November 14, 2014

Viral video of men taking advantage of a woman...

... was made by taking advantage of men.

The woman was not befuddled — did you know the original meaning of "befuddled" is drunk? — but the men were befuddled — in the sense of confused. They were (apparently) invited to participate in a little film project, playing a role, not anticipating that it would be presented as documenting street harassment, in the manner of that woman-walking-for-10-hours viral video.

I blogged that walking-for-10-hours thing, but passed on that follow-on drunk-girl fakery. I knew it was fakery, because the acting was bad. It's not easy to act drunk. Here's some classic advice from an actor: "You don't play drunk—you try to act sober. People don't act drunk, people are drunk, and they try to act sober." Great advice, if you can figure out how to follow it. More here:
Only bad actors slur their words, stumble over the furniture and gasp after each swallow of fake hard stuff. Real-life drunks try to disguise their condition — and the best pretend-drunks follow suit.

Everyone has a different take on "playing drunk," says top Dallas theater director René Moreno. "Pacing your drunk acting is key. First drink equals feeling relaxed. Second drink equals mild euphoria. Third drink, hilarity ensues. Fourth, paranoia prevails. Fifth, sixth or more, anything from plain old meanness to self-hatred to weepy-weepy to suicidal. You want your actor to bring as much of his or her own experience to the work but not actually be drunk onstage, though I have had that experience. Yikes."

Trying hard not to seem wobbly is one of the secrets to looking plastered, say actors and directors. Former Dallas actress Julie Osburn studied with the great Uta Hagen, who originated the role of Martha in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? on Broadway. "Acting technique 101 is to consider the alcohol tolerance level of the character," Osburn says. "Martha's alcohol tolerance was higher than God's. To perform Martha, the slur might come in her last three lines, but never neglecting her consonants. Drunk acting means paying attention to the consonants."
You might be able to reverse-engineer that for the real-life goal of seeming sober when you really are drunk.  If you try to appear sober, that's what will out you as drunk. This makes me think of the old Yoda quote: "Do. Or do not. There is no try." Be drunk. Or be sober. There is no try.

18 comments:

traditionalguy said...

I am getting drunk drinking 100 proof Ann Althouse Mind this morning.

Henry said...

Mo Willems' Olive Hue Show Mutts teaches children how to talk drunk. It's a huge hit in our house.

Just scroll down.

RecChief said...

Jsut more propaganda in the war on men. I suppose they will claim it's fake but accurate.

chillblaine said...

The memebots running the 'men are pigs' program had to ask men to act like they would take advantage of the young women. Otherwise, they would have found that men would summon their chivalrous nature and ruin their project.

Freeman Hunt said...

I would call that defamation of those men.

roger said...

" described as a “social experiment” by creator Stephen Zhang, 20, "

Well there's your trouble right there. Twenty year olds do not create things. Let alone social experiments. please

madAsHell said...

She wasn't a very convincing drunk either. I'm guessing that she lives in a sorority, and she wants to make it big in Hollywood.

chillblaine said...

Interesting that the actress' last name is Box. After duly noting how marvelous are her natural endowments, I will then leave to lulz-low spazdick the relevant prurient observations.

I will instead quote one of my favorite sci-fi characters.

"I am more than machine. More than man. More than a fusion of the two. Don't you agree? Wait for the winds. Then my birds sing. And the deep grottos whisper my name. Box... Box... Box..."

FullMoon said...

Well, ask me why I'm drunk all the time
It levels my head and eases my mind
I just walk along and stroll and sing
I see better days and I do better things


n.n said...

Men... All men are evil. The generational feminists tried to dehumanize men before. I wonder if they will succeed to condemn half of the human population, with general claims of brutish character and behavior, without suffering any consequences.

Unknown said...

Leach's next project is a documentary about an aspiring young filmaker having the sh*t sued out of him

David said...

Actually the girl's drunk act was a pretty good representation of how a young drunk girl might act at a party where most everyone is drunk, but not in public with sober people. Probably she was just reflecting her own life experience.

Plus she was way too hot and well made up.

The Genius Savant said...

Counterpoint to this acting advice: Drunk Uncle on SNL.

CatherineM said...

I feel sorry for those guys.

Reminds me of that "What Would You Do?" Show on ABC where they fake a situation to see how the public reacts.

This is the drunk girl episode.

http://youtu.be/6QcLs98NeJY

RMc said...

Logan's Run reference FTW!

eddie willers said...

So I'm watching one of the early Dean Martin Roasts.

Next up on the dais, a stately, bearded Vice-President of NBC.

Wait...did I just hear a little slip-up?

Err...this man might have had a drink before getting up.

Oh NO!....I think he really IS drunk.

Good Lord....he is SLOPPY drunk!

Hushed off stage.




Much later I find out that the name of this "Vice-President" was Foster Brooks. And he had me all the way. (only works in that way once, of course)

n.n said...

It's so regressive to be reduced to a penis.

Jeff Hall said...

So, it was a feminist version of Innocence of Muslims