Actors Should Remember Their Jobs

Contributing to the Chaos while Living – Life – Large Dan Abernathy February 21, 2020 Within this thunderstorm of current governmental affairs we are in, the airwaves are seemingly overflowing in a debauchery of shameless bantering and echoing, “he said - she said.” This static white noise is becoming deafening and overpowering to my tinnitus. Out of self-preservation, I have chosen to ignore, abandon, give up and turn my back to all the pointless and absurd political rhetoric that is destroying our beloved nation. So, when the masses tuned in with some type of hate-monger attitude, or possibly just to sit quietly in bewilderment and watch the State of the Union Speech, I found rebellious comfort and relief by tuning into Zombieland 2: Double Tap, to watch Woody Harrelson attempt to eradicate zombies. I am not a huge fan of zombie movies but this one, in its morbid ways, was humorous and did just what it was supposed to do. This movie entertained me with no residue of disgust hovering over my evening on the couch with popcorn and friends. Though Zombieland 2, was not the type of movie I generally choose to find entertainment in, in its ridiculous, bloody and grotesque way, it delivered my thought and mind, well…, to nothing. As millions watched a speech that I’m sure was filled with the same bile the zombies were coughing up, I laughed at the senseless stupidity with reckless abandonment. As I am in this diatribe around the fringes of television viewing, I will reveal some honesty with discussing television. I will escape the “Cool Way” of proclaiming that I’m to intellectual to watch television and declare that I do. I, like most who say they haven’t, have been watching TV all my life. I no longer can force myself to adjust the knob to find CNN, FOX, ABC, CBS or NBC, I doubt that I will ever not find some time to be involved with the entertainment released from the little flat screen. I rarely forfeit my viewing time to the new shows being brought forth and released. I will freely admit to being hopelessly addicted to Law and Order, but most of the new programing does not resonate to highly with me. I can understand that it may be deemed trendy by other sources, does not so much for myself. When it comes to television viewing, I have given myself freely to living within the world of reruns. These shows, from another time, were filled with acting and often an underlying meaning that pointed to a way we should be, or at least try to be. These shows from the past, light up the room and project a feeling of good without pushing an ultimatum to how to be trendy. I venture in to the land of black & white reruns, where actors acted and didn’t need a costar of special effects. They offer me an escape as I empty my mind from, “what is,” for a brief moment of escape and getaway. Television, movies, actors and acting are supposed to be about entertainment. The mission of television and movies are to entertain. The job of an actor is to act and entertain, as they create a passageway for their audiences to escape reality for thirty minutes or perhaps even two hours and ten minutes. Combining the two together should become the vehicle to escape and forget this troubled world that we are living in. Because of our fickle society, celebrities of all venues have become the heroes and because so, they have become a voice to the people. Though I agree with Joaquin Phoenix’s massage about compassion, when he accepted his Oscar, I really could care less if he has taken a stand and doesn’t put cows milk on his Wheaties. Robert De Niro bashes the current administration as if he acting his part in, “The Irishman.” Meryl Streep, Roseanne Barr and Cher, bashing or indorsing someone in the political arenas means nothing. Actors and actresses should not use their names to sway a vote and endorse political parties. Politics and religion should not be talked about in a bar, on a beach or at Universal Studios. Actors and actresses should remember that they have made their millions by acting in a false perspective of life. Why should we think their words carry more weight then it truly does? I strongly believe everyone’s voice matters, but we all should pause a brief moment before we speak. An actor’s job is to act, so they should continue to act and by all means, “Act Right.” - dbA