The idea of emotion memory evolved from the works of Ribot. His books, la psycologie des sentiments, and Problemes de psychologie affective, influenced Stanislavski and stemmed the idea of emotion memory. Problemes de psycologie affective dealt with the memory of emotion. Ribot obtained the idea that the nervous system retained the marks of past experiences, which could be triggered by various stimuli, such as sight, smell, sound, touch or even taste, this concept is not dissimilar from the idea of dejavu. Stanislavki expanded this idea of stimuli causing memories to return and activate the appropriate emotions, and incorporated it into his ‘system’. In introducing this method, his system became much more psychological, engaging the depths of the actors conscience with the given role.
To illustrate the link between emotion and other senses, Stanislavski relates an anecdote;
“Two men hear a familiar piece of music, as they try to remember where they have heard it before, one recalls sitting near a column with the other at his side. “We were eating fish!” he reminds his friend, as the smell of perfume wafts by. Suddenly, the memories of the polka dance, the fish and the perfume, bring back to them the bitter, drunken argument the following night.” This clearly bridges the gap between emotion and other senses. It clearly illustrates the way in which certain smells or sights, can provoke a feeling within the actor, causing him to re-act this emotion in the most realistic and effective way possible and therefore enabling him or her to obtain Stanislavski’s over-all objective to his system, which was to create truth on stage.
It is arguable that use of Emotion Memory is very effective in creating believable and realistic theatre, it provides strong basis for creating depth within a character and his of her emotion. Proof of this is the many great actors who proceed solely on the basis of Stanislavski’s system and his Emotion Memory, for example… However, also this method seems almost to be flawless in creating a realistic reflection of real life emotions, there is no denying that it entails great risks, ethically and mentally. Emotion memory holds the potential for many dilemmas, the first of these being that actors cannot always complete the actions needed to create the right emotions for a role. For instance, emotion memory does not account for those emotions that might be far from achievable, if a actor was to play the role of a murderer or rapist, it is simply not foreseeable for them to commit such unspeakable crimes in order to gain experience of the needed emotions.
It is also arguable that in order to overcome this problem, one should complete an action on a smaller, more moral scale, which still provokes guilt and possibly anger. However how could it ever be possible to obtain the mindset and emotions of a murderer unless one had actually committed the act themselves? It is not a feasible comparison and therefore Stanislavski’s Emotion Memory may not be a system which always holds the answer to finding the approximation of emotions need for a role.
Another risk entailed within the concept of emotion memory, is simply that a character may be too far away from a certain actors real life experience, demanding emotions from an actor who has never felt the emotions needed for the role. For example, how would it ever be possible for a young girl to realistically reflect the emotions of an old man, showing a deep and complex understanding of such a character? She could only mimic him to a certain extent, but not possibly hope to capture a whole life’s worth of experience and emotions.
Emotion Memory poses yet another risk- the actor may become too self-absorbed, causing him to close off constant and reliable communication with his/her surrounding cast. In focusing so intently on triggering their emotion memory, they may forget the importance of building strong rapports with the ensemble, consequently defeating the object of Emotion Memory altogether by creating unrealistic relationships between characters.
The system is a process in which Stanislavski aims to create a truthful performance. In order to do this, he places much focus on building a 3 dimensional character, which entails depth and thought, rather than mimicking a character on a less psychological basis. Stanislavski showed that one of the key ways in which to obtain such a detailed understanding of a character was to use the power of emotion memory, enabling the actor to relate very personally indeed with the given role. Although use of Emotion Memory is not flawless, it has been proven to be a successful means of creating a believable character. Surely this is proof that although this aspect of Stanislavski’s ‘system’ is not perfect, it still provides a strong solid basis for an actor to develop a character on, and points towards the idea that the usefulness and success of Emotion memory is also dependent on the quality of acting the actor can provide.