The Flip Side of Neurolinguistics
by After stomping on the science of neurolinguistics in a previous article, the author, an actor himself, takes a look at the positive side. He takes the reader inside the actor’s mind to take a peek at his processes which make the character the viewers see. Neurolinguistics does point out the lies we tell each other on a daily basis. There is a supremely useful side to neurolinguistics and here it is.
When an actor on the stage reaches production and continues to think, through the character, of the same things, continually, six performances a week, finally the emotions attached to the words come to the actors as feelings and thoughts of the character.
Award, Awards, Awards
The Antoinette Perry (Tony) awards would not exist had not the actors accessed their reservoirs of neurolinguistcs. The actor’s own life is a resource he taps continuously, unconsciously, enriching his performance. Once established, the character’s feelings become second nature and the accompanying facial responses can be read by the audience in the balcony.
The Oscars would be out of business without neurolinguistics. The same strategies for television are at work in the movies. Unfortunately, some actors on the big screen do not understand these concepts. This acceptance of the banal by the Hollywood system forces one to believe that actor’s casting couch etiquette surpasses his acumen as an actor. These few actors, fortunately, are stuck amid scores of actors who understand the neurolinguistic elements. I avoid the others as best I can.
Before and After Neurolinguistics
If you’re middle-aged, perhaps younger, you will recall a television show called Charlie’s Angels. Of three female crime fighters, two among them were great actors. They understood how to build a character and present it with their faces. The third, alas, was not so gifted.
The actress was Farah Fawcett. Throughout the run of the show, Farah’s acting was abysmal. She knew where to stand, and memorized her lines, and she was drop dead gorgeous. She didn’t need to do anything else. People paid her to be beautiful. Then, after the series was canceled, Farah Fawcett must have taken acting lessons with a good teacher.
The next time we saw Ms. Fawcett was in a made for television movie called The Burning Bed. What a transformation! The vapid, nit-witted blonde was gone. This character, of an abused spouse in a broken marriage was Farah Fawcett and Farah Fawcett was that character. It was the most dramatic change I’ve ever seen in an actor, and I applaud her for taking those acting lessons, because her performance was flawless. Finally, she GOT neurolinguistics. Brava! Brava!
The List
Dwight Schultz, Patrick Stewart, Brendan Fletcher, Jerry O’Connell, Saul Rubinek, Anthony LaPaglia, Tom Hanks, Robert DeNiro, Jack Nicholson, are but a few of the excellent male actors who have mastered their art, have mastered neurolinguistics. Of the females, I’d have to count Meryl Streep, Amanda Plummer, Julia Roberts, Jody Foster, Nicole Kidman, Charlese Theron, Angelena Jolie, Halle Berry, Diane Keaton would fit the bill. Of course, there are others, many others.
Of the actors who don’t make the cut, neurolinguistically speaking? I’d have to mention Tom Cruise, Jim Carrey, Jamie Kennedy as the worst. There are others of these who must give great couch, but I can’t help the vagaries of the industry.
The other actors I haven’t mentioned, to some degree have mastered (or not) the subtleties of neurolinguistics as applied to acting on stage or for the camera. It will always remain one of the most complicated, complex innate tools we, as a species possess.
I still hang onto the frightful applications of neurolinguistics we employ in every aspect of our lives. But, at the same time I marvel at the complex relationship between our faces and our thoughts.
And hope I’m reading them right.
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