Invisible Acting

Someone in my mythology class (Mark) made a comment about the acting in Dark Knight today—something about it being bad. I thought for a moment. I hadn't noticed any bad acting. Then I remembered that I didn't really understand acting, so I couldn't possibly be a judge of it.

I mean it when I say that I don't understand acting. I'm such a writer. Show me an actor acting a part and I'll say, Oh, okay, so... here's the plot, and here's the character, and etc. You tell me they're a bad actor, and I have no idea how you know that. Because I cannot tell a person apart from their character. Ever. (If they're an actor.) I mean, unless there was original source material or something (Harry Potter for instance; sometimes I can tell bad acting during one of those movies. Sometimes). I just can't see it. Doesn't that actor portray a character in a way that makes the character? How can you judge someone by how well they are someone else if that someone else isn't real? I mean, sure, you can have powerful performances, but isn't that just because the plot of the movie requires that someone go through something... powerful? If you have a man who's just lost his wife then he's going to grieve. If it's the right movie and the right actor then they get an Academy Award. If not, why not? I just can't see how you can reward somebody for having a quality that is basically unjudgeable.

Most of the world disagrees with me on this. That's okay. It's just that I watch people, not the people behind fake people. If you want to show me a tear, I will see a tear, not the forty years of work that went into manufacturing that tear. Want to cry? Go for it. I'm going to sit here and assume your character's situation requires it.

I guess I could never be an actor. But then, I wouldn't want to be. You'd have to be someone other than yourself, someone who you can't be. And no matter how Method you are, you are never that other person. I mean, you make a lot of money and get famous, but there just doesn't seem to be any psychological reason for it.

Eh. Movies are great, though. Just don't ask me about the performances.