn6soo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP/Courtesy Running Press</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>When an actor is criticised for peculiarly excessive preparation for a role, or an inability to break character off-camera, an ill-defined notion of “Method” acting (note the capital “M”) is rarely far away.</p>
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<p><em>Review: The Method: How the Twentieth Century Learned to Act by Isaac Butler (Bloomsbury).</em></p>
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<p>Living rough on the streets to prepare for a role. Abusing fellow performers to provoke an “authentic” response. Or never breaking from character throughout an entire shoot – like Daniel Day-Lewis, who <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-21572983">supposedly insisted</a> on being addressed as “Mr President” throughout the three-month filming of Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln. </p>
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<p>But while it’s easy to ridicule or parody, the Method – which casts a long shadow over European and (in particular) American acting – is complex and varied. </p>
<h2>What is Method acting?</h2>
<p>As detailed in Isaac Butler’s <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/au/method-9781635574777/">The Method: How the Twentieth Century Learned to Act</a>, the Method was developed in Russia in the latter part of the 19th century.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460497/original/file-20220429-17-a1p5av.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460497/original/file-20220429-17-a1p5av.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460497/original/file-20220429-17-a1p5av.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=912&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460497/original/file-20220429-17-a1p5av.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=912&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460497/original/file-20220429-17-a1p5av.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=912&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460497/original/file-20220429-17-a1p5av.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1146&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460497/original/file-20220429-17-a1p5av.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1146&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460497/original/file-20220429-17-a1p5av.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1146&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<p>Its creators, Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko and Konstantin Stanislawski, transformed Russian theatre with their new approach to acting, writing and theatre production. Their system encouraged more subjective, interior approaches to performance, and more realistic, naturalistic approaches to staging.</p>
<p>Acting had been largely externalised and action-centred, often understood in terms of preconceived gestures. The Method helped transform it into a dynamic process that unlocked deep recesses of personal experience and “emotion memory”, which could then be funnelled into a performance.</p>
<p>It is hard to imagine modern acting without this development.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/hollywood-has-got-method-acting-all-wrong-heres-what-the-process-is-really-about-172568">Hollywood has got method acting all wrong, here's what the process is really about</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<h2>Collateral damage to shooting stars</h2>
<p>The Method is strongly linked to the new realism that emerges in New York theatre in the 1930s and 1940s, and Hollywood cinema in the 1950s and 1960s. </p>
<p>It’s also connected to the performance styles of many of the key actors and stars of mid-century American theatre and cinema: Marlon Brando, Kim Stanley, Montgomery Clift, Anne Bancroft, Rod Steiger, Paul Newman, and many others.</p>
<iframe width="100%" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uBiewQrpBBA" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<p>Its excesses and dangers are deployed as damning evidence to help explain the tragic fate of figures like James Dean and Marilyn Monroe. Shooting stars caught within the orbit of abusive Method teachers, they seemed to suffer the collateral damage of drawing on their traumatic past too deeply.</p>
<p>The Method is often brought into debates about the distinction between performing and being, acting and reacting. But such dichotomies are unhelpful in understanding the complex interior, exterior and collaborative processes at play in any great performance.</p>
<p>This is particularly true for film acting, a mode of performance that requires actors to register minute changes of expression, small actions and gestures – all of which are then blown up in microscopic detail. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A man and woman stare at each other, balloons in background." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460503/original/file-20220429-19-a1p5av.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460503/original/file-20220429-19-a1p5av.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460503/original/file-20220429-19-a1p5av.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460503/original/file-20220429-19-a1p5av.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460503/original/file-20220429-19-a1p5av.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=315&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460503/original/file-20220429-19-a1p5av.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=315&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460503/original/file-20220429-19-a1p5av.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=315&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Anne Bancroft is a key mid-century actor whose performance style is linked to the Method. She’s pictured (right) with Dustin Hoffman, another famous Method actor, in The Graduate.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">IMDB</span></span>
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<p>As James Harvey <a href="https://thedissolve.com/features/interview/689-film-scholar-james-harvey-talks-about-watching-the/">has claimed</a>, the art of acting for the camera in the 20th century is largely a matter, for the spectator, of “watching them be”. </p>
<p>In some ways, the Method, which at its base foregrounds individual agency and psychology, is brilliantly suited to self-centred notions of both society and art. And to the curious alchemy that fuses actor, celebrity and character in star-centred theatre and cinema. </p>
<p>It is unsurprising that this often mannered style reached its peak of fame in the 1950s, an era of rising individualism. It rocketed to ascendancy alongside Abstract Expressionism in American painting, stream of consciousness in various forms of writing (such as the work of the Beats), and in the improvisational modes of jazz favoured by artists like <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-miles-davis-electrified-jazz-168785">Miles Davis</a>, Charlie Parker and Ornette Coleman.</p>
<h2>Revolution, individualism and Freud</h2>
<p>Isaac Butler’s book is a fascinatingly detailed, brilliantly readable and often compelling account of the hundred-year journey of the Method from pre-revolutionary Russia to the stages of New York – and the rise of New Hollywood and actors like <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-godfather-at-50-set-among-the-american-mafia-of-the-40s-coppolas-film-is-unmistakably-a-film-of-the-disillusioned-70s-178030">Al Pacino</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/goodfellas-at-30-scorseses-massively-influential-virtuoso-gangster-film-144738">Robert De Niro</a> and Ellen Burstyn. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460498/original/file-20220429-15-a1p5av.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A young man in a suit and tie talks to an older, white-haired man." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460498/original/file-20220429-15-a1p5av.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460498/original/file-20220429-15-a1p5av.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=379&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460498/original/file-20220429-15-a1p5av.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=379&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460498/original/file-20220429-15-a1p5av.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=379&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460498/original/file-20220429-15-a1p5av.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460498/original/file-20220429-15-a1p5av.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460498/original/file-20220429-15-a1p5av.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Method actor Al Pacino and Lee Strasberg, famous Method acting teacher (and actor), in The Godfather II, as Michael Coreleone and Hyman Roth.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">IMDB</span></span>
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<p>It is not shy in exploring the complexities of this journey and the many offshoots and variations produced along the way. Butler examines the social, cultural and political implications of the evolving and splintering Method system, and how it responded to various forces. </p>
<p>These include: proletarian demands, the <a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-putin-memory-wars-and-the-100th-anniversary-of-the-russian-revolution-72477">Russian revolution</a>, the rise of leftist politics in the United States in the 1920s and 1930s, <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-dangerous-method-in-defence-of-freuds-psychoanalysis-5989">Freudian psychology</a>, the increased individualism of post-war America, and the anti-communist blacklist. And, of course, there was the Method’s ultimate canonisation and popular recognition in plays and films like <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044081/">A Streetcar Named Desire</a>, <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047296/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">On the Waterfront</a>, and <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048356/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Marty</a>.</p>
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<p>Butler also meticulously introduces and describes the first-tier actors and directors of the New Hollywood of the late 1960s and 1970s who proclaimed (and in some cases denied) the Method’s direct influence and legacy. </p>
<p>For a significant period in the 1960s and 1970s, with the increasing celebrity of prominent acting teachers of the Method like <a href="https://strasberg.edu/about/what-is-method-acting/">Lee Strasberg</a> (of the Actors Studio) and <a href="https://tophollywoodactingcoach.com/2016/06/what-is-the-stella-adler-acting-method/">Stella Adler</a>, the Method’s various offshoots could claim true cultural dominance. The influence and fiery disagreements of these teachers are a focus of Butler’s book.</p>
<p>Butler details Marilyn Monroe’s increasingly close and personal relationship with Strasberg (and his relationship with second wife <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paula_Strasberg">Paula</a>, Monroe’s acting coach) and the influential patronage of actors like James Dean, Montgomery Clift and Rod Steiger. He also describes truly terrifying classes and feedback sessions conducted by Strasberg at the Actors Studio. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460508/original/file-20220429-15-9ol1xl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=11%2C16%2C1516%2C982&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Older man and daughter laughing over a piece of paper while glamorous blonde sits to their side." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460508/original/file-20220429-15-9ol1xl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=11%2C16%2C1516%2C982&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460508/original/file-20220429-15-9ol1xl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460508/original/file-20220429-15-9ol1xl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460508/original/file-20220429-15-9ol1xl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460508/original/file-20220429-15-9ol1xl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=558&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460508/original/file-20220429-15-9ol1xl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=558&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460508/original/file-20220429-15-9ol1xl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=558&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Method acting coach Lee Strasberg (centre) with actor daughter Susan Strasberg (left) and famous student Marilyn Monroe (right).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Laura Loveday/Flickr</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<p>In contrast, Adler insisted on an approach to acting that stuck more closely to Stanislawski’s original concept of “emotion memory”, and recommended extensive processes of research and preparation in the creation of any performance. Among her most significant students were Marlon Brando, Robert De Niro, Elaine Stritch and Warren Beatty.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/would-marilyn-monroes-career-and-life-have-been-different-if-she-had-acted-on-stage-70117">Would Marilyn Monroe's career (and life) have been different if she had acted on stage?</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>A particular strength of Butler’s cultural history is how he carefully plots this rise, while granting equal space to each stage of the journey. His book is, nevertheless, a little too focused on the impact of the ideas of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Vladimir-Nemirovich-Danchenko">Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko</a> and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Konstantin-Stanislavsky">Konstantin Stanislavski</a> on the stages and screens of Russia and then the United States. </p>
<p>There is little sense of the impact of these ideas elsewhere in Europe, and British acting is mainly used as a counterweight, put forward as a haven for a more exterior form of acting, epitomised by the work of Laurence Olivier (who <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/why-hollywood-finally-over-method-acting-1700143">famously scorned</a> Method acting). </p>
<p>Butler also provides accounts of writers important to the Method. Anton Chekhov, central to the initial work of the seminal Moscow Open Art Theatre, is a key source throughout.</p>
<p>And he charts the contributions of Clifford Odets, Tennessee Williams, James Baldwin and Paddy Chayefsky, who were equally integral to various stages of the Method’s development, dissemination and devolution.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460500/original/file-20220429-26-h0umhf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="four men at a party in the 70s" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460500/original/file-20220429-26-h0umhf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460500/original/file-20220429-26-h0umhf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460500/original/file-20220429-26-h0umhf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460500/original/file-20220429-26-h0umhf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460500/original/file-20220429-26-h0umhf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460500/original/file-20220429-26-h0umhf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460500/original/file-20220429-26-h0umhf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Tennessee Williams was one of the writers integral to various stages of the Method’s development. He’d pictured here (third from left), with Truman Capote (second from left). From the Key West Art and Historical Society.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/keyslibraries/">Florida Keys Public Library/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The book gives space to the competing approaches of writers and directors like <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Bertolt-Brecht">Bertolt Brecht</a> and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Vsevolod-Yemilyevich-Meyerhold">Vsevolod Meyerhold</a>, along with the more varied approaches of actors like Meryl Streep. Its compelling chronological narrative ends up focusing, however, on a judicious selection of key figures within the US and Russia. </p>
<p>As Butler documents, the outcomes of this change – though he is also careful to note the seeds of this style even earlier and elsewhere – could be truly astounding or monumentally disastrous.</p>
<h2>Triumphs, failures and major players</h2>
<p>Among the pleasures of Butler’s book is how it documents these triumphs and failures – sometimes within the performance of the same play by a single company, as in the case of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1964/06/23/archives/theater-a-tender-three-sisters-actors-studio-excels-in-chekhov.html">the Actors Studio’s staging of Chekhov’s Three Sisters</a>. He also provides evocative portraits of many key figures like Elia Kazan, Maria Ouspenskaya, Howard Clurman, Richard Boleslavsky and John Garfield. </p>
<p>He focuses on people who were particularly important in managing entities such as the American Laboratory Theatre, the Actors Studio, the Group Theatre and the Moscow Art Theatre, directing breakthrough films and plays (the duplicitous Kazan emerges as a titan in this regard), writing accounts of how the “system” worked, or introducing new styles of acting.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460504/original/file-20220429-25-9ol1xl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460504/original/file-20220429-25-9ol1xl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460504/original/file-20220429-25-9ol1xl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=765&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460504/original/file-20220429-25-9ol1xl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=765&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460504/original/file-20220429-25-9ol1xl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=765&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460504/original/file-20220429-25-9ol1xl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=961&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460504/original/file-20220429-25-9ol1xl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=961&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460504/original/file-20220429-25-9ol1xl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=961&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Konstantin Stanislawski.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As in many books of this kind, such a focus and approach is also a limitation. This is a cultural history less concerned with the nuts and bolts of theatre and film production – though it is often incisive in this department and is plainly written by someone with a deep knowledge of these processes – than the collaborations and conflicts between figures adapting and transforming Stanislavski’s initial “system”. </p>
<p>This, of course, also makes this very well-written and carefully organised book a true pleasure to read.</p>
<p>Butler provides a convincing account of the Method’s importance in the history of ideas. He doesn’t shy away from arguing for the decreased currency of many of its techniques and lessons, but make claims for its ongoing influence alongside a range of other approaches and methods. </p>
<p>He provides a complex account of The Method’s various forms and variations across almost 150 years. He also provides important cultural and social context for helping understand why a shift to a more “realist” or personal, self-centred form of acting was both hard fought for and inevitable. </p>
<p>Even a simple thing like the improved lighting in theatres from the late 19th century had a profound impact on what was possible in terms of more interior and subtle forms of staging and performance. </p>
<p>This was, of course, amplified in the rise of sound cinema in the late 1920s and its more tempered forms of screen acting that led to the minimalist styles of stars like Gary Cooper, Clint Eastwood and Juliette Binoche.</p>
<p>Popular accounts of the Method’s legacy tend to steer towards trivial excesses, like Jared Leto <a href="https://ew.com/movies/jared-leto-clarifies-suicide-squad-gifts/">allegedly</a> sending his co-stars various “gifts” like used condoms in preparation for his role as the Joker in Suicide Squad. (Which, for the record, Leto now denies.) But Butler’s book makes convincing claims for why we should continue to take this approach and its legacy seriously.</p>
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<p>In so doing, it answers its pointed epigraph from Tom Stoppard’s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosencrantz_and_Guildenstern_Are_Dead">Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead</a>: “We’re actors. We’re the opposite of people.” </p>
<p>If this magisterial book does little else, it certainly convinces the reader that nothing could be further from the truth.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/179088/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adrian Danks does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Living rough to prepare for a role. Abusing fellow actors to provoke an ‘authentic’ response … It’s easy to ridicule the Method but the truth of this approach to acting is far more complex.Adrian Danks, Associate professor in Cinema and Media Studies, RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1817032022-04-29T12:21:31Z2022-04-29T12:21:31ZGilbert Gottfried and the mechanics of crafting one of the most memorable voices of all time<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460333/original/file-20220428-12-yk51sc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=13%2C8%2C2982%2C1985&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Marlee Matlin covers her ears as Gottfried performs during the Comedy Central Roast of Donald Trump in 2011.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/ComedyCentralRoastofDonaldTrump/9f6393d4b209436788f830ae5dfd82cf/photo?Query=gilbert%20gottfried&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=154&currentItemNo=131">AP Photo/Charles Sykes</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Though Gilbert Gottfried’s voice has alternatively been described as “<a href="https://variety.com/2022/film/news/gilbert-gottfried-dead-dies-comedian-aladdin-1235231387">shrill</a>,” “<a href="https://www.looper.com/132868/whatever-happened-to-gilbert-gottfried/">annoying</a>” and “<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/12/entertainment/gilbert-gottfried-death/index.html">grating</a>,” you can’t say it isn’t memorable.</p>
<p>Gottfried, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/12/arts/gilbert-gottfried-dead.html">who died on April 12, 2022</a>, didn’t naturally sound this way. Watch him perform as a cast member during on the sixth season of “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idtrUge0wAQ">Saturday Night Live</a>,” and you’ll hear a voice that sounds downright angelic by comparison. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Gilbert Gottfried’s brief run as a cast member on ‘Saturday Night Live’ occurred before the development of his signature voice.</span></figcaption>
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<p>But as he developed his comic persona, that distinctive sound made its way into his performances in stand-up comedy, advertising, television and film – perhaps most famously as Iago in “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103639/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0">Aladdin</a>,” Mr. Peabody in “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100419/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_2">Problem Child</a>” and as a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8PGzYwTsqM">squawking duck</a> in advertisements for the insurance giant Aflac. </p>
<p>Clearly, Gottfried figured out how to create a character that perfectly synced a personality with a voice that matched – a particularly valuable skill for actors that requires a combination of technique and instinct.</p>
<h2>The smooth operators</h2>
<p>In 2001, the Center for Voice Disorders at Wake Forest University <a href="https://newsroom.wakehealth.edu/News-Releases/2002/01/Americans-Speak-Out-Select-the-Best-and-Worst-Voices-in-America-In-Online-Polling">surveyed Americans</a> asking them who possessed the best and worst voices. The actors with the three best voices were James Earl Jones, Sean Connery and Julia Roberts. </p>
<p>The worst? Leading the pack was Fran Drescher of “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106080/">The Nanny</a>” fame, followed by Roseanne Barr and – you guessed it – Gilbert Gottfried.</p>
<p><a href="https://sc.edu/study/colleges_schools/artsandsciences/theatre_and_dance/our_people/directory/tobolski_erica.php">As a voice specialist</a> who teaches acting, voice and speech, I work with students and clients who often want to sound more like Connery and Roberts, and less like Gottfried.</p>
<p>Three distinct subsystems are involved in vocal production: the larynx, <a href="https://medlineplus.gov/ency/imagepages/19708.htm">or voice box</a>, which houses the vocal folds; the lungs and diaphragm in breathing; and areas where sounds resonate, or the vocal tract.</p>
<p>Speaking well involves a mix of understanding this vocal anatomy, utilizing proper breathing techniques and learning how to speak without excess tension. Collectively, these elements are known as <a href="https://voicefoundation.org/health-science/voice-disorders/anatomy-physiology-of-voice-production/the-voice-mechanism/">the voice mechanism</a>. </p>
<p>If a student or client comes into a session seeking a more effective voice, it’s these fundamentals that will be addressed. When these elements work together, they create a balanced vocal quality, one that’s generally perceived as confident and professional – think <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIiNuLgUInk">Morgan Freeman</a>. </p>
<h2>Developing a character</h2>
<p>But there’s a special niche for voices that are unusual.</p>
<p>The very skills that an actor learns to create a melodious voice can also be manipulated for a character voice – which is exactly what Gottfried was able to do, along with other actors who developed memorable characters, such as Jim Carrey in “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110475/?ref_=vp_close">The Mask</a>” and Eartha Kitt as Yzma in “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHA2rNGUusU">The Emperor’s New Groove</a>.” Meryl Streep has been especially adept at creating unique voices for a number of roles, but one that stands out to me is her portrayal of Margaret Thatcher in “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnwG9lTd4-M">The Iron Lady</a>.”</p>
<p>Understanding what you can change – and how to change it – is the key. </p>
<p>In my voice-over class, for example, I introduce a range of vocal qualities that can be mined to develop new voices. Five of the most common are a hoarse voice, a breathy one, a creaky one – also known as <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4L7-9N1xQZA">vocal fry</a> – a voice that incorporates hypernasality and one that accentuates hyponasality, which refers to how most people sound when they have a cold.</p>
<p>One of the best and most immediate ways to change your voice is by placing it in a specific resonating area of the body – such as the sinuses or throat – or by changing how the vocal folds vibrate. </p>
<p>In a class on character voice, I coach students to direct the sound of their voice into their nasal cavity for a hypernasal sound, and into the back of their throat, the pharyngeal cavity, for a hyponasal sound. </p>
<p>To trigger a hypernasal sound, you could quack like a duck – “Aflac!” – or mimic <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0002121/">Margaret Hamilton’s</a> Wicked Witch of the West from “The Wizard of Oz” with the phrase “I’ll get you, my pretty!”</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">The Wicked Witch of the West in ‘The Wizard of Oz’ possesses the hallmarks of the hypernasal sound.</span></figcaption>
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<p>For a hyponasal sound, pinch your nostrils together so no sound comes through the nasal passage, and you’ll sound like you have a stuffy nose. Widening the back of your throat while you speak will create a sound similar to that of Lenny from “Loony Tunes.” </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Sounding droopy and dopey like Lenny can involve accentuating a hyponasal sound.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Want to sound like <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001413/">Julie Kavner’s</a> rendition of Marge Simpson, who speaks with a creaky voice? Relax your throat and say “uhhh” in a very low pitch. The vocal folds are short and thick and create a slow vibration. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Marge Simpson pushes back against suggestions that she sounds like Vice President Kamala Harris.</span></figcaption>
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<p>To achieve a breathy quality, sigh out an easy “hahhh” with half voice and half breath. Marilyn Monroe singing “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iH3oOVKt0WI">Happy Birthday</a>” to President John F. Kennedy captures this vocal quality perfectly. </p>
<p>If Gilbert Gottfried were to walk into my classroom and ask me to analyze his character voice, I would describe it as a combination of hypernasality and raspy, with a bit of stridency thrown in. He speaks in a relatively high pitch with little modulation and stays at a consistently high volume. </p>
<p>Of course, Gottfried perfected this sound, and it worked in tandem with his brand of humor. If you were to develop something similar, just make sure you could figure out when to hit the “off” switch.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Gilbert Gottfried as Mr. Peabody in ‘Problem Child.’</span></figcaption>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Erica Tobolski does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Though it was exceedingly grating, the late comedian was able to perfect a sound that worked in tandem with his brand of humor.Erica Tobolski, Professor of Theatre and Dance, University of South CarolinaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1790842022-03-18T12:31:54Z2022-03-18T12:31:54ZHow prosthetic penises in shows like HBO’s ‘Minx’ reinforce existing stereotypes and taboos<p>Entertainment Weekly <a href="https://ew.com/tv/taylor-zakhar-perez-minx-cover/">recently published an interview</a> with actor Taylor Zakhar Perez, teasing the piece with a headline about Perez “baring it all” as a nude model for a 1970s magazine centerfold in the first episode in HBO Max’s “scandalous” new show, “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11947418/">Minx</a>.” </p>
<p>The real scandal, in my view, is not the promised nudity but the way it’s misrepresented. Perez never actually appears fully nude in that episode. He wears a prosthetic penis. </p>
<p>As prosthetic penises have become more common in film and on TV, I’ve watched publications eagerly document the trend with cheeky headlines: “<a href="https://nypost.com/2022/02/07/power-of-the-dong-hollywood-unleashed-the-penis-this-year/">The power of the dong: The year the penis was unleashed in Hollywood</a>,” “<a href="https://www.thrillist.com/entertainment/nation/how-prosthetic-penises-are-made-tv-movies">How the Sausage Gets Made: Inside Hollywood’s Prosthetic Penis Craze</a>” and “<a href="https://theface.com/culture/nudity-cock-penis-dicks-euphoria-and-just-like-that-tv-film-culture">Welcome to the year of the cock</a>.”</p>
<p>But to me, their growing use, and the way in which actors wielding them are deceptively described as partaking in “full frontal nudity,” often reinforces existing taboos under a guise of progressivism and gender equality.</p>
<p>What’s wrong with just showing the real thing?</p>
<h2>No more than a costume</h2>
<p>I’ve been researching representations of penises and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/15240657.2020.1857528">the way they’re connected to masculinity</a> since the 1993 publication of my book “<a href="https://www.wsupress.wayne.edu/books/detail/running-scared">Running Scared: Masculinity and the Representation of the Male Body</a>.”</p>
<p>The media, it seems, has become fascinated with prosthetic penises while skirting the issue of why filmmakers and actors are avoiding actually baring it all.</p>
<p>“Minx” is <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/01/arts/television/hbo-hulu-amazon-march.html">set in the 1970s</a> and tells the story of an activist who becomes the editor of an erotic feminist magazine that includes nude male centerfolds. Her partner in the enterprise is a successful pornographer.</p>
<p>The premise seems ripe for actors to appear in the flesh. And sure enough, early coverage of the show plays up this element. “Minx,” <a href="https://decider.com/2022/03/01/minx-on-hbo-max-review/">according to a review in Deadline</a>, uses nudity “to defang the insidious shame associated with sexuality in all forms. … [In the show] a penis is just a penis and a breast a mere breast.”<br>
But a prosthetic penis is not just a penis; it is not even a penis. </p>
<p>The “Minx” pilot does include a minutelong scene in which about 18 bottomless men audition to appear in the centerfold, and flashes of their purportedly <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/16/arts/television/minx-hbo-max-male-nudity.html">real penises are shown</a>.</p>
<p>Although The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/16/arts/television/minx-hbo-max-male-nudity.html">praised the montage</a> for its “unusual degree of realism,” I think it highlights how the show carefully regulates the representation of penises. </p>
<p>None of the men in this brief scene are major characters. It turns out <a href="http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2022/03/minx-euphoria-tvs-increase-in-full-frontal-male-nudity-prosthetics">some actually wore prosthetic penises</a>. And the one who’s ultimately chosen, played by Perez, wears a prosthesis, which simply amounts to a costume. </p>
<h2>Titillating PR</h2>
<p>Furthermore, the phony phalli on screen often reflect cultural stereotypes.</p>
<p>In the 2015 film “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3844362/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0">The Overnight</a>,” a character with a small prosthetic penis is comically obsessed about its size and his sexual performance. As one prosthetic artist <a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/3049594/what-hollywoods-prosthetic-penis-genius-can-teach-you-about-ahem-growing-y">explained to Fast Company</a>, “Filmmakers will always give a bigger penis to more manly, virile characters and smaller penises are usually just about the gag factor.” </p>
<p>He added that he’d welcome diverse, real penises because they’d make people “a little bit more comfortable with sexuality” and combat the “taboo” of showing the penis.</p>
<p>Culture writer Christina Izzo <a href="https://www.myimperfectlife.com/features/tv-prosthetic-penis-trend">derides the popularity of prosthetics</a> as a “cock-out cop-out.”</p>
<p>But Izzo is a lonely voice. <a href="https://www.esquire.com/uk/culture/tv/a38949715/male-nudity-tv-euphoria-pam-tommy-talking-penis">Most coverage of prosthetic penises</a> tends to portray them as progressive for purportedly providing a visual balance to female nudity and feminist for making actresses more comfortable on set.</p>
<p>I believe the issues should be separated. <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/07/entertainment/intimacy-coordinators-michaela-coel-baftas-intl-scli-gbr/index.html">When intimacy consultants</a> require the use of prosthetic penises in intimate sexual scenes with bodily contact for the comfort of actresses, they perform a profoundly important role. However, many of the instances of frontal male nudity I’ve analyzed involve no intimate sexual contact. </p>
<p>Eric Dane and Jacob Elordi are two of many actors in “Euphoria” <a href="https://www.thewrap.com/eric-dane-on-why-he-used-a-prosthetic-penis-for-euphoria-full-frontal-sex-scene/">who purportedly wore prosthetic penises</a> even as <a href="https://www.bustle.com/entertainment/jacob-elordi-euphoria-stunt-penises-mullet-kissing-booth">they implied</a> that they’ve broken the taboo of showing penises. </p>
<p>It is impossible to verify most claims about the extent of the use of prosthetic penises on any show, and <a href="https://www.cosmopolitan.com/uk/entertainment/a37062869/sex-life-brad-prosthetic-penis/">some actors refuse to answer the question</a>. An “is it real or not” tease encourages speculation and has become its own form of publicity for shows and actors. </p>
<h2>Sculpting meaning into something trivial</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.routledge.com/Masculinity-Bodies-Movies-Culture/Lehman/p/book/9780415923248">My research</a> <a href="https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=acls;cc=acls;view=toc;idno=heb08133.0001.001">on sexuality and the male body</a> shows that representations of the penis in the media influence cultural notions of sexuality and gender. Since the penis is a potent cultural symbol, people are bombarded with conflicting messages attempting to control its meaning.</p>
<p>For example, medicine reassures men that nearly all of them are average. Pornography shows extremely large penises. Men with small penises are the butt of size jokes. Racist stereotypes suggest men of some races have large penises and are hypersexual, while others are undersexed with small ones.</p>
<p>Prosthetic penises are just another way to attach significance to the organ.</p>
<p>Of course, the truth is that penises have no fixed meanings. The first issue of <a href="https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/a55592/playgirl-magazine-history/">Playgirl magazine</a>, which featured real frontal male nudity, was published in 1973; it makes the use of prostheses in 2022 seem overly prude. Mature representations of real, diverse penises, without shame or special significance, would be far more worthy of media attention than prostheses. </p>
<p>That, to me, would be truly revolutionary.</p>
<p>[<em>Get the best of The Conversation, every weekend.</em> <a href="https://memberservices.theconversation.com/newsletters/?nl=weekly&source=inline-weeklybest">Sign up for our weekly newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/179084/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Lehman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Often described as a sign of progressivism and gender equality, they’re neither.Peter Lehman, Emeritus Professor, Film and Media Studies in English, Arizona State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1789552022-03-11T11:12:04Z2022-03-11T11:12:04ZVolodymyr Zelensky: how acting prepared the Ukrainian president for the role of his life<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451340/original/file-20220310-17-o3o12k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=32%2C8%2C5359%2C3573&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/president-volodymyr-zelenskyy-made-press-statement-2128431890">Photographer RM/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>It is now well known that the Ukrainian president is a former comic, but this is a misleading representation of his past career. Vlodymyr Zelensky is a seasoned performer with a string of professional roles, including the voice of <a href="https://youtu.be/-vlb4z9ge5E">Paddington Bear</a> (the Ukrainian language version), <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2022/03/ukraine-president-zelenskyy-romantic-comedy-movies">Love in the Big City</a> and <a href="http://kino.musu.lv/en/movie/1398_8_new_dates/">8 New Dates</a>.</p>
<p>In a strange quirk of fate, he most recently played a fictional school teacher unexpectedly elected as the Ukrainian president in <a href="https://theprint.in/features/reel-take/whys-ukraine-president-zelenskyy-a-winner-watch-tv-comedy-servant-of-the-people-for-answer/853089/">Servant of the People</a> (now being shown on <a href="https://deadline.com/2022/03/ukraine-president-volodymyr-zelensky-series-servant-of-the-people-sells-to-uks-channel-4-and-others-1234968826/">Channel 4</a> in the UK to up the weirdness of the situation). The series helped catapult Zelensky to a landslide victory in the real-life 2019 presidential elections.</p>
<p>Now the world is in awe of this heroic man courageously leading his country from the depths of war-torn Kiev. His passionate speeches <a href="https://news.sky.com/video/ukraine-crisis-translator-breaks-down-during-volodymyr-zelenskyy-speech-to-european-parliament-12554812">reduce people to tears</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Xpdjvsff5U">inspire governments</a>.</p>
<p>His superior communication skills influence <a href="https://www.independent.ie/world-news/europe/how-unlikely-hero-volodymyr-zelensky-is-winning-over-the-world-41398047.html">world leaders</a> through an intense bombardment of factual statements. Well researched questions with solutions are presented, demonstrating thoughtfulness and intelligence, while he is unafraid to show emotion when describing the distress of his country’s circumstances.</p>
<p>Zelensky’s appointment as president may have been influenced by his presidential acting role, but his performance skills are now just as crucial in the propaganda war. Where conflict is constantly live streamed or heavily censored through social media and television, performance skills play a major part in winning the battle for information.</p>
<p>The president’s experience as a skilled performer reveals a useful armoury of weapons now being deployed against the might of the Russian invasion. So how did Zelensky’s career in performance prepare him for the role of his life?</p>
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<h2>Useful skills for leaders</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://learn.org/articles/What_Are_the_Skills_Needed_to_Work_in_Acting.html">core skills</a> required in actors are remarkably similar to diplomatic skills: <a href="https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/resumes-cover-letters/diplomatic-skills">a range of strengths and abilities</a> that enable professionals to manage professional relationships. Memorisation, creativity, reading, speaking and teamwork highlight a few aptitudes. However, the ability to change one’s personality to communicate a message in a controlled and meaningful manner is proving to be a key skill for Zelensky.</p>
<p>Zelensky trained as a lawyer, but the draw of television led him to create <a href="https://kvartal95.com/en/about/">Kvartal 95</a>, a production company specialising in comedy and romcoms. He wrote, produced and starred in many productions, making good use of his creativity, business skills and background in law. Unwittingly, Zelensky built his portfolio of presidential skills long before he knew he was going to undertake that role.</p>
<p>In 2015, he created the role of Vasyl Goloborodko in Servant of the People, This character is very different from the grave, unshaven persona we now see daily. Goloborodko is an unhappy citizen who seethes over crooked political leaders, and publicises his disgust through videos attacking public figures. This is an example of dramatic acting for television, where his skills are creating the emotions and effect desired for an audience.</p>
<p>Zelensky also showcases advanced writing skills. Servant of the People is not a ground-breaking series, but it does demonstrate how television functions as a vehicle for an actor, delivers an enjoyable viewing experience and attracts decent viewing figures.</p>
<h2>Inhabiting his role</h2>
<p>On Thursday February 24 2022, Zelensky appeared on Ukrainian television with an air of gravitas not usually associated with him. I am in no way suggesting that Zelensky was acting, of course. But the skills he has learned and nourished through performance help him to present his message with gravitas concisely and under exceptionally pressurised circumstances. He adopts a calm, reassuring but patriotic manner in his <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/world/zelensky-addresses-the-nation-after-russian-and-ukrainian-talks/2022/02/28/fc788bbf-bc4c-4910-9619-78573e1c3c65_video.html">first speech to the Ukrainian people</a> through his intense and earnest delivery.</p>
<p><a href="https://forward.com/culture/483113/volodymyr-zelenskyy-jewish-ukraine-performance-actor-comic-servant-of-the/">Sincerity and authenticity</a> are immediately obvious and both are key skills required of an actor and screenwriter. In contrast, <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-ph/news/other/ukraine-s-zelensky-calls-hospital-bombing-proof-of-genocide/vi-AAURCEE">Zelensky’s broadcast</a> after the bombing of the children’s hospital in Mariupol, exhibits a calm, yet determined approach. </p>
<p>Dramatic pauses allow the viewer time to digest the seriousness of the situation. His skilfully utilised tone also implies an underlying desperation, delivered straight through the camera into the eyes of the people at home. </p>
<p>Whether in war or peace time, a leader needs suitable imagery the public can relate to. Margaret Thatcher’s adviser <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/2001/sep/27/guardianobituaries.obituaries">Gordon Reece</a> was concerned about her public image in the 1979 elections. He employed the skills of <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2055214/How-Laurence-Olivier-gave-Margaret-Thatcher-voice-went-history.html">voice coaches</a> from the Royal National Theatre to transform her shrill voice to a softer, deeper tone that suggested empathy with the public. The Ukrainian leader understands this too.</p>
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<p>When Zelensky recently addressed the the UK parliament he displayed no evidence of being overwhelmed or under pressure. Contemplate the preparation required to deliver such an important speech from a war bunker as his country is being destroyed. The skills he learned as an actor, such as focus, communication, dispelling nerves and emotional sincerity are crucial for audience engagement, particularly under these grave circumstances.</p>
<p>Zelensky’s address received a 30-second standing ovation and was broadcast around the world. This speech was as important for its delivery as its content, the optics of it key for sending Putin a message. But it was written for a British audience, reminding us of turning points in the country’s history. Zelensky spoke and the world listened, revealing just how much publicity is playing a major part of this war.</p>
<p>The Ukrainian president has earned respect for himself and his people through this crisis. He keeps the focus on the atrocities advocated by Putin by communicating directly through key outlets, using social media to break down the propaganda wall around the Russian people.</p>
<p>In doing so Zelensky is continuing to do what he knows best to help end the conflict to Ukraine’s advantage. Whether he has the tactical skills to navigate a war with a superpower is another matter.</p>
<p>We tell our students that performance can change the world and performers are advocates of that change. Though Zelensky is now a man surviving by his wits, love of country and a cool head, his demeanour is informed by years of performance. Only this time there’s no playacting in the theatre of war.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/178955/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephen Langston does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As an actor and performer, Zelensky built his portfolio of presidential skills long before he knew he was going to undertake that role.Stephen Langston, Programme Leader for Performance, University of the West of ScotlandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1779612022-03-03T13:27:38Z2022-03-03T13:27:38ZWhat’s behind the obsession over whether Elizabeth Holmes intentionally lowered her voice?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449303/original/file-20220301-17-otvuzn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Was the way she spoke another strand of deception in the web of fraud spun by the former Theranos CEO?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/elizabeth-holmes-dropped-out-of-stanford-in-2003-as-a-19-news-photo/1359151393?adppopup=true">Karl Mondon/MediaNews Group/Bay Area News via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>There is a scene in Hulu’s new series, “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10166622/">The Dropout</a>,” where Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes, wearing a white blouse, stands in front of a mirror and practices saying, “This is an inspiring step forward.” With each iteration, her voice deepens.</p>
<p>As the world has learned about Theranos’ <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-theranos-fraud-elizabeth-holmes-convicted-trial-blood-testing-start-up-11641330471">web of deception</a> – whether through John Carreyrou’s bestselling book, “<a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/549478/bad-blood-by-john-carreyrou/">Bad Blood</a>,” Apple’s podcast series “<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-dropout/id1449500734">The Dropout</a>” or Hulu’s streaming series of the same name – Holmes’ <a href="https://www.mercurynews.com/2022/02/09/elizabeth-holmes-voice-the-dropout-devotes-an-entire-episode-to-her-odd-baritone/">supposed attempt to alter her voice</a> is a detail that captivates audiences. The behavior might strike some people as bizarre, even sociopathic.</p>
<p>But because of my training <a href="https://doi.org/10.3109/14015439609099196">in vocology</a>, which is the study of vocalization, and my interest in <a href="https://theconversation.com/tiktok-bamarush-and-the-irresistible-allure-of-mocking-southern-accents-166324">speech biases</a>, I’m intrigued by why Holmes may have felt compelled to change her voice in the first place. I see the story of her voice as part of a broader cultural fixation on the way women speak and sound.</p>
<h2>Reactions to Holmes’ voice</h2>
<p>Whenever Holmes is in the news, some questions always come up: </p>
<p>What’s with <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AI_a-B6F1Eg">that distinctively low voice</a>? Is she faking it? </p>
<p>I have not been able to find definitive proof, in the form of video or audio recordings, to show that Holmes’ voice is noticeably different in its current form than at some previous time. </p>
<p><a href="https://youtu.be/lEArFDFcLZM?t=88">One video</a> claims to capture Holmes shifting between two very different voice modes. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">During this interview with Elizabeth Holmes, commenters highlight a vocal switch between the 1:28 and 2:08 marks.</span></figcaption>
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<p>However, it could have been easily edited. And dramatic, sustained pitch changes in speech can be associated with heightened emotional states without indicating a put-on voice. At the same time, <a href="https://www.thecut.com/2019/03/why-did-elizabeth-holmes-use-a-fake-deep-voice.html">people who know Holmes have claimed</a> that she changed her voice in order to cultivate a persona as a Silicon Valley wunderkind.</p>
<p>Only a clinician like a <a href="https://voicefoundation.org/health-science/voice-disorders/voice-care-team/otolaryngologistlaryngologist/">laryngologist</a> can make a voice-related medical diagnosis. But since I can’t definitively answer if Holmes’ voice changed intentionally, it is worth considering what natural or medical processes could cause a similar effect. Hormones <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6592446/">directly impact</a> the voice, including pitch and the perception of roughness or hoarseness. Women’s voices tend to <a href="https://lithub.com/vocal-effects-how-hormones-change-the-way-we-sound/">decrease in pitch range during menopause</a>. </p>
<p>Holmes’ young age at the time she became known for her voice may rule out an age-related hormonal voice change, but a similar effect could be found with <a href="http://www.vocapedia.info/_Library/JOS_files_Vocapedia/JOS-069-5-2013-571.pdf">certain hormone therapy</a>. There are also several <a href="https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/voice-disorders">voice disorders</a> that impact pitch range. </p>
<h2>If she did it … how?</h2>
<p>There are all sorts of reasons people seek voice therapy or coaching to address vocal insecurities. Whether they’re concerned about their voice range or simply seeking skills to become better communicators, the voice is resilient and can be developed with training. There are also wonderful resources available for <a href="https://www.asha.org/public/speech/disorders/voice-and-communication-change-for-transgender-people/">gender-affirming voice</a> support for transgender people. </p>
<p>So what is the physiological process at play when someone intentionally lowers their voice? </p>
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<img alt="Woman wearing mask seated in back seat of car." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449300/original/file-20220301-13-1yth1oh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449300/original/file-20220301-13-1yth1oh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449300/original/file-20220301-13-1yth1oh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449300/original/file-20220301-13-1yth1oh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=360&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449300/original/file-20220301-13-1yth1oh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449300/original/file-20220301-13-1yth1oh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449300/original/file-20220301-13-1yth1oh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=452&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Elizabeth Holmes leaves a San Jose, Calif. courthouse after testifying in her defense in November 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/theranos-founder-and-former-ceo-elizabeth-holmes-sits-in-news-photo/1236759223?adppopup=true">Ethan Swope/Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>Engaging a tiny laryngeal muscle called the <a href="https://med.umn.edu/ent/patient-care/lions-voice-clinic/about-the-voice/how-it-works/anatomy">thyroarytenoid</a> causes the vocal folds, which are housed inside the larynx (or “voice box”), to relax and become shorter and thicker. Imagine decreasing tension on a rubber band. These shorter, thicker folds vibrate at a lower frequency, resulting in a lower-pitched voice, just as a thicker or more lax <a href="https://www.yamaha.com/en/musical_instrument_guide/acoustic_guitar/mechanism/mechanism003.html">guitar string</a> has a lower pitch.</p>
<p>It is likely the singular nature of Holmes’ voice is related not only to its low pitch, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7591156/">but also its resonance</a>, the unique tonal quality and placement of the voice. Holmes might adjust her resonance by consciously lowering the larynx. Doing so creates a longer space above the larynx, which boosts the <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0132193">deeper, darker tones</a> in the voice. </p>
<h2>Women’s voices subject to scrutiny</h2>
<p>In my role as a theatrical <a href="https://www.rsc.org.uk/about-us/how-we-make-theatre/voice">voice coach</a>, I’m sometimes asked to help women actors lower their voices. I’ve encountered directors and producers with significant distaste for higher-pitched women’s voices, especially when this pitch range is combined with <a href="https://www.asha.org/practice-portal/clinical-topics/resonance-disorders/">nasal resonance</a>. </p>
<p>In movies and on TV, characters with high-pitched voices are often portrayed as comical, dim-witted and generally undesirable. Think of Lina Lamont, the character from “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0045152/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Singin’ in the Rain</a>” memorably played by Jean Hagen. Her high, piercing voice became a source of consistent laughs. </p>
<p>Might sexist attitudes about women’s voices cause <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0051216">women in leadership roles</a> to feel pressured to adjust their pitch range down?</p>
<p>Former British Prime Minister <a href="https://www.workingvoices.com/insights/busting-the-margaret-thatcher-voice-coaching-myth/">Margaret Thatcher</a>, nicknamed the “Iron Lady,” famously <a href="https://decider.com/2020/11/15/the-crown-season-4-gillian-anderson-margaret-thatcher-real-voice/">down-shifted her voice</a> to burnish her stature. <a href="https://www.americanscientist.org/article/how-voice-pitch-influences-our-choice-of-leaders">Research on perceptions of pitch</a> in women’s voices shows higher ones are associated with physical attractiveness, while lower voices are associated with dominance. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, many women <a href="https://youtu.be/JfgBgpFJYto">radio and podcast hosts</a> are barraged with negative listener feedback about “<a href="https://www.wired.com/video/watch/accent-expert-breaks-down-language-pet-peeves">vocal fry</a>,” the creaky mode of speaking made famous by Kim Kardashian. </p>
<p>Yet physiologically, to create this sound, the vocal folds must vibrate at a low frequency, associated with low pitch. This much-maligned vocal feature is at one end of the pitch spectrum. But there’s another equally hated speech feature that is achieved at the other end: the high-rising terminal intonation pattern, or “<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-28708526">uptalk</a>.” This feature is noted for the dramatic upward pitch at the end of each thought, which <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z756L_CkakU">can make</a> statements sound like questions.</p>
<p>The insistence that women in media change the pitch of their voices often comes with little concern for the <a href="https://doi.org/10.3109/14015439.2011.587447">anatomical and physiological factors</a> that will limit how much pitch change is ultimately possible. My current research is investigating perceptions of women’s speaking voices in the performing arts and considering whether it’s time to part ways with some old aesthetic preferences.</p>
<p>Either way, the delicate dance of trying to strike a happy medium – the Goldilocks voice profile, where one can be taken seriously as a leader without being perceived as inauthentic, grating or patronizing – seems to be elusive. Women’s voices are the subject of endless scrutiny at both ends of the range – it seems they just can’t win. </p>
<p>If everything about this story were the same except the gender of Theranos’ CEO, I wonder whether his voice would even be remarked upon. If it were, might the <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/deeper-voice-gives-electoral-advant-12-03-14/">same vocal qualities</a> be perceived as positive traits befitting a capable, serious-minded leader? </p>
<p>Elizabeth Holmes undoubtedly lacks the practical skills and moral compass to be a great leader. But all the noise about her voice, and the potential that she changed it to get ahead, just may reveal a sexist double standard that women seemingly can’t escape.</p>
<p>[<em>Get the best of The Conversation’s politics, science or religion articles each week.</em><a href="https://memberservices.theconversation.com/newsletters/?source=inline-best">Sign up today</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/177961/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kathryn Cunningham is a member of the Pan-American Vocology Association (PAVA) and Voice and Speech Trainers Association (VASTA). </span></em></p>A speech expert wonders what this says about the pressures women in leadership roles feel – and the broader cultural impulse to police the way women speak and sound.Kathryn Cunningham, Assistant Professor of Theatre, University of TennesseeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1761852022-02-21T16:45:01Z2022-02-21T16:45:01ZThe pandemic nearly killed theatre – the creative way it fought back could leave it stronger<p>When the UK went into lockdown in 2020, its <a href="https://www.playsthethingtheatrecompany.co.uk/newsandblog/2020/06/21/just-how-much-do-the-arts-contribute-to-the-uk-economy-youll-be-surprised">multibillion-pound theatre industry</a> could have ceased to exist. However, the vacuum caused by this physical shutdown served in many cases as a spurring force for increased creativity and resourcefulness. Productions did not stop completely, but instead went online, showcasing the potential of modern technology to bring theatre to wider audiences despite a lack of traditional performance spaces or funding. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://join.creativeindustriesfederation.com/">Creative Industries Federation</a> projected a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2020/jun/17/les-mis-hamilton-shut-until-2021-london-cameron-mackintosh">£74 billion</a> drop in revenue with a loss of 400,000 jobs because of the pandemic. Even theatre impresarios <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-phantom-of-the-opera-to-close-permanently-in-the-west-end-12038058">Andrew Lloyd Webber and Cameron Mackintosh</a> were forced to close their productions, resulting in many permanent job losses and hundreds of self employed actors and technicians taking an unwanted “rest”. </p>
<p>The government’s “Rethink. Reskill. Reboot” campaign appeared to encourage people in the arts to <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/coronavirus-government-advert-ballet-dancer-retrain-it-cyber-oliver-dowden-b987403.html">retrain</a> and find other jobs, inspiring an outcry from the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/oct/08/the-arts-rishi-sunak-job-chancellor-hope">industry</a>. But in order to survive at all during this period, theatre did need to adapt, and notable examples of genius materialised, reimagining the genre entirely. The survival of theatre has depended on the creation of these new formats, and its future depends on further innovation.</p>
<p>Immediately after lockdown closures, it became clear that the face of theatre would change, most evidently in the ability to gather together and create new material. “Back catalogue streaming” – the showing of old recordings of plays – dominated. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.insider.com/andrew-lloyd-webber-releases-biggest-hit-musicals-online-free-youtube-2020-4">Lloyd Webber</a> encouraged us to watch his early musicals, with <a href="https://www.broadwayhd.com/">Broadway</a> soon following suit offering a “pay as you view” streaming service. Even publicly funded organisations like the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/01/theater/national-theatre-uk-streaming-service.html">National Theatre</a> joined in with <a href="https://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/sites/default/files/national-theatre-at-home-one-man-two-guvnors-resource-pack.pdf">One Man, Two Guvnors</a>. </p>
<p>While these streaming served as a suitable stopgap, audiences arguably thrive on live entertainment, relishing the <a href="https://www.londontheatrereviews.co.uk/post.cfm?p=2757">excitement</a> and proximity offered by it. Theatre and Netflix are not interchangeable. Back catalogue streaming is an excellent accompaniment to our thirst for theatre, but not a substitute. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.timeout.com/london/theatre/the-best-theatre-shows-to-stream-online-right-now">Pre-recorded</a> theatre productions, created in controlled conditions during the pandemic (initially free but now mainly <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-55135132">pay per view</a>) became the next streaming development, achieving some elements of “live” that back catalogue pieces lacked. These performances delivered a shared feeling of togetherness and provocation, the pieces uniquely filmed under similar circumstances to the viewers’ own caged existences. </p>
<p>This was an expensive process that did little to develop the genre in most cases. Indeed, the <a href="https://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/content/national-theatre-streaming">National Theatre</a> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2020/sep/21/future-of-live-theatre-online-drama-coronavirus-lockdown">demonstrated</a> production costs outweighed streaming income. </p>
<p>But, importantly, it did bring the world of theatre to a new locked down audience, with <a href="https://www.thestage.co.uk/news/coronavirus-online-theatre-audiences-booming-during-lockdown">one in five seeing a digital production for the first time</a>. If the legacy of lockdown theatre is engaging new audiences and minimising exclusivity, it is a good one. </p>
<h2>True innovation</h2>
<p>Tackling the lack of intimacy and dynamism of online theatre became the next challenge, a problem that had to be overcome without box-office funding and full audience support. </p>
<p>The company <a href="https://originaltheatreonline.com/about">Original Theatre</a> refused to let isolation beat it, becoming a connoisseur of virtual theatre. The production <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UD0-h8dnl-g&list=PLM5i3PCvtIZ4_C7R7VVMhcH3rHqa7giHP&index=8">Apollo 13</a> demonstrated a new form of theatre that intertwined actor-focused storytelling with green-screen technology, original film footage, and computer graphics. But the effects were not the focus, and audience imagination was encouraged throughout. </p>
<p>The digital concept was further developed into a live broadcast by Original Theatre through its production of <a href="https://www.thereviewshub.com/into-the-night-original-theatre/">Into the Night</a>, which uses the digital effects with a live performance. This was a welcome experimentation, giving us an insight into the possibilities of this methodology, which may find its place as a future mainstream genre. </p>
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<p>Individuals, too, have demonstrated innovation in addressing the live problem. Rather than shying from new online environments, actor and author Robert Myles created <a href="https://robmyles.co.uk/theshowmustgoonline/">The Show Must Go Online</a>, a company that <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2020/apr/02/virtual-shakespeare-lockdown">reimagined</a> the complete plays of Shakespeare for Zoom. Myles featured actors from all over the world, live streaming weekly to an audience of <a href="https://www.timeout.com/london/news/a-live-streaming-reading-group-is-performing-all-of-shakespeares-plays-in-order-031920">over 200,000</a>. </p>
<p>Similarly, <a href="http://www.rtflockdown.com/about">Lockdown Theatre</a> explored comedic table readings and exclusive chats with notable luminaries such as Emma Thompson and Emilia Clarke. Its productions, including <a href="https://www.broadwayworld.com/westend/article/BWW-Review-THE-REAL-INSPECTOR-HOUND-Lockdown-Theatre-on-Zoom-20201026">The Real Inspector Hound</a> and <a href="https://www.atthetheatre.co.uk/lockdown-theatre-announces-live-virtual-table-read-of-a-bit-of-waiting-for-godot-in-aid-of-the-royal-theatrical-fund/">Waiting for Godot</a>, became popular Zoom experiences and <a href="http://www.rtflockdown.com/about">raised over £500,000</a> for <a href="https://www.trtf.com/">the Royal Theatrical Fund</a>.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Robert Myles of “The Show Must Go Online” created a global project to bring the Bard back to the fore, staging Shakespeare through the screens of Zoom.</span></figcaption>
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<p><a href="https://www.contactshow.co.uk/?fbclid=IwAR20UMz80c2g0FvU1CEOSmoiVdBPg9uksBxymk0RCtfY0yYcWEgldhGcpbs">Contact</a> was an outdoor experience. No recordings, no onstage performances, just actors outside on the streets. The audience, plugged into an app with headphones and followed the actors. The soundtrack connected the audience to the actor’s inner feelings, blocking out real life sound interference. This enterprising use of technology enhancing creativity is equalled by <a href="https://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/shows/all-kinds-of-limbo">All Kinds of Limbo</a>, the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzOA6ylwhNk">National’s</a> virtual reality experience.</p>
<p>As the UK moves into its “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/audio/2022/feb/15/what-will-living-with-covid-actually-mean">living with COVID</a>” strategy and theatre comes back to full fore, it is important that the industry does not forget the creativeness spurred by lockdown, and instead uses the newly created techniques it has at its disposal. Such efforts are not an alternative, but an addition to future theatre performance. </p>
<p>Importantly, the need to take theatre online has resulted in global collaborations, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2021/oct/10/50-of-uk-theatres-streaming-shows-online-during-covid-revert-to-in-person-only">accessible productions</a>, and the incorporation of modern techniques to bring theatrical culture to anyone with a taste for it. For theatre to keep building, this momentum should be taken advantage of to ensure that the inclusivity and innovation of lockdown is not left behind.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/176185/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephen Langston does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Theatre was one of the worst-hit industries during the height of the pandemic, but the need to adapt may have set an exciting groundwork for the future.Stephen Langston, Programme Leader for Performance, University of the West of ScotlandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1747542022-01-14T13:36:28Z2022-01-14T13:36:28ZWhat made Bob Saget’s Danny Tanner so different from other sitcom dads<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/440756/original/file-20220113-1530-1re1377.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=4%2C43%2C3234%2C2510&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Bob Saget, top left, was affectionately called 'America's Dad' for his role as Danny Tanner in the sitcom 'Full House.'</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/promotional-portrait-of-the-cast-of-the-television-series-news-photo/3126220?adppopup=true">Lorimar Television/Fotos International via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Bob Saget, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/09/arts/television/bob-saget-dead.html">who died on Jan. 9, 2022</a>, is probably best remembered for his role as Danny Tanner on the popular sitcom “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092359/">Full House</a>,” which aired from 1987 to 1995. </p>
<p>I think fans of the show have such fond memories of this character because Danny exemplified what it meant to “be there” as a parent. A single dad whose wife had passed away, he was eager to lend an ear to daughters D.J., Stephanie and Michelle, offering them support and reassurance through the twists and turns of childhood and adolescence.</p>
<p>Why heap so much praise on a sitcom dad? It’s easy to disregard TV as mere mindless entertainment. But entertainment media can both reflect and reshape culture – including how fathers interact with their children. <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/buy/1990-25264-001">They can influence how viewers think about fathers</a>, regardless of the accuracy of those portrayals.</p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=GzIcrG8AAAAJ&hl=en">As someone who studies stereotypes of fathers</a>, I view Danny as an avatar of the changing expectations of fatherhood that began in the late 1970s.</p>
<h2>Danny Tanner and ‘being there’</h2>
<p>Danny Tanner was a 30-something widower when Full House premiered. That wasn’t a common situation for his demographic – <a href="https://www.census.gov/prod/1/pop/p20-365.pdf">less than 1% in his bracket shared it</a> – and it allowed viewers to watch Danny parent his three daughters with the help of his brother-in-law and his best friend.</p>
<p>Nonetheless, in nearly every episode, viewers saw Danny “being there” for his family. “Being there” is a concept that describes <a href="https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=_gEDfhZp5s0C&oi=fnd&pg=PR1&dq=promises+i+can+keep&ots=8ac2OWdjLK&sig=mnXZdjICi5BLnhGI-Np8UrcfGlc#v=onepage&q=promises%20i%20can%20keep&f=false">being physically and emotionally involved with your children</a>. This term took <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12376">on particular significance for fathers in the late 20th century</a>. “Being there” allowed dads to be seen as more than just financial providers and recognized that fathers interact with their children in varied and important ways.</p>
<p>In the earlier part of the century, fathers were assumed to be breadwinners and not much else, a stereotype reflected in the era’s popular media. For example, sitcom fathers on “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046600/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0">Father Knows Best</a>,” which aired from 1954 to 1960, and “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0051267/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_3">The Donna Reed Show</a>,” which ended its run in 1966, bore little responsibility for actual child care beyond a pat on the head and some occasional discipline.</p>
<p>Beginning in the 1970s, psychologist Michael Lamb encouraged a change in how we thought about fathers and broadened the definition of what he called “<a href="https://www.karger.com/Article/Abstract/271493">father involvement</a>.”</p>
<p>Lamb proposed three dimensions of father involvement: engagement, availability and responsibility. The last of these, responsibility – which involved financial support and parental guidance – could be spotted in some form in the preceding sitcoms. But engagement and availability, which tend to involve day-to-day emotional support, were almost entirely foreign.</p>
<p>Danny Tanner’s approach to fatherhood, by contrast, demonstrated perhaps the fullest realization of these changing expectations.</p>
<p>One episode, “Back to School Blues,” featured oldest daughter D.J. starting junior high. Spoiler alert: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnIQu35CCDc">It doesn’t go well</a>. She’s teased by older girls, wears the same outfit as one of the teachers, and spends lunch alone. (I was a year younger than D.J., and this episode made me nervous about my own entry into junior high.) </p>
<p>When Danny doesn’t approve of D.J.’s attempts to look older to fit in and make friends, she storms off to her room saying she wants to be left alone. Danny says he can’t do that, and then listens as she explains everything that went wrong at school. </p>
<p>In this short scene, he reinforced family rules and provided emotional support, while showing that he would “be there” for D.J. whenever she needed.</p>
<h2>A different kind of dad</h2>
<p>Though Danny represented a departure from the typical sitcom father, he didn’t exactly spearhead a new trend. </p>
<p>Immature and irresponsible fathers – the kind seen in popular shows like “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096697/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0">The Simpsons</a>,” “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101120/">Home Improvement</a>” and “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092400/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0">Married … With Children</a>” – were more commonplace. To this day, <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-are-sitcom-dads-still-so-inept-139737">the stereotype of the bumbling dad persists on TV</a>.</p>
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<p><a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/buy/2015-25403-001">In my research</a>, I found that single sitcom dads with full child care responsibilities were shown interacting with their children more often than married sitcom dads. Compared to their married counterparts on the tube, they were more likely to offer kindness, care, love, support and guidance. Along with Danny, these characters included Mr. Drummond on “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077003/">Diff’rent Strokes</a>,” Tony Micelli in “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086827/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0">Who’s the Boss?</a>” and Maxwell Sheffield on “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106080/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0">The Nanny</a>.”</p>
<p>On the other hand, married sitcom father-child interactions were more likely to involve criticism and sarcastic humor. In fact, married sitcom fathers often made jokes at their children’s expense.</p>
<p>Why does this discrepancy exist? </p>
<p><a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1741-3737.2007.00473.x?casa_token=L_W94GXie6kAAAAA:hB5-n-UFrNCGS2C2vVjT1oBL8bdvSocrrzk99GlyY_oy_kOP6jzVByhxeyrDmKaLXMUmLOgMJ26YnVpC">My research has found</a> that in real life, married fathers are thought to be loving and kind but with room for improvement as parents. They’re seen as the right-hand man to mothers, who have taken the lead in parenting. Because of this, people expect more bumbling and less skill.</p>
<p>Single dads, however, tend to be viewed as selfless and dedicated, because the assumption is that they’ve put their children above all else.</p>
<p>Danny Tanner isn’t the novelty today that he was in the early 1990s. But if his character is instructive in any way, it’s that dads shouldn’t have to lose their wives to be the best parent they can be.</p>
<p>[<em>Get the best of The Conversation, every weekend.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/weekly-highlights-61?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=weeklybest">Sign up for our weekly newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/174754/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jessica Troilo does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A contrast to the bumbling and immature fathers commonly found on sitcoms, Bob Saget’s character on ‘Full House’ reflected a shift in expectations of fatherhood that began in the late 1970s.Jessica Troilo, Associate Professor of Child Development and Family Studies, West Virginia UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1725682021-12-15T11:13:29Z2021-12-15T11:13:29ZHollywood has got method acting all wrong, here’s what the process is really about<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437278/original/file-20211213-25284-exm6a9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=22%2C30%2C5089%2C2843&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/on-big-film-studio-professional-crew-1793697901">Gorodenkoff/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>So-called method acting seems to be having a moment. <a href="https://www.nme.com/features/film-interviews/benedict-cumberbatch-interview-radiohead-the-power-of-the-dog-3097698">Benedict Cumberbatch and Kirsten Dunst</a> apparently didn’t speak to each other on the set of their new film, <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10293406/">Power of the Dog</a>, to help them stay in character. While Lady Gaga is said to have spoken entirely with an Italian accent for nine months while working on her new film, <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11214590/">House of Gucci</a> – using it even when <a href="https://inews.co.uk/culture/film/lady-gaga-method-acting-house-of-gucci-extreme-accent-1308207">calling her mother</a>. </p>
<p>Jared Leto is <a href="https://www.thewrap.com/jared-leto-method-acting-examples-movies/">also a fan</a>. While playing the Joker in <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1386697/">Suicide Squad</a>, Leto is said to have sent animal carcasses to his castmates. <a href="https://fabiosa.com/ctclb-rsvlk-auokh-pbimk-phnkz-this-is-extreme-matthew-mcconaughey-nearly-went-blind-as-a-result-of-dramatic-weight-for-a-film-role/">Matthew McConaughey</a>, meanwhile, lost so much weight he started to go blind for his role in <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0790636/">Dallas Buyers Club</a>. And <a href="https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/daniel-day-lewis-method-acting-in-my-left-foot/">Daniel Day-Lewis</a> demanded that production staff pushed him around in a wheelchair and spoon-fed him for his performance in <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097937/">My Left Foot</a>, where he played Christy Brown, a painter born with cerebral palsy.</p>
<p>But not everyone is keen. Actor <a href="https://www.thethings.com/martin-freeman-jim-carres-method-acting-controversy-man-on-the-moon-hate/">Martin Freeman</a> recently called out Jim Carrey for his over-the-top antics during the filming of the 1999 film, <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0125664/">Man on the Moon</a>, which included “stuffing his pockets with smelly cheese and hanging out with Hell’s Angels”. Freeman said: “It was the most self-aggrandising, selfish, narcissistic fucking bollocks I have ever seen…You need to keep grounded in reality, and that’s not to say you don’t lose yourself in the time between ‘action’ and ‘cut’, but I think the rest of it is absolute pretentious nonsense”.</p>
<h2>What is method acting?</h2>
<p>While many actors may aim to fully “become” their character with the use of method acting it seems there is a serious misunderstanding of the term and what its founder actually had in mind.</p>
<p>The originator of “the method” was US acting coach Lee Strasberg who crafted an acting technique in the 1930s that he claimed was based on the work of Konstantin Stanislavski, a Russian theatre practitioner. In his book <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/A_Dream_of_Passion.html?id=jQPsAAAAMAAJ&redir_esc=y">A Dream of Passion</a>, Strasberg stated his belief that “the fundamental work of the actor – the training of his internal skills – is preceded by the development of the actor’s relaxation and concentration”. The goal of these exercises is to “free the expression of the actor” because “neuromuscular tension makes it difficult for thought, sensations, and emotions to be transmitted and properly experienced”. </p>
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<p>An exercise in a standard method based training session has the actor sit in a chair and put themselves into a highly relaxed state. They will then explore a memory from their past where they experienced very strong emotions. As the exercise proceeds, the actor describes what they were wearing, what the temperature of the place was like, and how it affected them until they feel the original emotion. Strasberg believed that this exercise created a path for actors to recreate the same emotion over and over, on-demand, with complete control since because it is a “remembered emotion” it will not be felt like a real emotion. It is not about what happened to the actor but rather “what he sees, hears, touches, tastes, smells, and what he is experiencing”. </p>
<p>Essentially, the method actor will be “using his own reality to properly relate to that of the character in the scene”. In short, the actor should behave in a real manner, really performing an action or feeling an emotion rather than pretending to do so. At no point does Strasberg expect a method actor to carry this work outside of the theatre or sound stage, instead, they should be feeling real emotions and behaviours in the performance.</p>
<h2>Staying in character</h2>
<p>Where confusion seems to set in is with the notion that a method actor should “live the life of the character” full time. This paraphrasing derives from Stanislavski but is incomplete. What he said in his seminal acting text, <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/An_Actor_Prepares/Ihl5CgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover">An Actor Prepares</a>, is: “In our art, you must live the part every moment you are playing it, and every time.” Which is to say, live the life of the character on stage. </p>
<p>Neither he nor Strasberg ever said to go further than that. But, oddly, it’s what many people consider the method to be – immersing the self so deeply, that the actor is no longer “themselves” but this other person. It might be pedantic to say so, but this is not method acting. It is very much something else.</p>
<p>It’s also worth, perhaps, being sceptical of many of the tales of actors immersing themselves so deeply. It makes a great story, but ask yourself if the actor is living the life of a character from 100 years ago, how do they get to the set each day? Do they still carry a smartphone? How do they do their shopping? </p>
<p>Looking more deeply at the Cumberbatch story, <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/kirsten-dunst-benedict-cumberbatch-power-of-the-dog-b1963367.html">Dunst has confirmed</a> that they didn’t speak on set because the characters so despised each other. But she continued: “He’s so sweet. And he’s so British. Polite British, you know? I was like, ‘I can’t talk to you!… We didn’t talk at all during the filming unless we were out to dinner on a weekend, all together, or playing with our kids.”</p>
<p>It seems then that they didn’t speak on set because they and their families were becoming such good friends, they didn’t want that to accidentally colour their performances. This has nothing to do with method acting.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/172568/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Eric Hetzler does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>While many actors may aim to fully “become” their character with the use of “method acting” it seems there is a serious misunderstanding of the term and what its founder actually had in mind.Eric Hetzler, Senior Lecturer, Department of Media and Performance, University of HuddersfieldLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1722102021-11-24T13:57:44Z2021-11-24T13:57:44ZZadie Smith: how the Wife of Willesden brings to life Chaucer’s tale of sex and power<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/433500/original/file-20211123-20-82ghqz.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1200%2C671&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">They call her The Wife of Willesden.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://kilntheatre.com/whats-on/the-wife-of-willesden/">Marc Brenner</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>It could be easy to assume that <a href="https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/the-canterbury-tales-by-geoffrey-chaucer">The Canterbury Tales</a>, a collection of stories written in Middle English at the end of the 14th century, would not hold much relevance to contemporary debates about sexuality and empowerment. </p>
<p>But as Zadie Smith shows in her new adaption and her first play, this definitely isn’t the case. <a href="https://kilntheatre.com/whats-on/the-wife-of-willesden/">The Wife of Willesden</a>, is a high-spirited take on Chaucer’s “Wife of Bath”, one of the 24 stories in Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales. </p>
<p>The Canterbury Tales tells the story of a group of 31 pilgrims who meet while travelling from the Tabard Inn in Southwark, South London, to the shrine of St Thomas Becket in Canterbury, Kent. Chaucer’s pilgrims - including Alysoun, the Wife of Bath - take turns telling stories on their travels. </p>
<p>Smith’s tale takes place during a pub lock-in – with locals celebrating the Borough of Brent winning the <a href="https://www.london.gov.uk/what-we-do/arts-and-culture/current-culture-projects/london-borough-culture/london-borough-culture-2020-brent">London Borough of Culture 2020</a>. It was this win that led to Smith (Brent’s most famous writer) being commissioned to write a <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-59307100">literary celebration of the borough</a>. This is what prompted her to recreate Chaucer’s Wife of Bath in a modern form.</p>
<p>In the original text, audacious Alysoun gives the longest prologue of all of Chaucer’s pilgrims, describing how she has been married five times. She tells her tale about a knight of Camelot who rapes a maiden. As a result, the knight is sentenced by Queen Guinevere to find out what women want most. </p>
<p>For a year he has no luck, but he finally meets an old hag who gives him the answer and in return, he promises to repay her as she wishes – a rash promise he’ll soon regret. The answer turns out to be that women desire “sovereignty” over their husbands, and the knight’s promise means he ends up forced to marry the hag. Luckily for him, she also has the magical capacity to be a beautiful maiden, provided he grants her autonomy to choose which form she takes.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2021/nov/21/the-wife-of-willesden-zadie-smith-kiln-review-rare-earth-mettle-royal-court">The Wife of Willesden</a>, Smith takes audiences from the medieval Southwark Tavern to the present-day Sir Colin Campbell pub on Kilburn High Street. And it is here we meet the red dress-clad, fake Jimmy-Choo sporting, cunnilingus-loving Alvita, played by <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0673907/">Clare Perkins</a>. </p>
<p>The tale told by Alvita, a 21st-century Wife of Bath, moves the location from the court of King Arthur to 18th-century Jamaica. Smith weaves medieval, contemporary and colonial contexts together with fiercely lewd humour that echoes Chaucer’s own bawdiness.</p>
<h2>Shame and Choice</h2>
<p>The lesson of Chaucer’s Wife of Bath about female sovereignty is particularly poignant because Chaucer was <a href="http://www.umsl.edu/%7Egradyf/chaucer/cecily.htm">embroiled in a rape case</a> of his own. Not much is known about the case other than the fact that Chaucer was released in 1380 from a charge of “raptus” made by Cecily Champaigne, the daughter of a London baker. </p>
<p>“Raptus” in court documents could indicate sexual assault, but also <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/jun/07/document-casts-new-light-on-chaucer-rape-case">abduction</a> for an arranged marriage. But whether or not the Wife’s Tale held personal significance to Chaucer, he chose to add the crime of rape to the tale and had Alysoun tell a story about sexual violence and choice. In fact, the rape does not appear in any of the source texts he worked with when writing his version.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/433502/original/file-20211123-15-bc54ba.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Opening page of The Wife of Bath's Prologue Tale, from the Ellesmere manuscript of Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/433502/original/file-20211123-15-bc54ba.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/433502/original/file-20211123-15-bc54ba.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=766&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433502/original/file-20211123-15-bc54ba.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=766&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433502/original/file-20211123-15-bc54ba.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=766&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433502/original/file-20211123-15-bc54ba.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=963&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433502/original/file-20211123-15-bc54ba.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=963&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433502/original/file-20211123-15-bc54ba.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=963&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Opening page of The Wife of Bath’s Prologue Tale, from the Ellesmere manuscript of Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wife-of-Bath-ms.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In many ways, Chaucer’s Alysoun is a woman well ahead of her time. She condemns biblical scripture and medieval writings about women’s “chaste” conduct in marriage, arguing that God gave people reproductive organs to use, and she will use hers for profit and pleasure. Alysoun rejects literature that advises women to dress to protect their modesty. Instead, she wears scarlet stockings and new shoes – and goes on pilgrimage to be seen and to potentially woo a new lover. </p>
<p>Alvita is an unashamedly sex-positive woman in her mid-50s. She, like Alysoun, has been married five times. And, in Smith’s rough iambic couplets that render Willesden’s multicultural London dialects into verse, Alvita explains how she refuses to be told, by society, the church, her husbands, how to behave or dress:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>My thing is: you want to think you’re a saint?<br>
Fine. But don’t slut-shame me because I ain’t</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Women’s Voices</h2>
<p>In Chaucer’s time, Willesden was itself a place of pilgrimage, not least for what was thought to be a black Madonna shrine, <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/virgin-mary-in-late-medieval-and-early-modern-english-literature-and-popular-culture/walsingham-or-falsingham-woolpit-or-foulpit-marian-shrines-and-pilgrimage-before-1538/0036FA1CFF1396B17C2043C40661CDA0">known as Our Lady of Willesden</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/433491/original/file-20211123-21-28hxf3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Black Madonna and Child" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/433491/original/file-20211123-21-28hxf3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/433491/original/file-20211123-21-28hxf3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=527&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433491/original/file-20211123-21-28hxf3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=527&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433491/original/file-20211123-21-28hxf3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=527&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433491/original/file-20211123-21-28hxf3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=663&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433491/original/file-20211123-21-28hxf3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=663&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433491/original/file-20211123-21-28hxf3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=663&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Black Madonna and Child statue of Our Lady of Willesden.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Our_Lady_of_Willesden_-_black_madonna.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Smith plays on this by taking Chaucer’s “gat-tothed” (gap-toothed) Alysoun, imagining her as Alvita: “gap-toothed like (pop-star) Madonna”, a smile which Alvita tells us, “suits us both; symbolises passion”. </p>
<p>The comparison with the singer is one of the many instances where Alvita pleads that her many spouses should not treat her like the virgin she assuredly isn’t, but rather as an empowered, independent and experienced partner. </p>
<p>As with Chaucer’s Alysoun, Alvita rated three of her five husbands as good, because they were old and she was able to manipulate them, while two were bad: younger men who cheated, lied and abused her. </p>
<p>Smith’s adaptation uses Chaucer’s references to sexual desire, domestic violence and freedom of choice to explore contemporary concerns such as the sex-positive movement, #MeToo, and incels culture or “<a href="https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/politics/a20078774/what-are-incels/">involuntary celibates</a>”. Indeed, Alysoun’s arguments about clothing and sexuality become strikingly relatable to Alvita’s critiques of “slut-shaming” and <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/men-sexual-assault-clothes-women-victim-blaming-rape-a8792591.html">victim-blaming</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Woman in red dress flirtatiously sits on man's knee in a pub." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/433503/original/file-20211123-23-1nnfrnv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/433503/original/file-20211123-23-1nnfrnv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433503/original/file-20211123-23-1nnfrnv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433503/original/file-20211123-23-1nnfrnv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433503/original/file-20211123-23-1nnfrnv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433503/original/file-20211123-23-1nnfrnv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433503/original/file-20211123-23-1nnfrnv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Zadie Smith transports Chaucer’s The Wife of Bath to 21st-century northwest London.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://kilntheatre.com/whats-on/the-wife-of-willesden/">Marc Brenner</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Alvita is a thrilling (and perhaps troubling) reminder of the way that the concerns of Chaucer’s medieval characters are still relevant today. Though Smith’s more inclusive rendering gives a voice to those silent in the original text, like Alysoun’s “gossib” (close friend) who becomes Alvita’s outspoken “ride-and-die bitch”, Zaire. </p>
<p>Ultimately though, at a time when even famous women can struggle to <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/59338205">tell their stories</a> against powerful men, such tales about female agency have never been more crucial.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/172210/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Natalie Hanna does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Zadie Smith’s first play delivers on what women want.Natalie Hanna, Lecturer in English, University of LiverpoolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1623212021-07-18T07:47:42Z2021-07-18T07:47:42ZOla Rotimi: the enduring influence of a Nigerian theatre giant<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411440/original/file-20210715-32662-6nmmfx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Nigerian playwright Ola Rotimi on one of his stage sets.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Bernard Weil/Toronto Star via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Twenty years after his death, the Nigerian dramatist <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ola-Rotimi">Ola Rotimi</a> is attracting <a href="https://guardian.ng/art/theatre-scholar-craftsman-ola-rotimi-returns-two-decades-after/">renewed interest</a>. San Diego State University hosted a <a href="https://sdsu.zoom.us/rec/share/vN4_ejA8p3TrXFTcXPrMvkaDcHPiykJp22x3klzHMHz81c1J_p-6I5kHePUzxn5H.UQSRLKD-iwGRSnpi">webinar</a> in April 2021 where the affection and reverence for the playwright were clear. Another <a href="https://thenationonlineng.net/remembering-ola-rotimi-complete-man-of-theatre/">webinar</a> was held in his honour in August 2020 at Bowen University in Nigeria.</p>
<p>The appeal of Rotimi’s theatrical practice and vision is that they are based on his infectious humanism, conviviality and reciprocity. The playwright, director and scholar was born in Sapele, Nigeria, in 1938 and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/2000/oct/17/guardianobituaries1">passed away</a> in 2000. He made a tremendous impact on Nigerian theatre as a director in a time when theatre played a significant role in shaping political thought around colonialism, the <a href="https://www.blackpast.org/global-african-history/nigerian-civil-war-1967-1970/">Nigerian Civil War</a> and postcolonial society. In short, he was a decolonial artist (before the term came into vogue) who fostered <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/atheism/types/humanism.shtml">humanism</a>.</p>
<p>Rotimi’s theatre collective, <a href="http://worldcat.org/identities/nc-ori%20olokun%20company/">Ori Olokun</a>, which he established in Ile Ife in south-western Nigeria in 1968, was a breeding ground for some of the most talented, resourceful and successful theatre artists to have emerged in Nigeria. The bonds they forged with each other also grew stronger as they aged. They developed a powerful camaraderie which was evident in the San Diego State University webinar.</p>
<h2>The plays</h2>
<p>His <a href="http://worldcat.org/identities/lccn-n80094519/">plays</a> – known throughout Africa – include <a href="https://www.africanbookscollective.com/books/our-husband-has-gone-mad-again"><em>Our Husband Has Gone Mad Again</em></a>, <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/kurunmi-an-historical-tragedy/oclc/3120294"><em>Kurunmi</em></a>, <a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/ovonramwen-nogbaisi/oclc/593450604"><em>Ovonramven Nobaisi</em></a> and <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Gods-Blame-Three-Crowns-Books/dp/0199110808/ref=pd_lpo_14_t_0/147-1177838-9647343?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0199110808&pd_rd_r=e1b934d3-2eff-42d2-a069-b13653b5582f&pd_rd_w=xT4Gx&pd_rd_wg=LOOk1&pf_rd_p=fb1e266d-b690-4b4f-b71c-bd35e5395976&pf_rd_r=8237MVQ3X0P9VJ4A3KE6&psc=1&refRID=8237MVQ3X0P9VJ4A3KE6"><em>The Gods Are Not To Blame</em></a> which adapts the plot of Sophocles’ <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Oedipus-Rex-play-by-Sophocles"><em>Oedipus Rex</em></a> for Nigeria’s cultural context. </p>
<p>They focus on moral dilemmas: good versus evil and right versus wrong. Rotimi’s plays are easy to stage. They do not require elaborate or expensive sets and props. They also do not require theatre virtuosos or unfamiliar metaphysical constructs or conceits. And so they were accessible to African audiences, who were invariably moved by the productions.</p>
<h2>Theatre for the people</h2>
<p>Rotimi was also an innovator in his approach to what theatre can achieve and the tools it can use. He drew from indigenous traditions of drama, song, dance and mime. Though trained in Western theatrical tradition, he sought to break away from it and connect with homegrown theatre practices. </p>
<p>Local costumes, geographical settings, song and dance are prominently featured in all his major productions. He also innovated by challenging cultural boundaries: between professional performer and amateur; actor and singer; male and female; old and young; ivory tower and town. </p>
<p>Rotimi promoted a populist theatre, a theatre of conviviality that represented everyone within the community. This is evident in all his plays. Inclusion and community were ideas that informed his plays and practice. </p>
<p>And this has had a lasting impact. His concepts continue to inspire the people he trained in the Ori Olokun collective. </p>
<h2>Theatre and community</h2>
<p>Rotimi <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Ola-Rotimis-African-Theatre-Development/dp/0773461477">viewed theatre</a> as a way of building community both inside the theatre world and beyond. He <a href="https://www.thefreelibrary.com/A+director%27s+vision+for+theater+in+Africa%3A+Adeniyi+Coker+interviews...-a0113562799">saw theatre</a> not as a closed and artificial art form but a way of connecting past, present and future. In this view, theatre serves as a link to the wider community and ultimately our common humanity.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411448/original/file-20210715-32667-1n0la8h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="three actors on an outdoor stage, trees in the background. A man carries a yelling man on his shoulders, moving away from a woman yelling back at the man." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411448/original/file-20210715-32667-1n0la8h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411448/original/file-20210715-32667-1n0la8h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411448/original/file-20210715-32667-1n0la8h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411448/original/file-20210715-32667-1n0la8h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411448/original/file-20210715-32667-1n0la8h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=523&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411448/original/file-20210715-32667-1n0la8h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=523&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411448/original/file-20210715-32667-1n0la8h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=523&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A scene from outdoor pidgin version of Grip Am, Ola Rotimi’s play, staged in Lagos in 2013.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">PIUS UTOMI EKPEI/AFP via Getty Images</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>After the play has ended, after the curtains have fallen and the lights are out, the community beyond continues. And all – performers, singers, actors and dancers included – have to return to it. But they do not return to it empty handed. They are supported by morals, ethics and a sense of social purpose and cohesion acquired during the play. It is the duty of each member of a cast to uphold and spread these ideals.</p>
<p>Thus Ori Olokun instilled within its members the belief that theatre is a community-building exercise, a project for engendering a sense of worthiness and belonging in every member of a production, including directors, performers, set designers, costumiers, lightning technicians and so on. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-theatre-can-help-young-nigerians-who-are-living-with-hiv-150378">How theatre can help young Nigerians who are living with HIV</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>This conception of theatre is a contrast to the view offered by playwrights who explored alienation in the modern world – the likes of Ireland’s <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Samuel-Beckett">Samuel Beckett</a>, France’s <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Eugene-Ionesco">Eugene Ionesco</a> and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jean-Genet">Jean Genet</a> and Britain’s <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Harold-Pinter">Harold Pinter</a> and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Joe-Orton">Joe Orton</a>. They wrote about despair, solitude, sterility, grim fate. </p>
<p>Rotimi’s theatre and teaching presented a vista of humanity. Though slightly idyllic, it was also practical and often realisable. For Rotimi, theatre is community, and ultimately, community is everything. </p>
<p>Rotimi’s humanism – like the southern African concept of <a href="https://www.thoughtco.com/the-meaning-of-ubuntu-43307">ubuntu</a> or the Tanzanian <a href="https://www.thoughtco.com/what-was-ujamaa-44589">ujamaa</a> – sees the collective rather than the individual as the predominant vehicle of social transformation. And if Rotimi continues to exert an influence more than 20 years after his passing, it is simply because his sense of humanism was both genuine and relevant.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/162321/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sanya Osha does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The renowned playwright saw theatre as a link to the wider community - and ultimately our common humanity.Sanya Osha, Senior Research Fellow, Institute for Humanities in Africa, University of Cape TownLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1596972021-04-26T06:19:33Z2021-04-26T06:19:33ZOscars 2021: 5 experts on the wins, the words, the wearable art and a big year for women<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/396988/original/file-20210426-13-erpqs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=30%2C7%2C5034%2C3652&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Chris Pizzello</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Chloé Zhao has made history at the <a href="https://www.oscars.org/oscars">93rd Academy Awards</a> as the first Asian-American woman and <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/live-updates-oscars-2021/2021/04/25/988816124/chloe-zhao-is-the-first-woman-of-color-to-win-oscar-for-best-director">first woman of colour</a> to win Best Director. She won for <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9770150/">Nomadland</a>, which Zhao also edited, produced, and adapted as a screenplay (from the book by Jessica Bruder). </p>
<p>Only one other woman has ever won Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow for <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9770150/">The Hurt Locker</a> in 2008. Zhao and fellow nominee Emerald Fennell (<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9620292/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Promising Young Woman</a>) were just the sixth and seventh women to receive nominations.</p>
<p>This was one of a trifecta of above-the-line prizes that went to women. Fennell won Best Original Screenplay for Promising Young Woman and Zhao for Best Picture. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/396987/original/file-20210426-13-2f8yg6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/396987/original/file-20210426-13-2f8yg6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/396987/original/file-20210426-13-2f8yg6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396987/original/file-20210426-13-2f8yg6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396987/original/file-20210426-13-2f8yg6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396987/original/file-20210426-13-2f8yg6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396987/original/file-20210426-13-2f8yg6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396987/original/file-20210426-13-2f8yg6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Emerald Fennell, winner of the award for best original screenplay for Promising Young Woman, enters the press room.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Chris Pizzello</span></span>
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<p>These three awards put women in the spotlight as never before. But filmmaking is a collective art. Women were also celebrated in technical areas where <a href="https://theconversation.com/reel-action-on-gender-screen-australia-sets-minimum-targets-for-female-led-projects-51894">sexism and gender disparity</a> are even more entrenched.</p>
<p>Michelle Couttolenc won an award for Best Sound (<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5363618/?ref_=nm_knf_t1">Sound of Metal</a>) and Jan Pascale for Best Set Decoration (<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10618286/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Mank</a>). Mia Neal and Jamika Wilson made history as the first African-American winners in the category of makeup and hairstyling (with Sergio Lopez-Rivera) for their contributions to <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10514222/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0">Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom</a>.</p>
<p>Women also accepted awards as film producers: Dana Murray won Best Animated Feature with Pete Docter (<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2948372/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Soul</a>), Alice Doyard won Best Documentary Short with Anthony Giacchino (<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11643154/?ref_=nm_knf_i1">Collette</a>) and Pippa Ehrlich won Best Documentary Feature with James Reed (<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12888462/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0">My Octopus Teacher</a>).</p>
<p>This year, with shrinking audiences and pandemic restrictions, there was a bitter irony in the fact women won more Oscars, across new and highly visible categories, than ever before.</p>
<p><strong>- Julia Erhart</strong></p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-oscars-finally-made-it-less-lonely-for-women-at-the-top-of-their-game-157240">How the Oscars finally made it less lonely for women at the top of their game</a>
</strong>
</em>
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<h2>Best Picture</h2>
<p>It’s no surprise Nomadland won Best Picture — it’s good, compelling stuff, and manages (like most Oscar contenders) to be formulaic to its core without appearing as such. In classic Hollywood fashion, beautiful images accompanied by derivative but affecting music reinscribe social and political history in the mode of melodramatic and intimate personal reflection.</p>
<p>Following “salt of the earth” Fern (Frances McDormand) on her journey through the American West, we experience her ups and downs, recognising the emotional impact the devastation of precarious employment has had on her. The brutal 21st century reality of disempowered (non-unionised) workers becomes fodder for a narrative focusing on an individual’s personal growth — including happily working for Amazon no less (it’s “good pay,” Fern says).</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/396996/original/file-20210426-23-v40hpl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/396996/original/file-20210426-23-v40hpl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/396996/original/file-20210426-23-v40hpl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=249&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396996/original/file-20210426-23-v40hpl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=249&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396996/original/file-20210426-23-v40hpl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=249&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396996/original/file-20210426-23-v40hpl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=313&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396996/original/file-20210426-23-v40hpl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=313&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396996/original/file-20210426-23-v40hpl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=313&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Frances McDormand in a scene from Nomadland.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Searchlight Pictures via AP</span></span>
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<p>Still, it definitely works as a film, painting a starkly drawn but nuanced portrait of life in post-industrial America. It’s poetically charged in its understatement, and features excellent performances by McDormand and David Strathairn as her love interest. </p>
<p>It’s also better than most of its contenders, including the sophomoric Promising Young Woman and the irrepressibly dull <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10618286/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Mank</a>. The only exception is <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9784798/">Judas and the Black Messiah</a>: the best film nominated for an Oscar this year (if not the best film of the year). </p>
<p><strong>-Ari Mattes</strong></p>
<h2>Acceptance speeches</h2>
<p>To keep making and distributing movies over the past year has been <a href="https://theconversation.com/picture-this-3-possible-endings-for-cinema-as-covid-pushes-it-to-the-brink-146917">an achievement in itself</a>. Many speakers acknowledged colleagues who persisted in believing in film projects against a backdrop of ongoing adversity. </p>
<p>The movies nominated were a politically charged bunch. While presenters acknowledged the issues, winners largely allowed the movies to speak for their own politics. </p>
<p>There was mention of gun violence and slayings by police. H.E.R. (<a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/h-e-r-_-wins-oscars-best-original-song-judas-and-the-black-messiah">Best Original Song</a>) proclaimed her role to “fight for my people”. Daniel Kaluuya (<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/25/movies/daniel-kaluuya-oscars-best-supporting-actor.html">Best Supporting Actor</a>) highlighted the spirituality and politics of the Black Panthers and said the work still to do was “on everyone in this room”. <a href="https://deadline.com/2021/04/mikkel-e-g-nielsen-wins-2021-oscars-best-film-editing-1234743086/">Mikkel Nielsen (Best Editing)</a> did his bit for arts funding, praising the Danish Film School as his award vindicated support for it. </p>
<p>Best director Zhao praised those looking for the good in others, while Best Documentary winner Ehrlich credited courageous women “joining hands and fighting for justice”. </p>
<p>Generally, though, the acceptance speeches did not indulge in politicking. There was no direct mention of America’s 2020 election results, no Biden and nothing like the <a href="https://abc7.com/brad-pitt-once-upon-a-time-in-hollywood-leonardo-dicaprio-john-bolton/5916383/">Trump mentions last year</a> — just the art at hand. </p>
<p><strong>-Tom Clark</strong></p>
<h2>Fashion</h2>
<p>The intimate Oscars ceremony (with only 170 VIP guests at LA’s Union Station) meant a reduced red carpet. However, attendees made up for the lack of numbers by bringing colour, glamour and scale in what they wore. </p>
<p>The dress code asked for “a fusion of Inspirational and Aspirational”. After spending 2020 in our most comfortable garments, this return to in-person awards called for spectacle. </p>
<p>The majority of guests followed the directive. Sure, winning director Zhao opted for sneakers, but she wore them with her pale Hermès sweater dress and French braids and looked effortlessly cool. Musical director Questlove <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/larryfitzmaurice/questlove-gold-crocs-oscars-red-carpet">dressed up his rubber Crocs</a> by making them gold. </p>
<p>Early arrivals at the event included some of the best dressed men of the night, including <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-9510501/Oscars-2021-Colman-Domingo-stands-hot-pink-Versace-suit-red-carpet.html">Coleman Domingo in shocking, delicious pink Atelier Versace</a>; <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/style/photos/2021/04/oscars-2021-the-1970s-red-carpet">LaKeith Stanfield in custom Saint Laurent 70s jumpsuit</a> by Anthony Vaccarello; and the adorable young Alan S. Kim in Thom Browne short suit, bow tie and four-bar socks. </p>
<p>Perhaps the strongest trend was volume: in skirts, sleeves and bows. <a href="https://wwd.com/eye/people/maria-oscars-gown-louis-vuitton1234809677-1234809677/">Maria Bakalova’s white tulle Louis Vuitton</a> seemed directly related to Bjork’s iconic swan dress of 20 years ago, as did <a href="https://www.instyle.com/celebrity/laura-dern/laura-dern-oscars-2021-dress">Laura Dern’s marabou feather Oscar de la Renta</a>. </p>
<p>Regina King was resplendent in a custom <a href="https://footwearnews.com/2021/fashion/awards/regina-king-gown-blue-louis-vuitton-dress-oscars-2021-1203134600/">Louis Vuitton powder-blue butterfly dress</a>, with huge, bejewelled winged shoulders. Sleeves were also exaggerated in <a href="https://au.news.yahoo.com/angela-bassett-oscars-2021-002634188.html">Angela Bassett’s red Alberta Ferretti</a> and <a href="https://www.usmagazine.com/stylish/pictures/oscars-2021-red-carpet-fashion-dresses/marlee-matlin/">Marlee Matlin’s sparkling yet sustainably made Vivienne Westwood</a>. </p>
<p>Carey Mulligan’s gold Valentino two-piece, Nicolette Robinson’s black taffeta Zuhair Murad and Amanda Seyfried’s red tulle Armani Privé all came with skirts made for social distancing. </p>
<p>The most aspirational? Surely Zendaya in a canary yellow, Cher-inspired <a href="https://people.com/style/zendaya-outfit-details-oscars-2021/">strapless Valentino with over US$6 million (A$7.7 million) of yellow Bulgari diamonds</a>. </p>
<p>And the most inspirational: <a href="https://hollywoodlife.com/feature/who-is-yuh-jung-youn-minari-4394520/">73-year old Youn Yuh-jung</a> making history as the first Korean woman to win an Academy Award for acting, wearing a navy gown by Egyptian designer Marmar Halim with Chopard jewels. Perfect. </p>
<p><strong>-Harriette Richards</strong></p>
<h2>Best Acting</h2>
<p>Anthony Hopkins won for <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10272386/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">The Father</a>, and Frances McDormand for Nomadland. Fair enough. Both are stellar actors who bring a quiet intensity to their performances in these films. </p>
<p>Both have carved out a niche for themselves within the Hollywood machine playing these kinds of characters, with Hopkins becoming synonymous in the 21st century with the broken patriarch and McDormand with the quirky baby boomer.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1386521689559871495"}"></div></p>
<p>Each could have played their role in their sleep, one suspects, with neither seeming particularly challenged from a craft perspective. But if there’s one thing you can depend upon when it comes to the Oscars, it is middlebrow polite predictability, and these are both obvious choices. </p>
<p>In contrast, Riz Ahmed offers a less polished but stranger and more interesting performance in Sound of Metal, as does Andra Day, who overacts in the lead role but nonetheless masters our attention in <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8521718/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0">The United States vs. Billie Holiday</a>. </p>
<p><strong>-Ari Mattes</strong></p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-asked-two-experts-to-watch-the-father-and-supernova-these-new-films-show-the-fear-and-loss-that-come-with-dementia-156131">We asked two experts to watch The Father and Supernova. These new films show the fear and loss that come with dementia</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Best Original Score</h2>
<p><a href="https://pitchfork.com/news/trent-reznor-atticus-ross-and-jon-batiste-win-best-original-score-atandnbsposcars-2021/">Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, and Jon Batiste’s</a> win for their music for Soul in the Best Original Score category is unusual in at least three ways. First, Soul is an animated film, (the first to win as a soundtrack since <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Up_(film_score)">Michael Giacchino’s Up</a> in 2009). </p>
<p>Then there’s the fact that Soul is dominated not just by jazz music, but by jazz music played on screen — a genre rarely rewarded by the academy today. You’d have to go back to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Round_Midnight_(soundtrack)">Round Midnight and Herbie Hancock</a> in 1986 for something genuinely comparable.</p>
<p>Strangest of all, there’s a touch of category weirdness here. The academy rules state multiple composers on a single film are eligible only when they work closely together. That makes sense for Reznor and Ross, whose soundtrack careers can’t be meaningfully separated. But Batiste made markedly different music for Soul.</p>
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<p>His is the film’s lively and virtuosic jazz often played on-screen by the film’s characters, while Reznor and Ross made ethereal, synth-heavy underscore for scenes set in the afterlife. In the end credits, Batiste — whose music does most of the heavy lifting in the film — isn’t even listed as composer. Instead, Pixar chose to list him with a “jazz compositions and arrangements by” credit.</p>
<p>Common sense prevailed this year, however, and perhaps it is time to rethink the Best Score eligibility rules. Of the other nominees, Terence Blanchard would have to feel hard done by after his wonderful music for a Spike Lee film (Da 5 Bloods) was overlooked again, while Emile Mosseri would be happy as a first time nominee despite his score for <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10633456/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Minari</a> arguably being the strongest of the bunch.</p>
<p><strong>-Dan Golding</strong></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/159697/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>This year, with shrinking audiences and pandemic restrictions, there was a bitter irony in the fact women won more Oscars, across new and highly visible categories, than ever before.Julia Erhart, Associate Professor, Screen and Media, Flinders University, Flinders UniversityAri Mattes, Lecturer in Communications and Media, University of Notre Dame AustraliaDan Golding, Associate professor, Swinburne University of TechnologyHarriette Richards, Lecturer, Fashion Enterprise, RMIT UniversityTom Clark, Chair of Academic Board, Victoria UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1305772020-11-02T13:25:54Z2020-11-02T13:25:54ZOn screen and on stage, disability continues to be depicted in outdated, cliched ways<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/360822/original/file-20200930-24-1i1ipb7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=21%2C6%2C680%2C446&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Actress Claire Danes playing CIA officer Carrie Mathison, who struggles with mental illness, on the set of 'Homeland.'</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.spoilertv.com/2020/03/homeland-episode-808-threnodys-press.html">Showtime</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The #MeToo and Black Lives Matter movements have forced Hollywood and other artists and filmmakers to rethink their subject matter and casting practices. However, despite an <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/19/arts/after-oscarssowhite-disability-waits-for-its-moment.html">increased sensitivity to gender and race representation</a> in popular culture, <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/disabled-actors-hollywood-ada-30-11595939824">disabled Americans are still awaiting their national (and international) movement</a>.</p>
<p>“Disability drag” – casting able-bodied actors in the roles of characters with disabilities – has been hard to dislodge from its Oscar-worthy appeal. Since 1947, out of 59 nominations for disabled characters, 27 won an Academy Award – about a <a href="https://www.indiewire.com/2017/09/actors-oscar-nominations-disabilities-afflictions-1201879957/">50% win rate</a>. </p>
<p>There’s <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/dec/07/eddie-redmayne-to-play-hawking-i-had-to-train-my-body-like-a-dancer">Eddie Redmayne’s performance</a> as Stephen Hawking in “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2980516/">The Theory of Everything</a>”; <a href="https://www.independent.ie/entertainment/theatre-arts/day-lewis-never-forgot-christy-three-decades-after-my-left-foot-31228696.html">Daniel Day-Lewis’ portrayal of Christy Brown</a>, who has cerebral palsy, in “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097937/">My Left Foot</a>”; and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/dec/17/rain-man-myth-autistic-people-dustin-hoffman-savant">Dustin Hoffman’s role as an autistic genius</a> in “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095953/">Rain Man</a>” – to mention just a few. </p>
<p>In recent years, however, we’ve seen a slight shift. Actors with disabilities are actually being cast as characters who have disabilities. In 2017, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/24/theater/a-wheelchair-on-broadway-isnt-exploitation-its-progress.html">theater director Sam Gold cast actress Madison Ferris</a> – who uses a wheelchair in real life – as Laura in his Broadway revival of Tennessee Williams’ “The Glass Menagerie.” On <a href="https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/movies/ct-ent-disabled-actors-films-20190125-story.html">TV and in movies</a>, disabled actors are also being cast in roles of disabled characters.</p>
<p>Despite these developments, the issue of representation – what kind of characters these actors play – remains mostly unaddressed. The vast majority of characters with disabilities, whether they’re played by actors with disabilities or not, continue to represent the same outdated tropes.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://www.emerson.edu/faculty-staff-directory/magdalena-romanska">professor of theater</a> and media who has <a href="https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=XXQ9BAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=Magda+Romanska&ots=E6Pz3-p9yd&sig=uCe7S8Iw2SbFJy2abHnhm_AuZYA#v=onepage&q=Magda%20Romanska&f=false">written</a> extensively on the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13528165.2005.10871437?src=recsys">elements of stage drama</a>, I wonder: Are writers and directors finally poised to move beyond these narrative tropes?</p>
<h2>Breaking down the tropes</h2>
<p>Typically, the disabled characters are limited to four types: the “magical cripple,” the “evil cripple,” the “inspirational cripple” and the “redemptive cripple.” </p>
<p>Magical cripples transcend the limitations of the human body and are almost divinelike. They make magical things happen for able-bodied characters. </p>
<p>In many ways, the magical cripple functions like “<a href="https://www.france24.com/en/20170808-magical-negro-racist-cliche-hollywood-wont-drop">the magical Negro</a>,” a term popularized by director Spike Lee to describe Black characters who are usually impoverished but brimming with folk wisdom, which they selflessly bestow on existentially confused white characters. </p>
<p>Like the magical Negro, the magical cripple is a plot device used to guide the lead character toward moral, intellectual or emotional enlightenment. The magical cripple doesn’t learn anything and doesn’t grow because he already is enlightened.</p>
<p>In film, examples include Frank Slade, the blind army colonel who guides young Charlie through the perils of teenage love in 1992’s “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105323/">Scent of a Woman</a>.” Marvel’s Daredevil character is a perfect example of a magical cripple: A blind person imbued with supernatural abilities who can function above and beyond his physical limitations.</p>
<p>Evil cripples represent a form of karmic punishment for the character’s wickedness. One of the most well-known is Shakespeare’s Richard III, the scheming hunchbacked king. </p>
<p>In a 1916 essay, Sigmund Freud pointed to Richard as an example of the correlation between physical disabilities and “deformities of character.” The <a href="https://www.harlemworldmagazine.com/film-us-portrays-people-with-disabilities-as-evil-furthering-stigmas-we-should-know-better/">trope of the evil cripple</a> is rooted in mythologies populated by half-man half-beasts who possess pathological and sadistic cravings.</p>
<p>More recent examples of the evil cripple include <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057012/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Dr. Strangelove</a>, Mini-Me from “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0145660/">Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me</a>” and Bolivar Trask in “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1877832/">X-Men: Days of Future Past</a>.” </p>
<p>Then there are inspirational cripples, whose roles equate to what disability rights activist Stella Young calls “<a href="https://disabilityvisibilityproject.com/2014/10/16/stella-young-inspiration-porn-and-the-objectification-of-disabled-people/">inspiration porn</a>.” These stories center on disabled people accomplishing basic tasks or “overcoming” their disability. We see this in “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3881784/">Stronger</a>,” which retells the story of <a href="https://dallas.culturemap.com/news/entertainment/09-21-17-stronger-movie-review/#slide=0">Boston Marathon bombing survivor Jeff Bauman</a>. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/359605/original/file-20200923-20-geugsh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/359605/original/file-20200923-20-geugsh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359605/original/file-20200923-20-geugsh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359605/original/file-20200923-20-geugsh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359605/original/file-20200923-20-geugsh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359605/original/file-20200923-20-geugsh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359605/original/file-20200923-20-geugsh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Jake Gyllenhaal and Jeff Bauman walk a red carpet for ‘Stronger’ during the 12th Rome Film Fest on Oct. 28, 2017.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/jake-gyllenhaal-and-jeff-bauman-walk-a-red-carpet-for-news-photo/867511424?adppopup=true">Venturelli/WireImage</a></span>
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<p>In the inspirational narratives, disability is not a fact of life – a difference – but something one has to overcome to gain rightful sense of belonging in society. </p>
<p>An offshoot of the inspirational narrative is the redemptive narrative, in which a disabled person either commits suicide or is killed. In movies like “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1067583/">Water for Elephants</a>,” “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0124879/">Simon Birch</a>” and “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086617/">The Year of Living Dangerously</a>,” disabled characters are sacrificed to prove their worth or to help the protagonist reach his goal. </p>
<p>These characters serve as dramaturgical steppingstones. They are never partners or people in their own right, with their own drives and ambitions. They are not shown as deserving their own stories.</p>
<p>The persistence of these tropes underlies the urgent need to reevaluate the makeup of writers and production teams. Who writes these parts is perhaps more important than who acts them. </p>
<h2>Beyond the hero’s journey</h2>
<p>There’s a reason these formulaic roles are so prevalent. </p>
<p>For much of the past century, Hollywood storytelling has operated according to the <a href="http://www.sfcenter.ku.edu/Workshop-stuff/Joseph-Campbell-Hero-Journey.htm">hero’s journey</a>, a dramatic structure that places the white male able-bodied character at the center of the story with atypical characters serving as “helpers” to support his goals. </p>
<p>This narrative model has conditioned audiences to see the helpers as purely functional. The tropes based on this framework define the categories of belonging: who is and who isn’t human, whose life is worth living and whose isn’t.</p>
<p>The one narrative journey that historically allowed the disabled to play a central role depicted them as working toward the symbolic reclamation of their dignity and humanity. In tragic narratives, this quest fails, and the characters either die or request euthanasia as a gesture of love toward their caretakers.</p>
<p>“<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0405159/">Million Dollar Baby</a>” and “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2674426/">Me Before You</a>” are two good examples of films in which disabled characters choose voluntary euthanasia, communicating the socially internalized low value of their own lives.</p>
<p>But what if disabled characters already had dignity? What if no such quest were needed? What if their disability weren’t the thing to overcome but merely one element of one’s identity?</p>
<p>This would require deconstructing the conceptual pyramid of past hierarchies, one that has long used disabled characters as props to illuminate conventional heroes. </p>
<p>Carrie Mathison in the series “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1796960/">Homeland</a>” can be thought of as representing this new approach. <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/shrink-speak/201411/homeland-true-portrayal-mental-illness">Carrie, played by Claire Danes, struggles with mental illness</a>, and it affects her life and her work. </p>
<p>But it is not something to overcome in a dramatic sense. Overcoming the disability is not the central theme of the series – it’s not the main obstacle to her goal. Carrie’s disability does give her some insights, but these come at a price and are not magical. </p>
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<p>“Homeland” further breaks the mold by giving Carrie a helper who is an older white male – Saul Berenson, played by Mandy Patinkin.</p>
<p>As we move towards greater gender and race inclusivity at work and in the arts, disability should not be left behind. More complex, more sophisticated stories and representations need to replace the simplistic, outdated and cliched tropes that have been consistently rewarded at the Oscars.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/130577/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Magda Romanska does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Despite recent social movements that have garnered greater inclusivity in the arts, disabled actors are still waiting for their moment in the spotlight.Magda Romanska, Associate Professor of Theatre and Dramaturgy, Emerson CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.