"I like for there to be a moral, for the character to have gotten something out of the experience"
About this Quote
Jeremy London’s line reads like an actor quietly lobbying for meaning in an industry that often rewards motion over consequence. “I like for there to be a moral” isn’t a sermon; it’s a preference for narrative accountability. In a lot of film and TV, characters endure chaos because the plot demands it, not because the experience changes them. London is asking for the older promise of storytelling: not that life will make sense, but that the character will metabolize it into something legible.
The phrasing matters. He doesn’t say the audience needs a moral. He wants “the character to have gotten something out of the experience.” That’s actor-brain: growth is playable. A moral is abstract; an internal shift is actionable. It gives a performer a spine to build scenes around, a through-line that makes even melodrama feel earned. The subtext is craft disguised as values. He’s not policing content; he’s trying to avoid roles where suffering is decorative and redemption is stapled on in the final minute.
There’s also a cultural tell here. Coming up in a post-’90s entertainment landscape that prized irony and antiheroes, insisting on “a moral” can sound almost unfashionable. But London frames it personally, not prescriptively. It’s less “art should teach” than “a character shouldn’t walk away unchanged.” That small distinction makes the sentiment modern: skeptical of easy lessons, hungry for transformation that feels real.
The phrasing matters. He doesn’t say the audience needs a moral. He wants “the character to have gotten something out of the experience.” That’s actor-brain: growth is playable. A moral is abstract; an internal shift is actionable. It gives a performer a spine to build scenes around, a through-line that makes even melodrama feel earned. The subtext is craft disguised as values. He’s not policing content; he’s trying to avoid roles where suffering is decorative and redemption is stapled on in the final minute.
There’s also a cultural tell here. Coming up in a post-’90s entertainment landscape that prized irony and antiheroes, insisting on “a moral” can sound almost unfashionable. But London frames it personally, not prescriptively. It’s less “art should teach” than “a character shouldn’t walk away unchanged.” That small distinction makes the sentiment modern: skeptical of easy lessons, hungry for transformation that feels real.
Quote Details
| Topic | Learning from Mistakes |
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