hey people - short(ish) blog entry today. Quick question....
Is silence really golden? I spend most of my time at work talking - to customers, to colleagues, to the radio, to myself but by the end of the day I'm shattered - not physically, but mentally tired of talking. So, well, I basically shut up when I get home. I talk to my Dad, Brother and my dog politely - you know chit chat, but I don't strike any meaningful, in-depth conversations up with them. I am basically mute.
But is that bad? Should I be making more of an effort?
If I go out with friends after work, I'm the listener. I talk, don't get me wrong, I speak about my day, work, family, etc - but everyone knows me as a good listener. And that is where I agree - I love listening, I am happy to listen to anyone's problems, worries, happy news, family life, work, etc.
When watching The Gold Rush and the Kid today on my day off, I noticed that I didn't need to hear dialogue. Yes, we have the soundtrack that keeps the pace and narrative of the film, but I never realised before that dialogue didn't seem that important to me. Look at another favourite of mine - Sergio Leone's Once Upon A Time in the West - one of the top ten westerns of all time - uses hardly any dialogue and, in the first ten minutes it is basically non-existent. The use of sound effects adds all the tension needed.
So - does not talking, just purely facial expressions and actions, etc, speak volumes? Like when your partner takes you by the hand for no reason, a hug, a glance, a cheeky smile - no words needed.
Is it appreciation of the fact that some people don't need to say anything at all to get their message across? When a man looks at his wife across the dinner table in a restaurant, a girl taking a boy's hand when she is scared, a father patting his son on the back for that promotion, because speaking would only result in tears.
However - there are three words that everybody wants to hear spoken aloud - even shouted from the rooftops - 'I Love You'
I don't know, when it comes to film, it seems that sound is essential, but perhaps in real life it just isn't that way.
Do you have a certain 'look' that speaks volumes? A certain smile? A nervous tic? Are you the silent type or are you at your happiest when you are chatting away?
