Real performers, people who have studied an art and have lived by the art, know that the hardest part of being on a stage is satisfying the audience. Everyone wants to please the audience, and, thus begins the devaluation of the beauty and the authenticity of the performance.
What I am not saying is that because she wants to please her audience, the performer is flawed in any way. A performer needs an audience, by definition of being someone who performs. What I am saying is that, because being a performer requires an audience, the performer is at the hands of what the audience needs rather than what the performer needs to be happy with her art.
What modern society has done is it has amplified the performer-audience dynamic. The performer-audience dynamic today comes from a fast-food "stage" of instant entertainment, thanks to our every growing advances to technology. This sabotages the arts more than it contributes to the happiness that should come from a true performer who loves sharing his/her art.
The mental health of a performer today is sabotaged because there is a new pressure to maintain a status quo.Today's fast-food "theaters" suggests that the key to being a true, successful performer, is to be relatable or funny. Sure, these things are satisfying, but it does not reach an intellectual level. It does not show the part of performance that is central to a meaningful message brought about through mastery of an art form.
Sometimes what the performer wishes to do cannot not satisfy anyone, even though it contributes to the performer's love of the arts. I leave you with a few underlying questions:
1. What happens when the performer produces material solely based on what would attract an audience? Is the performer mastering an art form?
2.What happens when a performer no longer lives by the art because it has become watered-down to fit the needs of an audience?
3. Does the performer always choose what makes him/her happy?
I leave you to ponder a real psychological issue. One that, in the art world, is hidden in plain sight.
