I saw <a href="http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xPAat-T1uhE">this interview</a> a while back and found myself engaged in thoughts about the communication ethic employed when embodying the identity of an 'Other'-such as seen when male actors use 'blackface' or portray female characters.
Any thoughts?
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I think that this is a really neat perspective on embodying the other. What makes this so interesting to me is that Dustin Hoffman admits that when he asked the make up people to make him a more beautiful woman, he went home and cried because they said that’s all you got. If I was put in the same position, I don’t think I would have cried if they told me that they couldn’t make me into a more beautiful woman because I don’t want to be a woman. I want to be a man. It seems like Hoffman took the idea of embodying the other and was able to really apply it and came back to talk about it from a male perspective. He said something like there are so many interesting women that he did not meet because they were not attractive enough.
ReplyDeleteTo me, this is a very powerful statement because a man is saying it and actually knows what that means. Sure, guys can go around saying the exact same statement but I don’t think until a guy goes through the same type of experience like Hoffman did when he said make me beautiful I don’t think guys can fully understand it. But watching this clip brought it to my attention so I can now look for opportunities to have the same type of experience. I also think that this is a demonstration on how hard it is to really understand the other. You can listen to conversation and dialogue but that will only get you so far in understanding the other.