ON ACTING: Emotion and Language

The object of language is not--as many actor erroneously believe and portray in their performance--the simple release of emotion. Emotional release is a secondary bi-product of dialogue; emotion transfigured into the purposeful action of language is primary. Language is the encasement of emotion into the projectile of logic; it is a spoken bullet fueled by the gun powder of emotion by which we humans attempt penetrate the brains of other human beings to get them to see things our way. The purpose of language is to change others behavior if it is antithetical (measured by prior emotion) to our needs; or to encourage them to continue their behavior (measured by prior emotion) if it is beneficial to us.

Language is emotion's tactic; it the explosion of a gun triggered by purpose and fueled by the gun powder of emotion. In good acting, as in effective gun firing, the loud bang of emotion is not the primary purpose of the firing, but the corollary and revealed result. Emotion is both the source and the revealed bi-product of the targeted action of spoken language.