#authenticity and performance

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Your beats make me sick

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[cosmocove]

all you ever need is to be nice and friendly

[anghraine]

One of the weirder parts of being formally tested for autism as an adult—apart from the hellscape of hours of math hell—was that they kept asking me for my conclusions or opinions about things I had very little knowledge of. These weren't basic facts you'd expect someone to pick up in the course of a standard US education, and I kept repeating that I would have to do actual research to form opinions on subjects I had no significant information about.

Obviously, "not opinionated" isn't a major problem for me when I do have a reasonable amount of information, but my eventual diagnosis specifically mentioned that I kept repeating that I would have to do more research to acquire the necessary baseline of data for forming opinions on [whatever], and that the phrasing of my various refusals tended to be identical or very similar (I didn't see any need to alter my wording when I was simply repeating the same position over and over).

*cough*

Anyway this is also about Star Trek. (Surprise.) I knew Spock would be relatable before we started the grand TOS watch, but did not expect him to be the most relatable character on television ever, and his continual refusals to deliver opinions without enough data for informed theories was actually a big part of this.

[starleska]

so those of us who've been writing for and discussing the Toymaker have found it a little tricky at times to discern the Toymaker's characteristics, given how often he changes up his accent, appearance, and temperament!! so, we developed a very silly solution 🙈💖 what's more fun that arbitrary categorisation? these are the different 'facets' of the Toymaker we've noticed - or rather, the characters he plays - and the shorthand names we use for him!! each name corresponds to a particular presentation of the Toymaker, largely tied to changes in voice, appearance and personality. there are moments where these distinct characters bleed into one another! we have:

1920s German Toymaker: the playful, teasing, pseudo-German speaking Toymaker who sells Charles Bannerjee Stooky Bill, and who menacingly juggles at the Doctor and Donna. this is the Toymaker at his personal best: fully invested in his character and thriving in a toy-themed performance. 🧸

French Cabaret Toymaker: the charming, lipsticked, French-accented dancer who accosts the Doctor on the street and sways amid the mayhem of The Giggle. this is a Toymaker who revels in chaos and destruction, and who is equal parts stunning and disquieting 🕺

Marionettist Toymaker: the frightening and severe puppeteer who grows to an impossible size, pulls marionette-Charles' strings and speaks in rhyme. this Toymaker feels the most similar to the original Celestial Toymaker played by Michael Gough! although superficially similar to other Toymakers, his hair is noticeably different and his demeanour is far more sinister 🧵

Showman Toymaker: the volatile ringmaster whose emotions shift on a dime, and who seems equally torn between performance, play, and injustice. this Toymaker is marked in contrast to Marionettist and 1920s German due to the occasional appearance of his American accent, and the apparent sincerity with which he delivers his show for Donna. 🎪

British Card Dealer Toymaker: the cool, calculating cardician whose respect for the game overshadows any desire for drama. much like with Showman, little glimpses of the Toymaker's other characters peek out here, but this Toymaker has a marked seriousness about him that's only knocked by his excitement upon gaining an advantage or winning. 👑

Band Leader Toymaker: the impossible menace with a distinctly feral energy. this Toymaker is a sadist: causing wanton pain, destruction and murder and loving every moment of it. Spice Up Your Life indeed 🌹

WWI Pilot Toymaker: the furious child who refuses to lose. this Toymaker is one who has grown frustrated with those around him who won't play his games, and these frustrations make him unable to maintain his previous playful persona: instead, we see lashings of anger coupled with violence, and the notable sadism of Band Leader 👨‍✈️

(Bonus) Flat Toymaker: the loser, and the lost little boy. i will admit, this was originally because i wanted an even set 😂💖 however, there's an intriguing moment of vulnerability from the Toymaker here, when he begs the Doctor for mercy. for a moment, we get a look into that 'vastness that will never cease' beneath all of the Toymaker's pomp and frills, and we see how truly frightened he is 🎁

[trashy-greyjoy]

i think there's something interesting that can be said about carmy spending a good portion of one of his first actual dates with claire pretending to be a different person.

[ravenkings]

see this is why i think the importance of perceived "relatability" in politics is kind of a canard. generally speaking, i don't think people want to see themselves reflected as they are in their politicians, particularly if they are unhappy with themselves as they are (which, let's be honest, is most of the population.)

i think many people want to see their politicians and leaders as people they aspire to be more like and who have qualities and lives that they want to emulate. like...look at FDR, JFK, (or even reagan 🤮). NONE of those men had upbringings and/or lives that were REMOTELY relatable to ~the average working class american~ (whatever that even means....) FDR was about as close to literal hereditary aristocracy as we've ever had in this country, JFK was well...JFK, and reagan was a movie star before getting into politics, and yet they were all BELOVED by vast (though extremely diverse and definitely not always overlapping) swaths of the population

i'm not praising trump or criticizing walz here as i think the usa is in an EXTREMELY BAD WAY if whatever trump represents is seen as aspirational, but i think we, as people left of center, need to stop thinking about our potential leaders and standard bearers in terms of "who is most relatable to the ~average american~" bc a) you will never find that person bc they don't exist and b) people don't actually care about "relatability" as much as you might think since at the end of the day, any performance of "relatability" is still a performance, and people can sense that.

[wwillywonka]

IT MUST BE BELIEVED TO BE SEEN

↳ alex jennings as WILLY WONKA in CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY; west end, 2015

[andoutofharm]

fame < infamy (live debut)

[fashionlandscapeblog]

People in general as well as psychologists/psychoanalists have been speaking about performance since way before social media, but admittedly the latter has blown this particular subject out of proportion.

We live in the internet era and if you have an online presence on any social media platform as a means to express yourself or share what you love, the fact that you will curate and edit is an obvious consequence that shouldn't be overly scrutinized nor demonized. It's not that deep. And it's not always that bad either, depending on the extent you do it, since even an artist will not choose the most mundane, everyday image to paint and show to the world.

Of course, if you are faking everything, then it's a different story, but this post is evidently not about that type of person. Who online is one to tell you that you are 'performing' or are being inauthentic without knowing you at all? Being authentic is also not an absolute value, as nothing is static and we are all constantly changing.

Secondly, it's absolutely natural to care about how you are perceived, it's ingrained in our DNA as social creatures, unless you have an antisocial personality disorder, where you absolutely lack that feature. The same goes for external validation: there's nothing wrong with it, it just depends to what extent you are neglecting yourself in order to please people. That's where most of us go wrong.

While I agree that in general people need to be more spontaneous and let go, care less about coming off as 'cringe' (please don't make being 'cringe' yet another trend, because otherwise you are still missing the point), I think that there is nothing unnatural about fear and feelings of unease of how we are being perceived. No need to be so scrutinous about it nor to beat yourself up for it.

Personally, I've written so many things online that I felt I needed to say that it has gained me bullying, cost me even friendships and many followers. A couple of people have accused me of being a bitter person, because of my political and critical posts.

If you have never felt embarassed nor never ache for what you posted online, then you are most probably performing. Being yourself takes you to a painful path of rejection, but most of all loneliness. In Spanish we say 'no one is a gold coin', so if everyone likes you.....

The truth is that we are all spending too much time online and it isn't healthy.

[m0e-ru]

hi whatever. p4 drama cd adachi supercut. no it's not translated no it doesnt include "You'll understand when you get older", but it's all in the video description anyway. I genuinely like how they depicted adachi here, maybe because of the fact they didnt visualize him at all and im left to think about it on my own and not get bombarded with the very interesting visuals p4 has had to offer throughout the years. but otherwise i really appreciate the characterization here

anyone who wants to see the rest of the drama CDs documented you can look here I suppose

[journey-to-the-attic]

Hi, in the Actor AU:

I just had to imagine Zhao getting dragged on screen again because they're either doing a sequel or an alternate universe episode. So he's just suddenly stuck with having to act as if he and Lucifer are slowly falling in love or there could be something (feelings) happening.

For example they're doing an It Takes Two special and Lucifer is a bit too interested in her father.

Or for maybe only a single episode after the end of JTTA when Lucifer and Lisa first meet.

IK just has to suffer through seeing people pine for her father on screen. XD (Or for the possible relationship to be implied.)

pfft the director's like "okay now look into each other's eyes for a little too long? longer. bit closer together this time. zhao we need you more vulnerable-- yess perfect. now let's get an angle of lucifer's face, jenny could you put a bit of a blush on him-" and ik's on the sidelines in abject distress going "no god this is awful why did i ever take this job"

satan makes an ig post like "just read the script for the next episode" and it's a selfie of him giving the camera a thumbs up with ik sitting with her head in her hands in the background

[qpjianghu]

Feng Biyu's character introduction in Under the Microscope (2023)

(step on me step on me STEP ON ME STEP ON ME!!)

[marsixm]

ik ive already complained about this recently but its seriously bugging me how ppl are championing artificial embarrassing/cringey/imperfect behavior as the antidote to irony poisoning- dont get me wrong i, first of all, do think we should do away with irony poisoning and the idea that everyone should be too embarrassed to try anything due to cringe culture, but i also reject the notion that performances of authenticity ARE authenticity. it's not even that im rejecting them on their artistic merit it's just bothering me that people can't or won't differentiate between artifice and authenticity. of course people can have an artifice for more than just cool ironic detachment? hello???

[kingdomvel]

The fact that some people don't like how Djo performs is crazy to me like, this? amazing, love it, I've watched videos of this performance a hundred times

[weneedatdcharacterwho]

We need total drama characters whose whole plot is basically just shakespeare’s ”twelfth night” play.

.

[pynkhues]

They love each other SO!! MUCH!! But also the fact that in the next scene Florence takes credit for it and performs it as a showcase of wealth in front of both Levi and Lestat when the narrative framing is so clear that Louis did it not as a performance but as an act of love and care for his sister eats me up.