(Core response) The Method Men: Acting and Masculinity

As Dyer explains, Brando is a perfect example of the “Method”, embodying an omnipresent virility and putting all the emotions in the body instead of the ‘head’ or social expressions.

Brando, especially with his performance in A Streetcar named Desire, is actually the concrete roots of the Method: he embodies a savage male character in every simple actions such as chewing or sorting through clothes. He showed how the Method is used to tap into an actor's subconscious thoughts and emotions that may help portray more complex states of being or thoughts, such as jealousy, repression, or layered emotions.

 

The differences between stage acting and film acting are fascinating as we can read but probably the gap is not as huge as we think. Stage actors are often thought to be "more talented" because of the immediateness of their performance, whereas film actors' final performances are edited in post production, and it’s somehow true.

 

However the Method -that almost all the famous film actors now use- is precisely a method that makes actors play in films like they would do on stage, by making the body the center of all the emotions.    
If so few actors make the transition between stage and films and do it well it is probably a question of habits. The context of work is very different. But the acting technique itself is very close now with the Method.

 

A major point is that despite emotions and gestures are the key component of the Method, actors do not fully act to make feel their inside emotions but instead perform to fully comply with the stereotypes, especially with the gender conventions.