LIFE | PHILOSOPHY | FILM

Walk in Your Own Shoes: What Kind of Actor Are You?

There’s a time to deliver your lines without shame, guilt, or hesitation

You don’t have to be a lead actor all the time in life, is the philosophy of Yılmaz Erdoğan, a Turkish filmmaker, actor, poet, and a wise man.

His metaphor of life as a movie has many profound implications.

A movie has a screenwriter, director, post-production editor, script editor, continuity editor, casting director, producer, publicist, and actors of all kinds: those in the lead roles, supporting roles, no-talking parts…

It also has a set crew: the grips, gaffers, boom operators, stuntmen and women, caterers, animal trainers, makeup artists, security guards, etc.

It’s as complicated as life. Or, life is as complicated as a film set.

No wonder we get depressed from time to time.

Sometimes we feel like we are acting in a confusing movie that we didn’t write, don’t we?

What pays to remember is this: there is no one single movie in life. There are 8 billion people on earth, and 8 billion movies, with 8 billion scenarios.

We are watching our own movie and acting in it too while watching other people’s movies and acting in them as well.

Who is God then, the head screenwriter who writes 8 billion scenarios at the same time?

Or is he the Chief Continuity Editor in The Sky who makes sure that each morning we wake up to the same familiar movie, the one that we left off the night before?

Our existential neurosis is rooted in our compulsion to play the lead role in every movie.

What a crazy idea, isn’t it?

Where does that arrogance, that desire come from?

And how do we feel victimized by the director, the screenwriter, the producer, in short, by EVERYBODY, when we are delegated to a minor role in someone else’s movie!

But why should we play the lead role in someone else’s movie?

Aren’t people entitled to play the lead role in their own movies? Isn’t it why they are born? Why role-steal and jut our nose into scripts that were not written for us?

The obverse of that thought is this: what role are we playing in our own movie?

Are we directing it and are we in the lead role in the only movie that will ever count for us?

Erdoğan says as long as we don’t accept a supporting role in our own movie, it’s okay. I find that a profound thought arising out of a fertile metaphor.

Another metaphor that shimmers and floats into focus: contentment is a white lotus with roots planted in the deep muck of the world.

White lotuses are not only possible, they actually do exist. And so does contentment for the person who knows which film is his and which ones belong to the others.

The next time you feel sad and blue, neglected and pushed aside, given the cold shoulder by the world, remind yourself the movie you are in. Is it yours or someone else’s?

If it’s someone else’s, don’t worry. Whatever role you are given is probably the right role for that production. Life is too short to play the lead role in every single film shot on earth.

But if it’s your movie, claim your right to the lead role and step up to that “to be or not to be” moment.

To step forward as Hamlet in a castle that belongs to someone else and in a country that’s not Denmark will likely mark you as a fool, a nuisance, and a buffoon.

But if it’s your castle and your film, you have one precious chance to play the lead role that was specifically written for you. It’s your entry, your dialogue, your step forward, and your close shot. No need to feel ashamed, guilty, or hesitant about it.

The next time you feel you are slighted by someone, marshal your inner strength and wisdom to accept that you are only a guest actor in someone else’s film and all you need to do is hit your mark on the stage, say your piece, and then exit.

That’s all you need to do to live in peace in a film set that existed long before you were born and will continue to exist long after you are gone.

And if it’s your movie, kindly remind those fellow actors who are trying to steal your role that, sorry, this script is yours, the lighting is perfect for you, the camera is whirring for you, and they should wait for their turn after you finish saying your piece.

Live your film the way you should, with authority and courage, and let the world learn how to live theirs.

Are you a movie fan? Then you might want to have a look at my Movie Lover’s Journal that I created exclusively for movie lovers. Enjoy!