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Calendar Events / Announcements '06 I / Re: Review of DS Revival Series DVD as seen in 2006 Videoscope
« on: January 30, 2006, 10:20:03 PM »
Re Grayson's work as Julia on DS--
A friend of mine suggested some years ago (she had watched DS faithfully as a youngster and was watching it again on Sci Fi) that the style of Grayson's characterization as Julia was something Grayson may have taken from observing a friend (or possibly a once-upon-a-time mentor) who may have been a professional woman of some sort. My friend thought Julia's odd way of speaking, occasional twitchiness, abrupt mannerisms. throat-clutching etc. could well have come from a real-life professional woman of, say, the 1950s, who was to some degree not quite at ease with her own sense of self. The odd way of speaking is something I have observed myself in academics who seem to imagine an invisible podium propped up whereever they happen to be sitting or standing.
I mention this because so many of what people think of as Grayson's mannerisms or over-acting in the part of Julia seem to me a self-conscious effort on her part to create a character who was much more "straight-assed" than the actress was in real life (to severely understate things). I think this is particularly obvious if you watch the shows where RT Julia is confronting one of her PT counterparts.
The one mannerism I've seen in several other Grayson performances is that thing she does with clutching onto the phone with both hands.
G.
A friend of mine suggested some years ago (she had watched DS faithfully as a youngster and was watching it again on Sci Fi) that the style of Grayson's characterization as Julia was something Grayson may have taken from observing a friend (or possibly a once-upon-a-time mentor) who may have been a professional woman of some sort. My friend thought Julia's odd way of speaking, occasional twitchiness, abrupt mannerisms. throat-clutching etc. could well have come from a real-life professional woman of, say, the 1950s, who was to some degree not quite at ease with her own sense of self. The odd way of speaking is something I have observed myself in academics who seem to imagine an invisible podium propped up whereever they happen to be sitting or standing.
I mention this because so many of what people think of as Grayson's mannerisms or over-acting in the part of Julia seem to me a self-conscious effort on her part to create a character who was much more "straight-assed" than the actress was in real life (to severely understate things). I think this is particularly obvious if you watch the shows where RT Julia is confronting one of her PT counterparts.
The one mannerism I've seen in several other Grayson performances is that thing she does with clutching onto the phone with both hands.
G.