The Actor's Vow

I stumbled across this after watching PBS' and Martin Scorsese's documentary about Elia Kazan. Both of these things have inspired me deeply.

Here's The Actor's Vow that Elia Kazan wrote:

I will take my rightful place on stage
and I will be myself.
I am not a cosmic orphan.
I have no reason to be timid.
I will respond as I feel;
awkwardly, vulgarly,
but respond.

I will have my throat open,
I will have my heart open,
I will be vulnerable.
I may have anything or everything
the world has to offer, but the thing
I need most, and want most,
is to be myself.

I will admit rejection, admit pain,
admit frustration, admit even pettiness,
admit shame, admit outrage,
admit anything and everything
that happens to me.

The best and most human parts of
me are those I have inhabited
and hidden from the world.
I will work on it.
I will raise my voice.
I will be heard.


And here is the link to PBS' American Masters : Elia Kazan
http://video.pbs.org/video/1947064818

I have something to say, so I choose to say it silently.

This summer I have been so happy and grateful to the Academy (as in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) for having Silent Movie Mondays. As a lover and creator of silent films it has been so refreshing to see large audiences coming out to see these screenings.

Most of my exposure, up until this summer, has been to Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, and a little bit of Harold Lloyd. But now I am so happy to add to my list Janet Gaynor, Douglas Fairbanks, Ronald Colman, Richard Barthelmess, and a handful of others. This summer's selection has been the Photoplay winners of the 1920s and like most awards winners - few, if any, are comedies. I love watching these dramatic 2 hour long films. I'll admit, after the films are done I feel quite drained. I'm assuming it's due to a few factors. One being that since it is a silent you can't take your focus off the screen for a moment or you'll miss something important, and the other because emotionally you are so connected to these actors and the story. You have to be in order to follow along.

So much is said and not a word heard. I love it. I'm in heaven. In this day in age where so many words are said at a mile and a half pace - and yet rarely is anything said or communicated it is amazing to see what happens when all your efforts to reach out and communicate have to be done in other forms.

For my own silent films I sometimes wonder if I'm leaning more towards cutesy/adorable/funny or if I am really trying to say something. I want to be. As an artist I think it is my duty to say something. Isn't that one of the main points of art? I want my films to say something about this world we live in. The society we let rule us. To cry out of my broken heart to see such a lazy world. And to celebrate those times when love reaches out beyond the safety of self and touches a friend or stranger.

But these are just words. I hope to make them fewer. Let my eyes and ears be bigger. And my films be louder - in heart.