One day early in my first semester of college in T206, Introduction to
Television Design and Production, we watched a scene from Band of Brothers
-- one with bombs and shooting and violence and chaos -- first with no
music, then with "My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean," then with classical
music, then hard rock, and then several other options, and finally we
had to select which we thought was actually used and why, and which we
would have used and why. After analyzing and discussing it, I very
clearly remember the professor saying, "And this is why this course of
study and this profession will forever ruin for you the experience as
you know it of watching movies. You will never again just sit and watch
a movie as a passive observer. You will always be analyzing and seeing
it from the eyes of someone inside the industry. Your perception will
be altered."
That professor was absolutely right. I can no
longer watch movies the way I once did. But that's okay, because
sometimes my breath is taken away in admiration of a director's unique
choice when facing the same exercise we did that day in class (Thorin
and the Orc on the mountaintop in the climactic moments of the final Hobbit
film with not a single note of Howard Shore's gorgeous score? That
wind and their breath were more beautiful and moving than any notes could
have been, and that simple choice turned the scene into a highlight for
me in the 39,859,403,947,690-hours long trilogy.). However, working in
this industry has changed my perspective in more ways than I expected.
In addition to analyzing everything I watch, I've come to realize that
my perception and experience of movies and television have also been
altered by getting to know actors whom I then see on the screen. Before I
became a P.A. on a show with Eartha Kitt and later her backstage
assistant, I had never watched her in anything. Nowadays, watching
reruns of the old Batman TV show, I am completely unable to see
Catwoman. I see the awesome lady whom I went shoe-shopping and
brunching with, who purred in the wings while doing the splits at age
80, who took me to get my first (and to this date only) manicure with
her, and who told me she would never forgive me if I didn't do something
with my dance. An arch-villain bent on destruction and chaos? Nope. I
just can't see it. Another actor I did a show with, one of the nicest,
most fun people I've encountered in this industry, recently played a
scheming evil henchman on a TV show I watched. He's a fantastic actor,
but I just couldn't see the murderer. I was very sad when he got shot
and met his demise.... I'm pretty sure that wasn't supposed to be my
reaction. Most recently, a very sweet, friendly actor with whom I worked had a large guest star role on a show as someone you were supposed
to think was bad for about 55 of the 60 minutes. I knew he had to be a
good guy, because the actor was just such a nice person. Yep. MAJOR
TWIST right at the end that he's actually good -- Sorry, saw that one
coming a mile away.
And then there's what's happened twice in the
last month. Watching one of my favorite TV shows, there in the opening
credits listing guest stars, I saw the name of an actor I did a show
with. This particular actor had one of the worst temperaments I've
seen. In addition to his regular condescension to everyone, he was
prone to horrible outbursts where he would yell at everyone and go off
on a tirade.... and then he would always follow it up with "I'm a
Buddhist, so I'm not normally like this. You're just making me behave
in a way I don't normally behave. I never yell. I'm a Buddhist." I
don't know what his relationship with his faith was like, but I do know
that his normal behavior was not peaceful and anti-aggressive -- it was
yelling at everything in sight and throwing temper tantrums like a
baby. But it was never his fault... because he's a Buddhist... so
therefore everyone else was always to blame for his poor non-Buddhist
behavior. I also once encountered him on the stairs talking to his
girlfriend about when he could see her so that his wife wouldn't know
about it. I'm sure that wasn't his fault either.
Anyway, as soon
as he came on screen, I yelled out, "He did it! He's the murderer!" (I
have an annoying habit of always announcing who the murderer is on TV
shows within seconds of their appearance on screen. I am right 99% of
the time based on the "if they have 5 lines or under and the information
in those lines could just as easily have been given to another
character, then they are the murderer" rule.... My fiancé and I disagree
about whether murder mystery TV shows with remarkably dimwitted
detectives are better when enhanced by audience participation and
commentary....) As the show progressed, I remained convinced that he
was the murderer -- despite the fact that his role was quite large, and
therefore, with this particular show's identical-formula-every-week
rule, he couldn't possibly be the culprit. Nevertheless, I knew that
this week would be the exception to the formula rule, because who could
possibly make a better surprise killer than the "I'm the most peaceful
guy ever until I blow up and lose my tempter 5 times a day" man?
......He
was not the killer. He was just a nice man. The killer was that
character who had about 5 lines which could easily have been given to
someone else and then didn't appear again for the next 40 minutes. As
always. But because I knew what the actor was like in real life, it had
drastically altered my perception of his character. Then last night,
watching one of my favorite shows, all of a sudden another actor I'd
worked with popped on screen... ostensibly as a good guy, but once again
I was convinced there was a twist. This particular actor was such an
arrogant smug know-it-all that I was sure he would pull out a gun and
shoot someone in the back. The rest of the episode I kept waiting for
it... Nope... The only damage he did was chewing up the scenery during
his few lines.
So yes, working in this industry has changed my
perspective, and I will probably never again just watch a movie or TV
show as a passive observer. The forever-analyzing part doesn't bother
me... but I will cross my fingers that I never again see
But-I'm-A-Buddhist or Smug-Arrogant-Know-It-All on my TV screen playing
good guys. Or else my 99%-correct rate is going to take a serious
beating and I might just lose out in that audience-participation-and-commentary-enhances-whodunnit-TV-shows battle with my fiancé....
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