Monday, February 11, 2008

Actors

I have just spent the last hour or so watching videos of Robin Williams, Matt Damon, and Angelina Jolie in interviews, and when I got on here I didn't really know what to talk about until I realized my subject had been rolling across my computer screen most of the day: actors.
I will first say that I love movies. The concept of taking an idea, a mental image and transforming it into real, live actions that can be shared with the world absolutely fascinates me. I also love actors, and would love to have their lives. I don't think people realize what a true actor is anymore. They see half-assed acting done by such disasters as Sylvester Stallone or Ashley Tisdale and think, "Wow! What a great actor!" simply because that is what society and media has told them to think. Meanwhile, true actors like Christian Bale, Kate Winslet, and Matt Damon recieve only hlaf or less of the recognition they truly deserve. The reason they are true actors is not a hard one to process or recognize: they make a role believable.
Christian Bale took on one of the biggest franchises in pop culture history: Batman. He took it on, conquered it, and somehow managed to show us Batman in an entirely new light. Before him, we all thought of Batman as a childhood superhero, a dude in a costume. But Bale took Batman and made him something more: he made him human. He got inside the mind and emotions of Bruce Wayne and created a human being, a man struggling with his past and trying to figure out what to do with his future. A man in love. A man who had to face impossible odds and overcome his own fears simply to realize what life was really about. In my opinion, Christian Bale should have taken home dozens of awards for this. But somehow, Batman Begins came and went, flying by sort of unnoticed by people in general. Shame, shame.
Then you have people like the cast of High School Musical, kids barely out of training bras and braces, and possessing very little true acting talent, who are hailed as great actors and are taken seriously by almost everyone. This sickens me. Those kids don't deserve that. They deserve to work for it, to put effort into it. Not to just have things handed to them on golden platters simply because they look good. The worst part of it is that esteemed people, actors and critics alike, who know the treachery that is being committed, give them pats on the back and indulge it without a word of criticism. They, who are in the position to stop or correct these errors, they decide to simply ignore them and keep moving on. How like the world we live in. Ignore the problem, that will make it disappear.
But it never does. For who has risen in the wake of the High School Musical tsunami? Yes, that's right, bubble gum pop Barbie doll Miley Cyrus. But we won't go there, that's a whole other entry.
In simple conclusion of this blog, I beg all who read it to take a second look at your favorite actor, take the time to learn about them and find out if they really are true actors. There are true actors out there, but they are hiding, diamonds in the rough, waiting to be found and shown to the world. One can only hope that they're discovered before Miley becomes president.

1 comment:

Mercedes said...

Well I congratulate you, I didn't ever think I would dig that deep into the thoughts of actors. Ok, so maybe I have but it was a very good point to make. Your conclusion was amazing, just reading it makes your mind delve deeper...