It must have begun with some of the earliest plays out California way. Actors and other artists know it is their bread and butter to cause some reaction in people. So after the earthquake/play they were delighted to hear the audience say that “the performance moved me”.
Both sides might be aware of the literal meanings of those words, because of a fault slip or whatever, still, the actor will internalize it as an effective performance.
This and technology was the start of the legend of Hollywood. The silver screen went over big there and the kudos for the actors expanded. Now all across the country, people could be moved by what they saw. Moving pictures were high praise for any actor so the best of them began moving across country to the San Andreas fault’s area. Which created more moving pictures and the cycle continued.
Los Angeles especially began attracting all kinds of artists. Like musicians who made the area one of the true meccas for music.
Not only was the music moving, but it also stirred something deep inside its fans. Before a single note was played. A fault will do something like that. It’s so powerful that it will make the fans and the act evacuate the building, too. Only to come back on a less stirring night, because sometimes the music moves you too much.
Somehow Hollywood artists found themselves in the age of hyperbole. Not only did they manage to eke out an existence in this age, they also thrived as never before. How many of these artists loved to hear “That was an earth shaking performance!”
An artist may even have been disappointed by this truism. Especially if it were her goal to hear her performance was “Truly earth shattering!”
And then there is the more personal. Like “Your performance literally shook me to my core.” This might be the artist’s true goal.
But we should beware of the artist who is of singular vision and wants to go out with a bang. Stealing the plot from the Superman movie of the seventies, they may wish to move their audience like never before. Thus rigging a nuclear weapon in the San Andreas fault set to go off during the climax of their performance.
This would likely shake them at least as far as Las Vegas. Undoubtedly the performer would die but thinking ahead they would have a live feed to the part of the world that wouldn’t be shook that much.
So whose fault would we say it is then?
