Creative potential – Anger and creativity
Christian Bale’s tantrums
Acclaimed for his dynamic performance as Batman – such as in the new film “The Dark Knight” – Christian Bale won’t be charged after his arrest for alleged assault on his mother and sister, in part because they didn’t want to press the matter. Bale has denied the accusation.
But according to news reports, a former assistant of his says when he did a movie in 1997, Bale’s nickname was “Tandy” because he was always throwing tantrums.
How does anger relate to creativity? There have been a number of actors like Christian Bale who’ve shown a dark and violent side in both their acting and real life, including Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Robert DeNiro and Daniel Day Lewis.
Artists with access to their rage
Stephen A. Diamond, PhD is a clinical and forensic psychologist and author of the book Anger, Madness, and the Daimonic: The Psychological Genesis of Violence, Evil, and Creativity. He comments about these talented actors in our recent podcast interview.
Dr. Diamond notes, “Well, I don’t know any of these actors personally. But, clearly these are passionate people – passionate men in this case – who have access to their own rage.
“I have studied creative artists, and one of the things that I’ve found in looking at their lives, in almost every case – prominent artist Jackson Pollack, Beethoven, we’ll talk about a little bit more, novelist Richard Wright, Picasso – in almost every case, these are angry individuals.
Channeling the energy
“They have a great deal of anger and rage for various reasons based on the kinds of things that have happened to them in life, or didn’t happen to them in life. And yet, they were able to utilize their rage, and to some extent – and some more successfully than others – really channel it into their creative work.”
He adds, “But, it sounds like with Christian Bale, his anger often gets the best of him, and comes out sometimes in inappropriate or immature ways. But, that may also be what gives him an edge as an actor, or one of the things that gives him an edge.”
He explains that the concept of the ‘daimonic’ is that “anger and rage and creativity come from exactly the same place, the same source in the human psyche. Actually Rollo May cited that source as being simply human potentiality.”
From transcript On Anger and Creativity.
Listen to the interview podcast at Inner Talent Interviews.
~~
Book: 
Google+
