Oh readers,
Here I am, late on my post and with punishment word in tow. Little C has assigned me
affectation, which is actually kind of a perfect word for what I want to talk about today. She's great like that.
One of my very favorite things that happens in a film or television show is when a character that you thought was one thing- especially when that one thing is mostly shallow- and then that all turns out to be an
affectation and you find something much deeper and usually cooler underneath. It's a tricky thing to pull off and every time I think that it's been done to death someone pulls it off in a totally new way.
There's one level of pulling off this kind of bait and switch with a character, which is more surface level but infinitely satisfying when it's done by the right kind of actor. You can see it probably the most clearly on shows like SyFy's The Magicians. Elliot and Margo are characters that come off simply bitchy, the mean girls that run the school and make underclassmen do their bidding. But when you find out that it's at least mostly an
affectation and these are smart, intensely loyal people who are capable of big magic, it just makes the world more full. Especially with Hale Appleman and Summer Bishil acting the parts, the line between
affectation and reality is delightfully blurry because their performance brings out the nuances to the characters.
But there's a whole 'nother level of character building when you manage to fool your audience into thinking that a character is one thing, one maybe even boring thing, and then hit them out of nowhere with the reality of the situation. The best example that comes to mind was Grant Ward in Agents of SHIELD. That first season, I thought Ward was one of the most boring characters ever committed to screen but once you realize that the boy scout-ness of him is all an
affectation covering up something horrifying, the entire history of the character changes. Seriously, upon rewatch, even the most bland statements of Ward's become ominous. And it makes the world of the show more full and interesting than ever. Again, this takes some serious acting because giving up the ghost early would be disastrous, and Brett Dalton deserves some props for pulling it off.
We've even had some experience with this ourselves. Working on
our webseries, we had an actress (the amazing and talented Stephanie Tobey) suggest making her character's accent an
affectation that she drops at a critical moment in the show. And it changed everything. It fills out our world in a beautiful way.
Happy Watching!
CT
Comments
Post a Comment