Trust In Logic

TRUST IN LOGIC

There is a scene in Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins

Batman is training with his sensei on a frozen lake high up in the mountains

His sensei taunts him

Even brings up Batman’s father

Uh oh

Batman’s fear transforms into uncontrollable anger

He is blinded by his emotions

Batman lunges

And for a moment 

It looks like Batman has the upper hand

But 

Just when he thinks he’s been successful

His sensei makes him aware that he has sacrificed sure footing for the lure of success 

The sensei simply taps the ice beneath Batman’s feet

And Batman plunges into the freezing lake below

Beautiful 

We cut to the next scene

Batman is sitting beside a fire

Furiously rubbing his arms

He is freezing

His sensei looks at him and calmly says

Rub your chest, your arms will take care of themselves

I repeat

Rub your chest… your arms will take care of themselves 

I have thought about this line an enormous amount in the past 12 months 

Why?

Well

In almost every acting class I have ever been in

Someone in the class

Sacrifices sure footing for the lure of success

By that, I mean

An actor will start pushing for an emotional result

It’s something all actors have seen 

And damn sure have experienced 

When there is a strong expectation of a particular result 

(In other words - A strong should)

I should cry

I should shout

I shout laugh

The instinct can be to cling on to it for dear life when we realise we might not meet that expectation 

What is important to note here is that…

Pushing for an emotion is a lose lose situation

The fighting to control means we can bully our bodies or other actors into fitting a particular mould 

Resulting in tension

Squeezing every facial muscle to try get that one tear to roll down the cheek 

And

The audience recoils as their mirror neurones ignite and they feel the dreaded tension in their own bodies

There is no win 

So 

What can we do?

What can we focus on that will the allow the result to take care of itself 

Logic 

Trust in logic

Let emotions take care of themselves

You are far better off letting go of all emotional expectations and just focussing on logic

Then pushing for what you think the right version of the scene is.

Like in any game

If we want to play well

At some point we have to accept chaos 

We have to trust ourselves that we have enough structure to fly 

And then simply fall.

Trust in ones ability to handle chaos 

Is a muscle 

It can be built

Give it time

Give it kindness

It will be worth it

So

When in doubt

Rub your chest, your arms will take care of themselves 

I mean…

Trust in logic, your emotions will take care of themselves 

Hope this helps

X 

Sheasby 

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