PLATO'S IDEAL FORMS

In the particular is contained the universal — James Joyce

I was coaching on a TV show last week. We wanted to drop deeper into the specificity of the characters, their backstories and their relationships. We wanted each character to be unique rather than generic.

So, I gave the actors a challenge. They were to close their eyes and imagine a series of objects as I mentioned the words:

"Table... Mountain... Lighthouse... Apple... Birthday Cake"

Then I dropped in a rogue idea:

"Your mother's best friend"

You know what? This image broke the pattern! Rather than falling into the easy trap of thinking generically, now they had to drop into thinking specifically.

But how? And why did this help their performances?

PLATO'S IDEAL FORMS

The philosopher Plato (born in 428 BCE) came up with the idea of perfect "Forms". According to him, everything in our material reality is only an imitation of these Forms or Ideas. Everything comes from the Realm of Forms at birth and returns in death. The physical world we see around us is not as real or true as the origina…