The American Spectator

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The problem with Socialized Acting, like the problem with Socialized Medicine, is that once government imposes itself in the process, it can mandate all sorts of requirements. For example, a government that can order recipients of mandatory health care to report for physical check-ups can also order viewers to sit through the products of a nationalized entertainment industry which it regulates and, inevitably subsidizes. It's bad enough that John Edwards wants to order everyone to undergo a colonoscopy, but forcing us to sit through Redacted is just a bit too intrusive.

In addition, just as federal funding for the arts has turned civil servants into art critics, Socialized Acting would require a new federal infrastructure to decide exactly what it is that constitutes an actor. The cabinet-level Department of Thespian Arts (DOTA) would have to define standards of performance across the industry. There would be a Bureau of Method Acting, possibly with a subsection relating to Stanislavsky technique, and an enforcement arm to monitor scenery chewing excesses, the High-Art Management, or HAM Team, which could impose criminal sanctions on over-actors (Johnny Depp will have to be very careful if we wants to make Pirates of the Caribbean IV, and William Shatner would have to leave the country entirely).

Finally, as with all federal agencies, DOTA would gradually expand its scope to encompass acting throughout our culture, metastasizing from professional theater to amateur productions, eventually involving itself in interpersonal relations and political discourse. Politicians who feign sincerity would be subject to regulation, as would wives or girlfriends...(the Clinton bedroom would have its own branch office).

p>Subjecting actors to socialization may sound like a good idea, but the rest of us will suffer for it. br> -- Mike Harris br> MAJ, USA /p> p> "Socialized Acting" by Judah Friedman was very funny and brilliant! I really like the idea of socializing Hollywood workers! br> -- J. Daggett br> Tacoma, Washington /p> p>

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