Body Language: Acting, Rhetorical Gesture, and Dance in Historical Perspective

3 units

Why do actors in silent films seem to gesticulate so wildly? Who could have ever thought that was realistic? Would time-travelers from the future think actors in our day appear just as ridiculous? If you've ever thought that thought, then you've stumbled onto the fact that-despite its claims to represent the reality of its audience's experiences with the verisimilitude of the actor's body in the here and now-acting is a historical practice. Moreover, it is a culturally-variable practice, with claims to represent the real that are both symbolic and mimetic, and usually both at once. In this course, we will trace the history of acting in five thematic units: rhetorical gestures; representing the collective; festive formations; signs, codes, and animated hieroglyphs; and approaching the real. From the ancient Greeks to digital avatars, we will study how bodies in motion create meanings for their audiences in different cultures and across time. Through kinesthetic, emotional, psychological, and visceral appeals, actors not only represent their audiences as they think they are, but also offer to transform them into whom they think they could be. This course fulfills the historical practice requirement in the Drama major/minor.