but I did feel some of what you felt, I think when I went to Baltimore for the first time and saw the Waterfront and the Broadway Pier shut down, boarded up, and empty, no longer the vibrant, active places they were when Homicide was filming.
Yes, exactly! It's a weird feeling ... it is a sort of cognitive dissonance; seeing that makes you feel like it's over, but in your head it's never over; when you're not there looking at it, it's easy for the Pier to be thriving and vibrant in your head, but when you see that it isn't, you're made to acknowledge that it is just in your head. If that makes any sort of sense - gah, talk about convoluted!
As for ageing ... I might have a mental image of Ray Kowalski, or Ray Doyle, ageing - but that's okay because the ageing need never be permanent. Ray can be 50 and living in Canada with Fraser one minute, and 18 and about to marry Stella the next; he's not bound by the inevitable progression of time. But that's not the case for the actor ... again, it's not so much that I mind the thought of the character ageing as it is that seeing the actor, seeing how he's different from the character in my head, or from how he was, brings home the fact that it's not real. And while I don't actually think Ray K and Ray D are "real" the way CKR and MS are, they have a different, and incredibly important, kind of reality for me... an illusion of reality that's easier to maintain (for me) when I'm not faced with real reality.
Oh, now I'm babbling! It seems so clear to me, but it's so difficult to articulate effectively. But anyway, I'm so glad you enjoyed the post ...
Yes, exactly! It's a weird feeling ... it is a sort of cognitive dissonance; seeing that makes you feel like it's over, but in your head it's never over; when you're not there looking at it, it's easy for the Pier to be thriving and vibrant in your head, but when you see that it isn't, you're made to acknowledge that it is just in your head. If that makes any sort of sense - gah, talk about convoluted!
As for ageing ... I might have a mental image of Ray Kowalski, or Ray Doyle, ageing - but that's okay because the ageing need never be permanent. Ray can be 50 and living in Canada with Fraser one minute, and 18 and about to marry Stella the next; he's not bound by the inevitable progression of time. But that's not the case for the actor ... again, it's not so much that I mind the thought of the character ageing as it is that seeing the actor, seeing how he's different from the character in my head, or from how he was, brings home the fact that it's not real. And while I don't actually think Ray K and Ray D are "real" the way CKR and MS are, they have a different, and incredibly important, kind of reality for me... an illusion of reality that's easier to maintain (for me) when I'm not faced with real reality.
Oh, now I'm babbling! It seems so clear to me, but it's so difficult to articulate effectively. But anyway, I'm so glad you enjoyed the post ...
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