2nd Emotion - "2E" / "Actors"

“Actor” (2nd Emotion) 

Although the owner of the 2nd Emotion is called an “actor,” it should be clarified that the film actor is primarily meant. Particular emphasis is placed on cinema because theatre, due to the significant distance between the viewer and the stage, even with a “realistic” (normative) transfer of feelings, requires some overkill, a boost of expression, i.e. 1st Emotions. It’s a different matter in cinema, where medium and close-ups not only allow, but require subtle, complex, normative psychological play - it is here, like nowhere else, that the talent of the 2nd Emotion can manifest itself, the main feature of which is a strict norm in the expression of experiences.

No matter in what tone the “actor” expresses his feelings, whether high or low, he will always be adequate to the situation, will always go from fact to emotion, and not vice versa, as a “romantic” usually does.

Previously, there was already an episode with an actress who had to film twenty takes in one day, and each time tears appeared in her eyes at the moment when necessary, and there were as many of them as needed. So, although in this case we were talking about a great actress, the ability of a constant adequate emotional reaction in itself is not a talent, but a natural property of the 2nd Emotion. I myself have more than once had the opportunity to watch with envy an “actor” when, at the funerals of people unfamiliar to him or even unlikable, he, not being a professional actor and even, on the contrary, a housewife, took on the role of a tuning fork of emotions and it was always great. Each moment of the sad ritual under his leadership was emotionally played out exactly in the measure and tone appropriate to the occasion.

The “actor” has impeccable command of the technique of emotional transformation. It is not his feelings that control him, but he his feelings. The artist Korovin, once backstage with Chaliapin during a performance of “Boris Godunov,” later said: “Chaliapin, standing next to me, talked to a ballet dancer: “Lord, if I weren’t married... You are so beautiful!” But it’s all the same, my dear..”

Then the director opened the door, and Chaliapin, instantly taking on the appearance of a doomed king, stepped through the door with the words: “Cheer, mind, child, I’m not your villain...”

There was tragedy in his voice.

I was surprised by his experience and this incredible self-confidence. He was amazing..."

Frankly, I am very familiar with the feeling experienced by Korovin at the sight of Chaliapin’s metamorphosis. Having worked in various theaters for a long time, I was never able to get used to the literally terrifying ability of big actors (“actors”) to change their feelings like gloves, transforming almost instantly and with impeccable accuracy.

A huge advantage of the 2nd Emotion is the constant desire to enrich your palette. All shades of emotional dynamics are played naturally and with full dedication by the “actor”: from piano-pianissimo (extremely quiet) to forte-fortissimo (extremely loud) - and this flexing of emotional muscles brings him nothing but pleasure.

For clarity, I will give an example from the field of a phenomenon so beloved by the masses as pop music. There are singers and groups who clearly gravitate towards a rather monotonous performance that is extreme in tone and character (Rolling Stones). Such performance, although the most catchy and passionate, soon becomes boring and causes belching due to monotony and emotional tyranny (1st Emotion). And there are other singers and groups who are fluent in the entire range of moods, at whose concerts killer rock and roll is easily replaced by soulful ballads (Elvis Presley, The Beatles). In this case, the singer enjoys not only the ability to shape the emotional structure of listeners, but also the opportunity to lead them from one state to another, demonstrating all the richness and diversity of his feelings, shared with the crowd. The ability to quickly change moods is valued here, at least no less than the power of influence. This is the 2nd Emotion.

What is, of course, common to all “actors”, both big and small, is the ability and desire to be the SOUL of any social formation: family, company, community, enterprise and even the state. In a broad sense, the 2nd Emotion is the director. By “director” I mean both the director himself and the speaker, lead singer, preacher, mourner, toastmaster... in a word, any person who shapes the emotional atmosphere of the sphere of gatherings, meetings, celebrations, both joyful and sad.

Which celebrations, joyful or sad, are preferable for the “actor” are determined not by Emotion, but by Physics (about which more later). But, of course, the unifying principle of all carriers of the >2nd Emotion lies in a burning, never-satiated appetite for all kinds of artistic and near-artistic products. The range here is enormous: from memorizing thousands of sacred texts to quite serious collecting of anecdotes, matches, and table jokes. A matter of taste and education. But the principle is the same: the desire and opportunity, thanks to the processing of artistic information, to be the soul of society.

I would like to emphasize the word “society” in the last phrase, because it is not enough for an “actor” to experience the whole gamut of human experiences. The 2nd Emotion, if the reader remembers, is processional, therefore an indispensable condition for the completeness of its implementation is the presence of a viewer (who, although not very competently, but more accurately, should be called an “empathizer”). This thirst of the “actor” to find an audience can be so passionate and irresistible that it leads to funny things. So, outlining the biography of the most cruel Roman emperor Caligula, the historian told the following episode. One day after midnight, Caligula “summoned three senators of consular rank to the palace, seated them on the stage, trembling in anticipation of the worst, and then suddenly ran out to them to the sounds of flutes and rattles, in a woman’s veil and tunic to the toes, danced a dance and left.” The state of the senators, raised from their beds and preparing to give up their lives, can be understood; One can also understand their bewilderment at the strange ending to the terrible night. But now, given that Caligula had a 2nd Emotion, let’s try to understand him too. He could not dance just for himself; the emperor’s thirst to share his invented dance with the audience was so great that he was unable to wait for the morning or a special occasion. An order followed, as a result of which the senators had more gray hair, and Caligula got rid of the painful feeling of the impossibility of fully realizing the best side of his nature.

The example with Caligula is such that one might get the impression that the “actor” is characterized by emotional dictatorship. But this is not true. If one of the senators had decided to dance together with the emperor and tried to express his state in the dance, Caligula’s subtle soul, I am sure, would have responded to the trembling of the senator’s heart; in the process of waltzing, they would come to some kind of emotional consensus, since the 2nd Emotion is characterized not only by strength and self-confidence, but also by a flexible, sensitive spirit of empathy.

However, jokes aside. The reality is that if an “actor” is not engaged in the sphere of serving the senses: religious, mystical, artistic, entertaining, society will place little value on his talent. The story of Emperor Caligula looks like a curiosity precisely because we are talking about an emperor; If it had been an opera prima donna in his place, who had gotten her manager out of bed to sing him a new aria, no one would have considered it a curiosity.

Human life is such a thing that Physics, Will, or, at worst, Logic are more valued in it, but not Emotion. Moreover, the owner of the 2nd Emotion sometimes has to feel disgust and even hostility towards himself in everyday life. This happens because the Second Function is the best side of human nature, and if it is rarely demanded by society, then a person, willy-nilly, turns out to be turned towards others by the rest, not to say bad, but not the best sides of himself. The 2nd Emotion has a particularly hard time: its ability to squander the treasures of its feelings is worth little in our routine existence, and the revival that the 2nd Emotion usually brings to the dry businesslike life is annoying or, at least, perceived as a matter of course. an obvious, low-value gift. But in vain. Even when the “actor” is lazy, weak-willed and weak-minded, he is a necessary element of existence, adding additional colors, not excluding the time of business and routine.

However, I was a little hasty with my clumsy attempts to protect the 2nd Emotion from outside attacks. She is quite capable of taking care of herself. Anyone who tried to present any bills to the “actor”, to interfere with his claims, usually very soon began to regret his idea. Because, minus the 2nd Logic, only the 2nd Emotion so masterfully masters the art of “shaving off”, “shave off”, “seal”, “bark”, etc. Language is a native, natural element for the 2nd Emotion, and woe to the one who chooses it as the battlefield with the “actor”. Precision of words, precision of expression is not a distant goal, but the normal state of an “actor,” regardless of cultural level.

And when Gogol, remembering the obscene nickname of one of the heroes of “Dead Souls” and comparing the Russian language with other European languages in this regard, wrote that “there is no word that would be so sweeping, smart, so bursting out from under the very heart, would seethe and vibrate so vividly, like an aptly spoken Russian word,” he did not flatter the Russian people at all, but only stated the predominance of the 2nd Emotion among them.

* * *

Returning to the problem of the relationship of Emotion to metaphor, it is necessary to note as a special sign that the 2nd Emotion does not really like it. Tolstoy spoke directly about his antipathy to metaphor. And this is understandable. Due to its inadequacy (any comparison is lame), metaphor cannot be held in high esteem by the “actor”. He does not feel any special need for it even when he is in a poetry workshop, although, as they say, metaphor is the bread of poetry. Therefore, from the pen of the 2nd Emotion sometimes come poems of that special kind that are called “anatropic” (literally, “without techniques”). Examples of such poetry can be found in Lermontov, Yesenin, Akhmatova.

The same thing happens in prose. The “actor” strives for the most accurate transfer of feelings and is ready for understatement of expression rather than hyperbolization. In order for the reader to visually imagine the standard prosaic expression of feelings in the 2nd Emotion, I will give an excerpt from the trilogy “Childhood. Adolescence. Youth.” Leo Tolstoy: “Some kind of new for me, extremely strong and pleasant feeling suddenly penetrated my soul... The busy chirping of the birds swarming in this bush, the blackish fence wet from the snow melting on it, and most importantly - this odorous damp air and the joyful sun spoke to me clearly, clearly about something new and beautiful, which, although I cannot convey the way it was expressed to me, I will try to convey it as I perceived it - everything spoke to me about beauty, happiness and virtue, said that both are easy and possible for me, that one cannot exist without the other, and even that beauty, happiness and virtue are one and the same." This is how, perhaps too verbose, not too clear, with apologies and digressions, but the 2nd Emotion tries to convey its experiences as accurately as possible.

In general, I call the literary activity of the 2nd Emotion, strong and processional, “akynical”. This home-grown neologism comes from “akyn” - the Kyrgyz-Kazakh title of folk singers. The canonical image of an akyn is a man riding across the steppe on his rough horse with a dombra in his hands and singing everything he sees from sunrise to sunset. Such an akyn, singing everything that came into view, seems to me to be an “actor” engaged in literature.

The akynic approach leaves a special imprint on both the form and content of the creativity of the 2nd Emotion. Firstly, she has a clear craving for a large form: a novel (Tolstoy, Dumas) or a poem (Byron) - and is generally distinguished by great artistic fertility (Lope de Vega).

Secondly, there is something specific in the content of the “actor’s” creativity. If, as we remember, the 1st Emotion is the picker of the “raisins of melodiousness,” then for the 2nd Emotion there are no boundaries and hierarchies in the transfer of states.

“If only you knew from what rubbish poems grow without shame, like a yellow dandelion on a fence, like burdocks and quinoa,” - Akhmatova wrote and in a private conversation, already in prose, she outlined her understanding of the tasks of poetry: “... poetry grows from such everyday sayings as “Would you like some tea?” You need to make poetry out of them.” Make poetry out of the phrase “Would you like some tea?” - this is what it means to be a classic akyn.