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Why Acting Requires Talent |
Folks look at TV, go to movies or theater to be entertained. The reality is, daily life can be rather tedious and dull. Imagine viewing a film of somebody going through their typical day. You'd be so bored you would probably fall asleep soon after the show started. The reality of the situation is, people's lives are dull, at least most folks's.
This brings us to the difficulty of entertainment, specially in the movie or TV trade and most specifically in the theater. We demand our entertainment to be just that, entertaining, yet at the same time we require it to be based in reality. If you were viewing a cops and robbers TV show and all at once you saw your favorite police officer pull out a skate board and chase the criminal down brandishing a laser gun, well, your reality would pretty much be shot and the credibility of the show itself would be destroyed. The shows have to be based in reality and yet have to still be entertaining. This is a very difficult line to travel.
Actors possess the hardest job when it comes to bringing authenticity to a part without putting an audience to sleep. The above illustration is extraordinary but the problems can even happen with more subtle things.
Let's take a scene where the hero cop is interrogating a suspect. For starters, he can't go throwing him around the interrogation room. There are certain protocols cops need to follow and failure to do so can lead to a case being thrown out of court, or worse, a suit against the bureau. But during the interrogation the suspect eventually admits to the crime, most likely a savage homicide, and even smiles about it. The hero cop is outraged and he wants to just take this slime and mop up the floor with him. Realistically he can't do that. But he doesn't need to. A good actor can convey that feeling and desire by the look he gives the suspect. Perhaps he even starts to go after him but then stops himself, the look of pure detestation for this person in his eyes. That is great acting and how you span the gap between dull reality and stimulating drama. Mixed in alongside a tense score and the scene will undoubtedly have more effect than if he punched the guy out into next Sunday.
In order to pull off this type of authenticity the actor should imagine how he would truly feel if confronted with such a person. Numerous actors think of things when playing scenes like this that actually do get them enraged. Just like when an actor needs to cry he or she thinks of something that makes them extremely sad. This is a everyday procedure among your more resourceful actors.
The reality is, all entertainment, even science fiction, is based in some kind of reality, even if it is the reality of emotions, which we all possess. The aptitude to display those emotions in a realistic, yet entertaining way, is what makes a great actor and a great performance, the kind that we don't soon forget.
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