there's only one sean connery. who the hell are you?
Ever wish you were someone else?
My first adult career involved working within large american corporations. Within these organisations the individual was (and is) expected to subsume their individuality within the heterogenous corporate culture. That culture may well be fun; it may pay lipservice to the cult of the individual and even co-incide with the individual's ambitions but when it came to any conflict the culture takes precedence.
Remember the scene in Monty Python's 'Life of Brian'. "We are all individuals" shouts Brian homogenously. "I'm not!" responds the only individual in the crowd. Genius.
Within a corporation or any day-to-day job the individual is expected to fulfill a role within the company in exchange for financial reward and hence a degree of security (or not). The focus is on the skills required to fulfill the role and less on the person providing these skills. The skills are almost separate from the individual concerned. There tends to be a large pool of people who could fill any role and consequently there tends to be a certain existential anonymity for the individual in that environment. There is both protection and frustration in this anonymity with the protection usually dominating.
At the opposite extreme is the individual building a career as as actor.
There are many skills required to be able to function as a professional actor but what we are selling can seem to be our very selves. We may market ourselves as the next whomever to provide a mental hook for the public but fundamentally we cannot aspire to be clones.
For example if I was the double of Sean Connery (in his youth thank-you...) then that would probably prevent me from establishing myself as a credible actor. I could aquire some degree of celebrity but it would be capped by the fact that 'we've already got a Sean Connery thank you very much'.
If however I were to put myself forward as the next Sean Connery then we are off and running. Assuming that I can actually deliver that degree of insouciant sexuality and sheer magnetism then those who are interested in casting me have a category within which to place me. Now their primary interest is in what makes me stand out as an individual; what makes me unique.
Both pain & pleasure derive from the fact that perceived success is highly dependent on exploiting your uniqueness.
The pain of rejection is so acute because The Man is rejecting you. Not your skills, as in the normal world . But you. How you look. How you sound. What you represent.
Similarly, the pleasure of acceptance is so intense for exactly the same reason. Only you could fill that role. Only you could express the character. Only you could portray what they are looking for.
Both this pain & this pleasure are false. In the worst situations both you and The Man are colluding to give him powers over your worth as a human being.
Ridiculously we just as often go solo and simply donate our self esteem to the The Man who doesn't want it and is, most often, a personable and capable professional fulfilling a brief . They may be aware of the devastation you are wreaking on your own psyche; they will usually take steps to minimise the stress of a situation (unless effective stress management is part of the brief) but they cannot accept any responsibility for your (di)stress.
Your reactions are your responsibility.
The word 'professional' is key. Let's say that The Man is a Casting Director. The casting director has been engaged by the client to fulfil a specific requirement. If they fail to satisfy that requirement then they fail as a professional (how they then handles that is down to his own self-esteem mgmt). Consequently they have to stand back, remain objective and match your attributes against those detailed in the brief. Viewed negatively this experience can feel as though you are being reduced to a piece of meat at auction.
The solution also lies in professionalism - yours. Without denying Art, you are selling a product. That product is the You that you choose to present. The product is your skills. The product is your appearance. The product are your resources. Note that these are attributes that you aquire, possess or can access. They may seem indistinguishable from your view of yourself but they are not the core you. The you that aquires skills can also lose them without ceasing to be you. The you that looked as you did as a child is still the you as you look now. The you without access to certain finance or contacts remains you. Lonely maybe. Poor maybe. But still you.
The product is separate from yourself and you must develop the maturity to view your product objectively.
You must be able to stand back, matching or (de)emphasising your own attributes against what you know of the brief. You have to understand that there are a huge number of factors involved in the casting process over which you, and even The Man, have no control.
You are both fulfilling you professional roles so you might as well do so in a relaxed, self-respecting atmosphere with love & humor.
That way you both contribute positively to the casting decision. When NO: You are not being rejected - your attributes simply didn't match the brief. When YES: You are not being accepted - your attributes and qualities are. As a professional it is now your job to do whatever is required to ensure that you deliver.
- sisyphus 2005
My first adult career involved working within large american corporations. Within these organisations the individual was (and is) expected to subsume their individuality within the heterogenous corporate culture. That culture may well be fun; it may pay lipservice to the cult of the individual and even co-incide with the individual's ambitions but when it came to any conflict the culture takes precedence.
Remember the scene in Monty Python's 'Life of Brian'. "We are all individuals" shouts Brian homogenously. "I'm not!" responds the only individual in the crowd. Genius.
Within a corporation or any day-to-day job the individual is expected to fulfill a role within the company in exchange for financial reward and hence a degree of security (or not). The focus is on the skills required to fulfill the role and less on the person providing these skills. The skills are almost separate from the individual concerned. There tends to be a large pool of people who could fill any role and consequently there tends to be a certain existential anonymity for the individual in that environment. There is both protection and frustration in this anonymity with the protection usually dominating.
At the opposite extreme is the individual building a career as as actor.
There are many skills required to be able to function as a professional actor but what we are selling can seem to be our very selves. We may market ourselves as the next whomever to provide a mental hook for the public but fundamentally we cannot aspire to be clones.
For example if I was the double of Sean Connery (in his youth thank-you...) then that would probably prevent me from establishing myself as a credible actor. I could aquire some degree of celebrity but it would be capped by the fact that 'we've already got a Sean Connery thank you very much'.
If however I were to put myself forward as the next Sean Connery then we are off and running. Assuming that I can actually deliver that degree of insouciant sexuality and sheer magnetism then those who are interested in casting me have a category within which to place me. Now their primary interest is in what makes me stand out as an individual; what makes me unique.
Both pain & pleasure derive from the fact that perceived success is highly dependent on exploiting your uniqueness.
The pain of rejection is so acute because The Man is rejecting you. Not your skills, as in the normal world . But you. How you look. How you sound. What you represent.
Similarly, the pleasure of acceptance is so intense for exactly the same reason. Only you could fill that role. Only you could express the character. Only you could portray what they are looking for.
Both this pain & this pleasure are false. In the worst situations both you and The Man are colluding to give him powers over your worth as a human being.
Ridiculously we just as often go solo and simply donate our self esteem to the The Man who doesn't want it and is, most often, a personable and capable professional fulfilling a brief . They may be aware of the devastation you are wreaking on your own psyche; they will usually take steps to minimise the stress of a situation (unless effective stress management is part of the brief) but they cannot accept any responsibility for your (di)stress.
Your reactions are your responsibility.
The word 'professional' is key. Let's say that The Man is a Casting Director. The casting director has been engaged by the client to fulfil a specific requirement. If they fail to satisfy that requirement then they fail as a professional (how they then handles that is down to his own self-esteem mgmt). Consequently they have to stand back, remain objective and match your attributes against those detailed in the brief. Viewed negatively this experience can feel as though you are being reduced to a piece of meat at auction.
The solution also lies in professionalism - yours. Without denying Art, you are selling a product. That product is the You that you choose to present. The product is your skills. The product is your appearance. The product are your resources. Note that these are attributes that you aquire, possess or can access. They may seem indistinguishable from your view of yourself but they are not the core you. The you that aquires skills can also lose them without ceasing to be you. The you that looked as you did as a child is still the you as you look now. The you without access to certain finance or contacts remains you. Lonely maybe. Poor maybe. But still you.
The product is separate from yourself and you must develop the maturity to view your product objectively.
You must be able to stand back, matching or (de)emphasising your own attributes against what you know of the brief. You have to understand that there are a huge number of factors involved in the casting process over which you, and even The Man, have no control.
You are both fulfilling you professional roles so you might as well do so in a relaxed, self-respecting atmosphere with love & humor.
That way you both contribute positively to the casting decision. When NO: You are not being rejected - your attributes simply didn't match the brief. When YES: You are not being accepted - your attributes and qualities are. As a professional it is now your job to do whatever is required to ensure that you deliver.
- sisyphus 2005
heidless (9:37 pm)
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