Konstantin Stanislavski is considered to be the founding father of contemporary acting. He defined acting as living truthfully through imaginary circumstances. He introduced the concept of the “magic if,” the ability of an actor to fantasize about him or herself in an imaginary circumstance and visualize the repercussions involved in the imaginary situation. This, in turn, causes the actor to choose a plan of action in an artificially simulated world1. Through the this process, the actor then engages with the imaginary stimulant which creates a sensory response and causes a subconscious emotional reaction or behavior. Part of this process can be harnessed when using cinema therapy.
At times, the actor accesses his or her emotional memory to relate to certain circumstances that outlined in a script. The contemporary acting world classifies this concept as the “as if.” The “as if” allows the actor to utilize salient factors from one’s life to relate to the character that is being attempted to be portrayed on stage or celluloid.2
Psychology and acting the art form has had a long relationship since their inception. Sigmund Freud and Konstantin Stanislavski have often compared due to their pioneering ideas in their respective fields. However, both focused on the psyche of mankind. While Freud focused on the understanding of the human psyche, Stanislavski focused on the infallible creation of the human psyche. Thus, we see many of Freud’s ideology influencing the acting process. However, it is the interaction of the imaginary world and the emotional memory or quotient of an individual that can activate mental health stressors or trauma in the actor2.
Post Dramatic Stress
Post Dramatic Stress (PDS), has been classified when an actor utilizes emotional memories or traumatic events that have not been resolved, or if the individual has not developed a healthy understanding of the traumatic event or stressor3, 2. Thus, the utilization of these events or memories can ignite the pain of the past or what is called re-traumatization.
We have observed as audience members on the world stage of life, also known as the tabloids, many actors sadly lose their battle with mental health. For example, in the film The World’s Greatest Dad, Robin Williams played the father of a man who committed suicide. His character obsessed over the reasons why his fictional son committed suicide. In one of the scenes depicted in the movie, he reenacted his son’s suicide method. Two years after this depiction of an on-screen simulated suicide—on August 11, 2014—Robin Williams took his own life in a similar manner.
An actor’s journey of introspection into the emotional memory can unearth unresolved past issues. The subconscious unresolved issues may lead to deficits in the individual’s mental health. This case illuminates the difficulties faced by actors such as subconscious emotional dysregulation and coping with working culture stress2.
Dr. Swapnil Gohil is experienced in the thespian world and the world of psychology. He has experienced the difficulties associated with the entertainment world. These difficulties can range from the pressures of maintaining a certain marketable brand image to dealing with the countless rejections faced by entertainers. Each event in the actor’s journey may trigger events of one’s personal past. A rejection of an audition may manifest in day to day life as depression or anxiety, due to the direct hit to one’s self-worth or self-esteem.
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