froghorseAug 16, 2023

Do actors who play evil roles become evil IRL?

https://lemm.ee/post/4442596

Do actors who play evil roles become evil IRL? - lemm.ee

If you play an evil character, it’s gotta stick a little. And if you’re a character-actor who always gets the evil role. If you play 100 evil guys. Then 100X moreso. You get into the evil role. See the world through evil eyes and evil motivations. And over time, It’s gotta bend your personality towards real evilness. Right? I suppose you could google evil-character-actors. 20 years later, how many got arrested for something heinous. What do you think?

Show threadOverfedRaccoon 🦝
I would say no. The point of acting is to slip into a role and sell a part - ideally, believably. That’s what makes a great actor.
Aug 16, 2023 at 2:08pmWeb
Show threadfroghorseAug 16, 2023
Well how about for normal people who aren’t “a great actor”? Does playing evil make them evil?
Show threadOverfedRaccoon 🦝Aug 16, 2023
I guess I’m struggling to fully understand the logic of “playing pretend” making you the thing you’re pretending to be. I know the saying is “fake it til you make it,” but unless you want to become evil, pretending to be evil doesn’t inherently turn you that way. It can, I guess, give you an understanding of the mindset of someone that might do evil things, but unless that mindset is something you desire (already in you), “normal people” won’t become evil. You would need to already be a psychopath, lack empathy, etc, etc. That’s not something you “learn.”
Show threadfroghorseAug 16, 2023

You watch a movie with a scary horse and feel a bit scared. Later you visit a farm and see a horse and feel a bit leery. You react that way because of the movie. You see how it works.

And you could say that an evil person is somebody with evil reactions. Reactions of behavior and thinking.