Mother Night is replete with characters who, at one time or another, pretend to be someone else. Campbell pretends to be a Nazi and then, later, in New York City, when his downstairs neighbor confronts him about his identity, he pretends not to have been one. The Russian agent, Iona Potapov, pretends to be “George Kraft” when he befriends Campbell. Resi, agreeing to work as a spy for the Russians, pretends to be Helga, and then, after Wirtanen reveals the Russian plot to Campbell, she says she was only pretending to go along with the Russians. And, finally, Harold J. Sparrow, assumes the alias of “Frank Wirtanen,” when he works as a spy.
The many complex layers of deceit at work here may seem possible only in a world of fantasy. Yet on a much more prosaic level, such
playacting is a part of our everyday life. People often pretend to be someone they are not or pretend to feel something they don’t. Sometimes our motives are admirable, sometimes they are not. For example, we may pretend to be interested in something someone says (even though, in truth, we find it unutterably boring) because we don’t want to hurt their feelings. Or we may do it because we want them to do something for us (give us a good grade, lend us money, etc.).
Should we be troubled by this kind of commonplace deception? Should we avoid fakery, strive to show our true selves and “keep it real”? Or
should we admire the self-control exercised by those who are able to put on their game face even when they are not “feeling it,” show courage when they feel fear, and smile though their heart may be breaking?
The scene below is the from the 1936 film,
Modern Times, starring
Charlie Chaplin. The theme music, written by Chaplin, provided the melody for the popular song, "
Smile (Though Your Heart is Aching)."
To be honest, I don't think there is a straight answer to the question. As humans, I believe we all learn how to put on a "mask". There are times where we feel that our true feelings shouldn't be seen by others, and that isn't necessarily a bad thing. It could even be healthy in some circumstances. For instance, imagine a mother who has young kids and has a terminal illness. She's in the hospital and knows she probably doesn't have much time left. More than likely, she will put on a brave face for her children because she doesn't want them to see her depressed or upset during the last part of her life. That's an extreme example, but I think I made the point. Everyone is guilty of faking interest, happiness, or even sadness at times in their life. Emotion is just that way. We don't always feel the way others expect us to feel.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, people who fake emotion to deceive others should cause us to be troubled. That kind of behavior is destructive towards others, obviously. There are also the people who constantly fake their emotion, which in my opinion is unhealthy. It is ok to show your true feelings to others. Certain situations may call to mask them, but it definitely shouldn't be every day.
I think I pretty much agree with everything Torie said. If we humans didn't have our ability to hide our real emotions and show what we wanted people to see, our society would be completely different. If everybody were to always tell everyone exactly what we think, we would all be screaming bi-polar messes. But if we were to never tell anyone anything, we would all have amazing poker faces.
ReplyDeleteThe key thing is that our ability to "fake it" works because we've found a happy medium.