Actors Mimic Our Acting?
And then we mimic actors??? I don’t know.
Sometimes it feels like the personas we see on television/film are the equivalent to our at-work persona or our Christmas dinner etiquette. Let me explain.
Performative personalities. See the way flirting is shown on television. Have you ever had something even close to that in real life? The quick-fire back and forth, relentless eye contact with synced patter as if they are part of a fucking improv team. It is insane - the pacing alone is foreign to the human experience. In reality, for me anyway, I’d get maybe two rallies into the conversation before I’ve mumbled something irrelevant or one of us simply mishears the other. My awkwardness aside, I don’t think that shit actually happens in real life. The romantic comedy way of meeting a spouse is a myth. Am not bitter; YOU’RE BITTER.
Another example- “Been anywhere nice this summer?” or the pretentious version, “where do you summer?”
Now, this shit is undoubtedly present on the screen and in real life back when mummy allowed us to leave the house. Mummy, can I drink on the street? Can I buy more than two packets of paracetamol? Dare I listen to music in a pub!?
Anyway, the holiday question is just a silence filler coated in a P60. Both parties are not particularly interested, but maybe something relatable will come up, and a further thirty seconds can be burned off. After the monotonous pleasantries (I’m picturing a couple meeting one of their sets of parents for dinner, maybe you can imagine a delighted S.I.N.G.L.E bearded man talking to his other delighted single friend about his soon to be cancelled trip to Prague), we begin the performance.
“Aw, that’s nice.”
“Aw, that’s pretty cheap that.”
“Aw, you’d love it there.”
“Aw fuck me in the arse.”
“Sorry? I said aye, ryanair is shite.”
I get it; this is basically small talk. We all have to experience small talk, and to see it on screen isn’t mind-boggling. My point is that it creates an endless cycle: they copy our fake bullshit, children adopt the actor’s bullshit before they even know it is bullshit, and we start to think that there is a partner out there that won’t skip a beat as we flirt like Jimmy Carr on coke.
I can’t handle small talk because I can’t take being forced to act- don’t turn me into a Daniel Day-Lewis because I am not a Daniel Day-Lewis. When you refuse to engage, you come across as a rude FREAK. Often people think I’m some cheeky laddy type guy that is up for a chat, and I try my best to be as off-putting as possible to escape. However, the silver lining comes through the comedy of it all. Limmy is a perfect example of this. His schtick is almost entirely a mockery of the conversational mannerisms and phrases we are all victim to. Peter Kay as well- the content of his jokes are simply the repetition of granny vernacular.
Maybe the humour small talk gifts us is strong enough to allow us to stomach the disingenuous performances. AND perhaps the bullshit we see in acting reinforces our commitment to filling dead air with whatever we can muster up at the moment. It is just easier to ignore the inaccuracies, like nodding along to a story told by that bullshitter acquaintance you have. You can’t call them up on it, just smile, and it will be over soon.
This is not new either. You have seen the way they used to act in old Hollywood? Weirdos man. Even back then, no cunt was talking like that.
When do actors mimic us, and when do we mimic actors? Awk, who knows.
Cheers