actor audience paradigm
#todo this entire thing is trash
Tags: Bo Burnham Bojack Horseman
Many professional entertainers (e.g.Bo Burnham) have talked about how they find difficulty separating their characters from their real personas. Bo is forced to play an loud funny guy on stage, even though he claims that he’s actually reasonably shy and quiet in real life. Thing is, if everyone sees you as something, they start treating you that way. Audiences expect their actors to act in certain ways. (tag: stereotypes) If you play a character all the time, it’s easy for you to start seeing yourself in that character.
This isn’t specific to professionals though. We are all actors in a way (tag: studying extremes). When we hang out with others we all try to play a role of someone funny (or at least inoffensive). If you dislike someone but are still diplomatic, you are playing the role of someone who likes them more than you.emotional labor
Thing is, playing roles over and over makes it difficult for you to figure out who you really are. I don’t know if this resonates with a lot of people, but I personally feel phony when in large groups. I think most people who know me tangentially would consider me extroverted and loud, but that’s an act I put on for groups, and doing that act exhausts me. If I act like that all the time though, is that more real than who “I really am?” The self doesn’t exist.
