"Love. You can know all the math in the 'Verse, but take a boat in the air you don't love, she'll shake you off just as sure as the turning of worlds. Love keeps her in the air when she oughta fall down, tells ya she's hurtin' 'fore she keens. Makes her home."
OK, stay with me on this one.
I know Mal's talking about his ship, Serenity, but I feel like it's echoing Joss Whedon's own sentiment on his career: "I don't make things people like, I never make things they like - I make things people love." And he says it without pomposity or braggishness - it's truly something he means. He's not creating worlds and people that we're supposed to just be entertained by, these characters move us, we love them, we come to think of them as family or close friends. I'll say it again: We Love Them. And we do, because Joss does. He LOVES his work.
If you're not doing something because you love it - if you're only doing it because you think you ought to or someone told you to or the money's good enough: then you're not doing it 100%. Obviously sometimes we have to think on these things as a matter of reality (money pays for rent, food, etc), but you have to love it, too, even in a small way.
I loved my characters in the shows I've played, and I love to act and to perform and to be another person. In Red Noses I may not have loved all of the actors I worked with, but I loved the family I had in the world of the show - I loved the world of the show itself. I loved the fun of Inspector General and it smarted when that love was not universal backstage.
Joss and Mal help me believe that as long as I love what I'm doing - I should keep doing it. I'm not just going to blanket mail every theatre in town begging them to hire me! For one thing, I 95% love my day job, so I'm not jeopardizing that. For another, I don't love every theatre I've been in in DC. I love Forum, I love dog&pony, I love Longacre Lea, I love Rorschach. Why? THEY LOVE THEIR WORK, TOO.
I base my interest on a Theatre by how much love they give.
I sound like a hippie. I'm alright with that.
"The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return." Should apply to work as well.
1 comment:
Oddly enough I watched that movie last night.
It's true, you have to love the things you do to really make it work, and to do the best work.
Post a Comment