Comments on: the tom cruise in all of us http://cultureby.com/2004/08/the_tom_cruise_.html This Blog Sits At the Intersection of Anthropology and Economics Thu, 17 May 2012 21:10:32 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Grant http://cultureby.com/2004/08/the_tom_cruise_.html/comment-page-1#comment-7717 Grant Fri, 06 Aug 2004 16:15:42 +0000 http://localhost/wp_culture/?p=1148#comment-7717 Tom, great, great post. Thank you! I will follow up. Very useful. Best, Grant Tom, great, great post. Thank you! I will follow up. Very useful. Best, Grant

]]> By: Tom http://cultureby.com/2004/08/the_tom_cruise_.html/comment-page-1#comment-7716 Tom Fri, 06 Aug 2004 14:20:51 +0000 http://localhost/wp_culture/?p=1148#comment-7716 The expert's intuition is the subject of an impressive body of work done by Hubert Dreyfus (building on Martin Heidegger's thought). Dreyfus chronicles the journey from Novice to Expert, a function of experience, as, essentially, the movement from being "rule driven" to becoming "intuitively involved" in a domain. More recently, Gary Klein has furthered this work in his outstanding book, <i>Kinds of Power</i>). As your post indicates, Grant, the key to the expert's expertise is her perception, that is, her ability to see possiblities that are (literally) not present for the rest of us. And so, when Cruise says that he is "interested" in a script, he's likely reporting an emotional (read: intuitively, rather than calculatively, "rational") "perception" of the role (or, perhaps more accurately "projection") of himself into the character. We experience things like this all the time, as in, "I can't see myself living there." And, as Alain de Botton points out in his newest work, <i>Status Anxiety</i> the real threat is not so much to Cruise's bank account, as it is to his sense of self-worth in choosing roles that potentially diminsh his position as, "one of America's most bankable stars." <i>Risky Business</i>, indeed. The expert’s intuition is the subject of an impressive body of work done by Hubert Dreyfus (building on Martin Heidegger’s thought). Dreyfus chronicles the journey from Novice to Expert, a function of experience, as, essentially, the movement from being “rule driven” to becoming “intuitively involved” in a domain. More recently, Gary Klein has furthered this work in his outstanding book, Kinds of Power).

As your post indicates, Grant, the key to the expert’s expertise is her perception, that is, her ability to see possiblities that are (literally) not present for the rest of us. And so, when Cruise says that he is “interested” in a script, he’s likely reporting an emotional (read: intuitively, rather than calculatively, “rational”) “perception” of the role (or, perhaps more accurately “projection”) of himself into the character. We experience things like this all the time, as in, “I can’t see myself living there.”

And, as Alain de Botton points out in his newest work, Status Anxiety the real threat is not so much to Cruise’s bank account, as it is to his sense of self-worth in choosing roles that potentially diminsh his position as, “one of America’s most bankable stars.”

Risky Business, indeed.

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