Prompt 1 Response
"The hallmarks of childishness, manifest here as obliviousness to one's audience and a mechanical adherence to formal modes of address, become most visible in a setting of contrasts" (Witmore 97).
This quote stood out to me as being of particular relevance
to the action of this video. While my first response was facetiously that the
dog showed the greatest obliviousness to their audience, evaluation beyond the
droll led me to examine the earnestness with which the child actress playing
Annie continued her role. Clearly someone instilled in her, “the show must go
on!” She has a sort of juvenile
obliviousness to the audience-wide acceptance of doggie absurdity,
however, that makes her face seem one slightly clouded by confusion at a crowd
drunk of schadenfreude.
It is easy to say that the girl is in on the joke, but her
commitment to her “big role” leads her to stick to the script as cannon, even
if that means pleading for a dog that has moseyed off the stage as if it were
sitting calmly at her feet. In a
different context, an older actor might make a snide comment, something to
provide a little wink to the audience that, yes, perhaps an untrained dog was a
bad idea. From a child, however, such a wink would be quite precocious and
possibly annoying.
Witmore mentions the presumed innocence/immaturity of child
actors, and I believe that is also relevant to the clip, as the super imposed
comments say “watch her stick it out!” and as the crowd erupts in supportive
laughter when Annie grabs a hunk of the dogs fur to keep him stationary as she
sings her finale. In situations like this, we want the child to be at a loss,
we want to see her not understand that she doesn’t have to take it this seriously.
People complain when child actors seem too trained and overly coached. It seems
to me that through these kind of semiotic excesses we are able to transfer
ourselves into the immaturity of childhood without having to specifically
relive our own personal histories.
- Dorothy
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