A good actor always sets you straight. If you've written a false moment and thought it was probably pretty great, the actor's gonna show you when he gets to that moment. They're the great test of the validity of the material.
Sam ShepardRead
There's no way to escape the fact that we've grown up in a violent culture, we just can't get away from it, it's part of our heritage. I think part of it is that we've always felt somewhat helpless in the face of this vast continent. Helplessness is answered in many ways, but one of them is violence.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects on how violence is ingrained in our culture and how feelings of helplessness can lead to aggressive behaviors.
Sam Shepard's quote suggests that growing up in a culture steeped in violence is an unavoidable reality, tied to our heritage. He implies that the vastness of the landscape can evoke feelings of helplessness, which can manifest in various forms, including violence. This statement encourages reflection on the origins of our behaviors and the cultural influences that shape our responses to feelings of powerlessness.
Themes
ViolenceCultureHelplessnessHeritageAggressionResponse
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the impacts of upbringing and societal influences on behavior.
More from Sam Shepard
All quotes →I stay away from heavy-handed stuff, the good guy and the bad guy. It just doesn't interest me; all it does is create more fences between people, I think.
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I hate endings. Just detest them. Beginnings are definitely the most exciting, middles are perplexing and endings are a disaster. … The temptation towards resolution, towards wrapping up the package, seems to me a terrible trap. Why not be more honest with the moment? The most authentic endings are the ones which are already revolving towards another beginning. That’s genius.
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There are places where writing is acting and acting is writing. I'm not so interested in the divisions. I'm interested in the way things cross over.
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Democracy's a very fragile thing. You have to take care of democracy. As soon as you stop being responsible to it and allow it to turn into scare tactics, it's no longer democracy, is it? It's something else. It may be an inch away from totalitarianism.
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On stage, you're not limited at all because you're free in language: language is the source of the imagination. You can travel farther in language than you can in any film.
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