Trust in Logic
There is a scene in Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins
Batman is training with his sensei on a frozen lake high up in the mountains
His sensei taunts him
Even brings up Batman’s father
Uh oh
Batman’s fear transforms into uncontrollable anger
He is blinded by his emotions
Batman lunges
And for a moment
It looks like Batman has the upper hand
But
Just when he thinks he’s been successful
His sensei makes him aware that he has sacrificed sure footing for the lure of success
The sensei simply taps the ice beneath Batman’s feet
And Batman plunges into the freezing lake below
Beautiful
We cut to the next scene
Batman is sitting beside a fire
Furiously rubbing his arms
He is freezing
His sensei looks at him and calmly says
Rub your chest, your arms will take care of themselves
I repeat
Rub your chest… your arms will take care of themselves
I have thought about this line an enormous amount in the past 12 months
Why?
Well
In almost every acting class I have ever been in
Someone in the class
Sacrifices sure footing for the lure of success
By that, I mean
An actor will start pushing for an emotional result
It’s something all actors have seen
And damn sure have experienced
When there is a strong expectation of a particular result
(In other words - A strong should)
I should cry
I should shout
I shout laugh
The instinct can be to cling on to it for dear life when we realise we might not meet that expectation
What is important to note here is that…
Pushing for an emotion is a lose lose situation
The fighting to control means we can bully our bodies or other actors into fitting a particular mould
Resulting in tension
Squeezing every facial muscle to try get that one tear to roll down the cheek
And
The audience recoils as their mirror neurones ignite and they feel the dreaded tension in their own bodies
There is no win
So
What can we do?
What can we focus on that will the allow the result to take care of itself
Logic
Trust in logic
Let emotions take care of themselves
You are far better off letting go of all emotional expectations and just focussing on logic
Then pushing for what you think the right version of the scene is.
Like in any game
If we want to play well
At some point we have to accept chaos
We have to trust ourselves that we have enough structure to fly
And then simply fall.
Trust in ones ability to handle chaos
Is a muscle
It can be built
Give it time
Give it kindness
It will be worth it
So
When in doubt
Rub your chest, your arms will take care of themselves
I mean…
Trust in logic, your emotions will take care of themselves
Hope this helps
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