Keepin It Random

keepin’ it random

more vienna sightseeing, though formidably cut short by ways of having to keep my eyes on my behemoth of a bike....

found an old memory card...

when cycling through non-stop rain for hours you cannot help but feel like this from time to time

   So here’s something everyone’s sure they did not ask for. I apologise for seizing a photo blog for this and everyone’s entitled to not do any reading or thinking on my behalf. But I'm often having these really weird thoughts and for a while I even had this other blog that no one ever read, ever. So be forewarned that this might not be for anyone... Here goes: Crude ideas relating to donald drumpf and his likes kneaded into sth even cruder. The tone is very conversational. I hope to no large distress.

I started watching Orphan Black and it’s full of scenes of characters playing other characters. Be it a clone impersonating another or even full frontal participating in a staging of some sort. Fully aware that this is by no means the first show to do sth like this it nevertheless got me thinking about impersonating. What might it require, include, entail, etc. And here a hypothesis comes in handy, namely that Drumpf is playing a role, obviously, as politicians often do. You need only look at Hillary to witness how some politicians fail at doing that. Her campaign, to me, often reeks of the ploys to make her seem as someone ‘authentic’ or close to a certain demographic. Let’s just call all of these hot sauce incidents. Her continuous talent to seem out of place, on the other hand, communicates a certain authenticity to me.

As always when confronted with the big stage, I turn to my “Gewährsmann” (to unnecessarily use a somewhat tainted German word for source of information) Stanislawski. Not to confuse anyone with long citations and to make my point a thoroughly vulnerable one, I shall paraphrase. He goes on at great lengths about what separates the ‘real’ from ‘common’, how an actor has to confront the ‘as if’ situations and, instead, really be in the moment. His nemesis is playing roles in an ‘as if’ manner. Playing suffering to impersonate someone that is suffering. Playing pleading for the sake of impersonating someone that is pleading. You get the picture?! In other words, their motivation to act out a certain thing is that it is written in the stage directions. This can be perfectly exemplified by Orphan Black and is a reason to congratulate Tatiana Maslany on her acting chops. Of course, she admits in interviews that certain mannerisms bleed over between clones, but they are distinct. And there is a near perfect opposition between the amateurism of one of the clones on stage in a musical, on one side, and the clones impersonating each other, on the other. Because the clones know, to a certain extend how they feel, because, as Stansislawski implores us you should, they feel it themselves, instead of just playing a role of someone in that situation. Make sense? You could go on at great lengths about this (and someone should, maybe.) How different scenes yield different ‘authenticities’ according to this Stanislawski driven hypthesis. (Use “Ralf Schneider: Grundriß zur kognitiven Theorie der Figurenrezeption am Beispiel des viktorianischen Romans.” as further insight, that’s your term paper right there...)

I hope, at this point, a pattern emerges. Or a question? Even I'm not sure. Well, lets put something more in the mix, still. Consider Steven Colbert’s ingenious pieces on truthiness and, more recently, trumpiness. Mix in John Oliver’s latest video on how the republicans under Drumpf have hijacked the realm of feelings. Actually, if you are indeed reading this (my heartfelt thanks and condolences), take a pause and treat yourself to those. Back? Thanks ;-) 

Could this contain a clue as to the presumed authenticity that Drumpf is supposed to communicate even though he is ... well, more in the spectrum of what the Americans like to call pants of fire? Or what does it tell us that this is perceived as ‘authentic’? Where is the disconnect? The prerequisite? Maybe the only takeaway from this is more bemoaning of what Colin Crouch has dubbed the Post-Democracy. Eventifying (I apologise if that’s not a word) has lead us to this present. All surface, no underneath... Or, maybe, I just shouldn't treat politicians as actors...

Aggravated by this? Calm your a**. ;-)

Now, feel free to tear apart or ignore....

Melk an der Donau