Interesting perspective- I’ve been thinking and researching recently about how stories and the way they’re set up (story arc, but also details like character interactions) evolve in a two-way relationship with our perspectives on our own lives. I see my own past in some ways through the lens of a story, often linear and progressing clearly through what were actually chaotic times to take me to the person I am in the present. To me, your observation about the aspects our modern stories are absolutely intertwined to the changes in today's society. Thank you for the insights!
What I find notable is how often the present makes us reevaluate the past and adjust our own stories. We might perceive the past as fixed, but it seem to me that it is actually extremely malleable and forever shifting based on our present. Thank you for adding your thoughts and the comment.
Super interesting - you reveal an accuracy that I hadn’t noticed before. Not just the breaking the fourth wall but like there’s no wall at all. As if it’s all Ferris and no Cameron
Fascinating essay, Charles. Very interesting perspective on popular movies and TV shows. On your observations about 'The Office', I'll admit that the monologues were often the bits I loved best. But I didn't think of those scenes as being outside the reality of the plot. To me, the actors were still playing the roles assigned to them by the plot, but looking at those roles a little sideways (with the audience). Perhaps that still ends up being the same thing you described.
Yes—and I think 'sideways' is a good way to describe it. Seeing those different viewpoints simultaneously was what really made it work in my mind. Thank you for the comment, Rohan.
“I do wonder whether it’s related to the loose sense that many people have of needing to perform in today’s world. There’s always a camera on, there’s always a recording being made, so the smiles are a bit more strained, a bit more staged, in everyday life. Perhaps ironic detachment is one solution to this sense of being watched: a way to avoid inhabiting the world too fully. When you meet people, it often feels like they’re delivering lines rather than speaking—stylized, safe, detached—so perhaps it makes sense for actors to portray that same sensibility.”
This was brilliant. I think that something fundamentally snapped during Covid when zoom became real life and screens became our omnipresent intermediator
Interesting perspective- I’ve been thinking and researching recently about how stories and the way they’re set up (story arc, but also details like character interactions) evolve in a two-way relationship with our perspectives on our own lives. I see my own past in some ways through the lens of a story, often linear and progressing clearly through what were actually chaotic times to take me to the person I am in the present. To me, your observation about the aspects our modern stories are absolutely intertwined to the changes in today's society. Thank you for the insights!
What I find notable is how often the present makes us reevaluate the past and adjust our own stories. We might perceive the past as fixed, but it seem to me that it is actually extremely malleable and forever shifting based on our present. Thank you for adding your thoughts and the comment.
Super interesting - you reveal an accuracy that I hadn’t noticed before. Not just the breaking the fourth wall but like there’s no wall at all. As if it’s all Ferris and no Cameron
Thank you for the comment, Trilety.
Fascinating essay, Charles. Very interesting perspective on popular movies and TV shows. On your observations about 'The Office', I'll admit that the monologues were often the bits I loved best. But I didn't think of those scenes as being outside the reality of the plot. To me, the actors were still playing the roles assigned to them by the plot, but looking at those roles a little sideways (with the audience). Perhaps that still ends up being the same thing you described.
Yes—and I think 'sideways' is a good way to describe it. Seeing those different viewpoints simultaneously was what really made it work in my mind. Thank you for the comment, Rohan.
“I do wonder whether it’s related to the loose sense that many people have of needing to perform in today’s world. There’s always a camera on, there’s always a recording being made, so the smiles are a bit more strained, a bit more staged, in everyday life. Perhaps ironic detachment is one solution to this sense of being watched: a way to avoid inhabiting the world too fully. When you meet people, it often feels like they’re delivering lines rather than speaking—stylized, safe, detached—so perhaps it makes sense for actors to portray that same sensibility.”
This was brilliant. I think that something fundamentally snapped during Covid when zoom became real life and screens became our omnipresent intermediator
Thank you for the comment, Tom.