CUT

 

Let’s talk for a minute about things that happen in real time.   How is that possible when time itself is a fabrication of Man, and yet everything in the animal kingdom happens in real time.  If we look at the jungle and then overlay the face of a clock onto it, everything we see is happening the same time that the secondhand sweeps around the giant circle.

Nothing is scheduled for the future and nothing has been prerecorded to be shown at a later time.  There are no-reruns and no do-overs.  Each and every animal has just one chance to get it right the first time.  There isn’t any safety net.

At the end of an event there isn’t a long list of other animals who, behind the scenes, made it all possible.  People, however, especially actors, have egos that are usually too big for their bodies.  It is their egos we notice walking down the street, several steps ahead of the person themselves.

In striving for perfection, we have lost real time.  We have swept spontaneity under the rug and along with it the humor of failure.  The cure, albeit pathetic, is the laugh-track.  Pre-recorded laughter and applause gets inserted over the sad truth that lines were forgotten or the door failed to open and panic has spilled onto the stage.

Hollywood has yet to realize that the most entertaining thing they produce are the blooper reels. Our little peek at real time.