The Weight Of A Mistake Depends On The Quality Of The Maker
Some mistakes are equal; but some are more equal than others.
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Do you know this man?
Sherlock Holmes? Iron Man? Highest paid actor, 2015? He is Robert Downey Jr, one of Hollywood’s most loved, most influential, and most charismatic persons.
What about this other man?
Well, his name is Nick Stahl. You might remember him (if you do remember him at all) from Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003) as John Connor.
What do these two men have in common? A substance addiction history. Why does one seem to have stardom and the other doesn’t, even though they have a similar flaw? A phenomenon I recently learned about might put some insight into both persons.
Pratfall effect
Per Brescia Uni: “The Pratfall Effect states that people who are considered highly competent are found to be more likeable when they perform an everyday blunder than those who don’t. The effect was first studied by social psychologist Elliot Aronson in 1966.”
“When a person makes a mistake or acts in a clumsy way that might even make people laugh, they are found to be more likeable, including in comparison with people who are more intelligent and clever. When you make a mistake, you appear more human, more like others and so more likeable. People who are perfect can seem threatening, but people who are imperfect are safe and hence easier to truly like.”
But drug addiction is not a simple mistake, unless well, in Hollywood, it is in fact, not ‘all that bad.’ It is only proof that you are struggling with stardom and although there are advocacies against substance abuse, it is ‘understandable’. It is why Johnny Depp admitting to substance abuse in his case with his former partner, Heard, has been seen as charming and not some bad character flaw that is unpardonable.
But in our sample cases, RDJ and Stahl, in light of the Pratfall, here is where the differences come in:
RDJ was born into acting. His father, Robert Downey Sr was an actor and pushed RDJ into acting as early as 5-years-old. In 1992, “Downey portrayed the title character in the biopic Chaplin, for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor and won a BAFTA Award.”
Long before his substance abuse became notorious, RDJ was already a loved star, who was seen as infallible. But things soon started to change:
“Following a stint at the Corcoran Substance Abuse Treatment Facility on drug charges, he joined the TV series Ally McBeal, for which he won a Golden Globe Award. He was fired from the show in the wake of drug charges in 2000 and 2001. He stayed in a court-ordered drug treatment program and has maintained his sobriety since 2003.”
Naturally, some people left (including his former partner) and RDJ lost a lot of money, friends, and some of his influence. But c’mon, this was RDJ, a likeable, infallible child thrown into stardom before he knew what to do with the light and has used his star power quite well in Hollywood. There has to be someone who would stand for him?
“Initially, completion bond companies would not insure Downey, until Mel Gibson paid the insurance bond for the 2003 film The Singing Detective.[4] He went on to star in the black comedy Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005), the thriller Zodiac (2007), and the action comedy Tropic Thunder (2008); for the latter he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Downey gained global recognition for starring as Tony Stark / Iron Man in ten films within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, beginning with Iron Man (2008). He has also played the title character in Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes (2009), which earned him his second Golden Globe, and its sequel, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011).”
Mel Gibson knew RDJ and stood for him. But Gibson also knew Stahl.
In fact, in the 1993 film The Man Without a Face, Stahl was a co-star alongside Mel Gibson, and the movie helped boost his career at the age of 13. Another thing? Stahl started acting when he was four.
Unlike RDJ, however, his career tanked as his substance abuse became more pronounced. He lost roles and took a leave of absence from acting. There was no standing up for this guy, no paying his insurance bonds, nothing. After all, he was not RDJ. HE had been nominated for a few awards but he was not award-winning. HE did not have RDJ’s personality, charisma, or likeability.
Both actors made the same mistake and had a few mutual friends and acquaintances, yet one person is celebrated for it and the other… well… is almost forced into retirement at 42.
Maybe we are not equal
Like the Pygmalion effect, the Halo effect, or the Horn effect, different psychological phenomena continue to prove to us that biases are almost always inherent in our relationship with people.
The difference between winning and failing sometimes is not because you were good or not good enough but that you were liked better than someone else. While we may try to play into some of these biases; dress better, smile more, be more open-chested, etc, a lot of things will escape our purview and even those who enact those biases may do so without knowing (typically, they do not; nobody goes to work and say I will Pretfall today) and we get caught in the web of things.
So, maybe we need to be kinder to ourselves and focus on areas of strength that we have identified.
There are also very obvious prejudices stemming from race and colour. For instance, the Academy Award (Oscar) still honours certain ‘criminals’ but Will Smith was banned for ten years over a slapping incidence. I do not think Denzel Washington will have the grace of RDJ if he was into his substance cycle.
The most important lesson is to observe the tide, and know when it is favourable to swim and when it is wise to not. Also, live your life knowing that a lot of things are random and beyond your control, do not beat yourself unnecessarily over them.
TEA
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