New Books Network Justin Owen Rawlins, "Imagining the Method: Reception, Identity, and American Screen Performance" (U Texas Press, 2024)
Jan 26, 2026
Justin Owen Rawlins, Assistant Professor of Media and Film Studies who studies reception history, discusses how popular ideas of “methodness” shaped who could be seen as a true actor. He traces the invention and policing of the Method, probes its racial and gendered effects, contrasts figures like Brando, Dean, Wayne, and Garfield, and previews questions about AI and digital performers.
AI Snips
Chapters
Books
Transcript
Episode notes
Methodness Overrides Method Technique
- Popular talk about 'Method acting' often has little to do with actual Method tenets and instead describes a received idea the author calls 'methodness'.
- Justin Owen Rawlins argues methodness transcends technique and shapes how performers are branded in culture.
Brando Sparked The Project
- Rawlins began the project after finding repeated reception claims that Marlon Brando would have been better than John Wayne in a John Wayne film.
- He discovered public descriptions of Brando as 'method' that didn't match Method training.
Paratexts Shape Performance Meaning
- Rawlins centers paratextual reception (press, trailers, publicity) as crucial to how screen performance acquires meaning.
- He shows many viewers learn about performances through promotional and journalistic contexts rather than the films themselves.
