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Emotional memory in acting
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Emotional memory in acting is an element of the Stanislavski System and of Method Acting, two related approaches to acting. Emotional memory requires the actor to call on the memories he or she felt when they were in a situation similar (or more recently a situation with similar emotional import) to that of their character. Stanislavski believed an actor needed to take emotion and personality to the stage and call upon it when playing their character and believed that emotional memory was one way to do it. He also believed in objectives, the physical body's effect on emotions and sympathy with the character.
Emotional memory is also known as "sense memory", "affective memory" and "emotional recall", and is a the basis for Lee Strasberg's Method Acting. "Sense memory" can also be used to refer to the recall of physical sensations (instead of emotions) or as an umbrella term for both types of memory. Many modern actors and actresses, however, believe that emotional recall is not authentic "acting". The argument is that the actor is meant to be pretending to experience the character's emotions, and not actually doing so. However, the general consensus is that proper acting is a combination of many techniques, and that no actor should be restricted to one way of performing. This drama technique is commonly studied at British G.C.S.E. Level.