The Neutral Mask

The ghost in the machine also has considerable appeal. People don’t like to think of themselves as heaps of glorified clockwork. Machines, we like to think, are insensate and have some workaday purpose, like grinding corn or sharpening pencils. Humans, in contrast, are sentient, and have some higher purpose, such as love, worship, and the pursuit of knowledge and beauty. Machines follow the ineluctable laws of physics, whereas behavior is freely chosen. With choice comes optimism about possibilities for the future, and with choice comes responsibility, the power to hold others accountable for their actions. Finally, if, as Descartes said, the mind is entirely separate from the body, that holds out the hope that the mind can survive the death of the body (Pinker 2-3).

As an acting student I am constantly teetering on the balance of mind and body. It isn’t uncommon to use phrases like, “I was in my head” or “I wasn’t in my body”, as a way to criticize my work, as well as my peers’. This past semester we had an acting instructor in London who called us very “psychological” actors. Our focus on the neutral mask was thus the perfect way to combat our psychological tendencies. The neutral mask is very much the blank slate. By putting on this mask you become a neutral being, much like a baby who is experiencing everything for the first time. Therefore, the mind does not dominate the experience that one has in neutral mask; rather the body becomes the conduit for experience. The hope is that when the neutral mask is faced with, let’s say a mountain, it not only sees and observes it for the first time, but the mountain begins to manifest itself in the body. The neutral mask becomes the mountain.

I became very drawn to this way of working as an actor, and am lucky to be continuing this work back in Minnesota!

So what does this say about my beliefs? I guess I am incredibly interested in human nature. Although my knowledge of science is little, I understand its undeniable presence in the arts. After all, science and art are all about creation and destruction. Science and art evolve and change over time; they challenge past ideologies and encourage a progressive look at the present and future. Good science and good art seek out the big truths, which is why the works of William Shakespeare still continue to be read, studied, and performed today.

“The mask is a man made object, yet it inspires fear and exaltation as though it were beyond mortal touch. It is presence and absence. It is death and life.” –Bari Rolfe, Behind the Mask