The opposing views of being famous among high school students in hanoi

TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC KINH TẾ QUỐC DÂNCÔNG TRÌNH THAM GIA XÉT GIẢI GIẢI THƯỞNG “ TÀI NĂNG KHOA HỌC TRẺ VIỆT NAM” NĂM 2015 Tên công trình: The opposing views of being famous among High schoo

TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC KINH TẾ QUỐC DÂN

CÔNG TRÌNH THAM GIA XÉT GIẢI GIẢI THƯỞNG “ TÀI NĂNG KHOA HỌC TRẺ VIỆT NAM”

NĂM 2015

Tên công trình:

The opposing views of being famous among

High school students in Hanoi

Thuộc nhóm ngành khoa học: Xã hội

HÀ NỘI, 2015

LIST OF STUDENTS

1.Name: Trần Quang Hiếu

Student ID: 11121414

Class: Advanced Finance 54B

2.Name: Ng Hà Phương Trang

Student ID: 11124109Class: Advanced

Finance 54B

3.Name: Lê Kim NgânStudent ID: 11122717Class: Advanced Finance 54B

4.Name: Đinh Nam HảiStudent ID: 11121158Class: Advanced Finance 54B

INSTRUCTOR:

Dr Truong Thi Nam ThangOffice: Room 301, Building 5, NEUTel: 04-36280545 Mobile: 0912952435

email: nthang@cfvg.org

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1.1The necesssities of the research

For a long time in the past, fame is evaluated as the pinnacle and really difficult to reach Before the 20th century, people could only become famous by creating significant things which were remembered ages later such as Julius Caesarand Napoleon Bonaparte who conquered countries; Jesus Christ who developed a religion In the last decades of the 20th century, it was still luxurious and

considered that only the noble upper strata of society was eligible to become

famous Referring to the celebration during this period, almost everybody just know the prestigious names associated with each object such as filmdom with Hollywood and top stars; music with Sony BMG and the legendary singers or bands; sports with Olympics, World Cup, Euro and the athletes, the footballers left

their good name in history They are the ones who pioneered first formality and subsequent development of fame

However, in the 21st century, with the explosion of information technology and media mass, the nature and method of being well-known have had complicatedrenovation Famous targets have been expanded and concentrated primarily on young generation, especially high school students Thanks to the social progress and the trendy lifestyles, they can obtain the popularity without time-consuming or overexertion

Therefore, it is entirely affirmed that one of the most outstanding tendencies

of young generation is being famous This controversial issue brings about a

number of high school students’ conflicting views which motivates researchers to choose this topic

1.2 Objectives and scopes of the study

By investigating perspectives of different entities in three high schools in Hanoi about the effects of being famous, the researchers aim to:

1 Measure students’knowledge and perception about becoming famous

2 Figure out the reasons why high school students want to be famous

3 Help students to have a broader vision at the advantages and

disadvantages of becoming famous

1.3 Research questions

To obtain above objectives, the researchers decided to put the interest to do aresearch to explore the high school student’s opposing views about becoming famous To implement this intention, two following questions must be

In this research, our group will study high school students’ opposing views

by obtaining statistical, quantitative results from surveying and then following-up with fifteen purposefully selected individuals to explore these results in more depth

by interviews and other elicitation materials

1.5The study’s structure

The remainder of the study is organized as follows Section 2 presents

literature review including the disadvantages and advantages of being famous and also common ways to become famous Section 3 presents research questions,

quantitative and qualitative methodology which describes the process of selecting sample and collecting data Section 4 presents the research results and analysis Finally, section 5 provides conclusions, recommendations and limitations of the study

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

As stated in the previous part, one of the most outstanding trends among young generation is becoming famous or popular because of a common perception that celebrities and famous personalities can easily achieve everything in their lives Nevertheless, the grass is always greener on the other side, isn't it? In fact, there are as many downsides and drawbacks of being a celebrity as there are the number of benefits In this part, the researcher is going to review not only opinions

of some journalists and experts regarding this argumentation but several common steps to achieve respects and admirations as well Talking cogently about students’ motivation for becoming famous; requires, first, that we sort out the advantages and disadvantages of the phenomenon and try to specify some common ways to become famous

2.1 The advantages of being famous

Considering about celebrities’ lifestyle, one of the obvious advantages of being famous is that fame generally brings lots of economic advantages It is undeniable that celebrities and famous people are generally richer than others Luxurious homes and cars, fancy gifts, expensive clothes and other such

materialistic pleasures of life convert from a dream to a reality when people

become well-known The article “The advantages of being famous” (February 29, 2012) from expertscolumn.com shared:

“The celebrity lifestyle is obviously going to be an appealing one when it appears that you don't have to do very much work and can still earn a fortune… “One of the most evident advantages of being famous is that you usually get paid a lot of money for doing relatively little work, although this obviously depends on how famous you are and what you're famous for It reflects human desires about a dream life: an effortless occupation which lets you do whatever you like but brings

a full bank account to meet the physical demand Recent research with the same topic by Marbury (2012) showed that: “We envy the celebrities because they are rich, they are powerful but they seem to do nothing hard to make money”

Psychologically, people are always attracted by easy things, not attempting all theirbest but gaining benefits as much as possible

Besides the obviously economic advantages, there are several remarkable points of fame’s passion that is the influence on other people In the article called

“The Impact Celebrities Have on Our Lives” (2011), King D said that “some believe we are obsessed with celebrities because we need to have an escape from the humdrum of everyday life This makes sense in a bizarre sort of way” To be

specific, King wrote: “For instance, if you are not centered and balanced

energetically, and you don’t feel so good about who you are, you are much more likely to follow your favorite celebrity and wish that you could be them” Being admired, well-known people have a significant impact on normal ones’ life

somehow Only by being aware what the formers have done do the latters be

inspired, motivated, determined to go through forward difficulties The reason is that the famous are like models which show us their journeys starting with zero then reaching huge success finally Moreover, it is undoubted that celebrities, with their wide effects, have valuable opportunities to call for charity campaigns for purpose of building a better society

2.2 The disadvantages of being famous

It is widely believed that famous people have a wonderful life with no

worries or problems; however, in fact, celebrities can find life very difficult at times

One of most undesirable disadvantages of becoming famous is the lack of privacy Everything that goes on in the famous person's life, including births, deaths, illnesses and divorces, is fodder for the tabloids If the individual stumbles, whether figuratively or literally, speculation about him will end up on TV, on the

Internet or the front page of the tabloids If he's arrested, the famous person's mug shot is flashed around the world so everyone can see him in his moment of

humiliation From a magazine article named “The pitfalls of becoming famous”, Emerson (2012) pointed out the most unsettling and harrowing aspect of being famous is that celebrities constantly under scrutiny whatever they do It can be incredibly frustrating to have their privacy perpetually invaded by cameras and to feel like everyone is out there to find out the latest scoop about their lives On a book “What price fame?”, Cowen (2000) stated, “The more a star seeks privacy, the greater the demand for information about his or her reclusive and mysterious persona” (p 132) This author concluded that being famous means celebrities can become the target for media intrusion Everything that goes on in the famous

people's lives, including births, deaths, illnesses and divorces…, is fodder for the tabloids All in all, the lives of famous people are not their own

Fame can be troubled by stalkers and paparazzi In a research article by Pearce (2012), she indicated that stalkers, (or crazy fans) who are individuals that try to get close to a person, are a real threat to famous people Every major

celebrity at one point or another in their career has been confronted with the

problem of being followed and harassed by overly passionate fans This can pose a

danger to their safety, as some of these unknown individuals may be mentally unstable or plain delusional.

It can be difficult to give up a normal lifestyle for a celebrity one According

to Emerson (2012), being a celebrity is synonymous with being under constant pressure Most people are likely to have unrealistic, superhuman expectations fromcelebrities, while the media is constantly scrutinizing them for any real or

perceived flaws “Fans expect celebrities to be absolutely perfect in every aspect oftheir lives, every single day Such an expectation is impossible for any human being to fulfill” (Brim, 2009, p 146) Thus, when famous people are reported as having done something wrong, they are highly scrutinized by the public

In conclusion, there are a large number of fame’s disadvantages which make people think carefully whether they should or should not become famous

2.3 The common steps to become famous

In recent decade, people especially students have numerous ways to avoid being blended into the crown In an article “How to be popular” from

wikiHow.com last edited in July 19, 2012, Viren, T and 242 others introduced fifteen steps which were useful for developing students’ social skills to achieve their goals These steps could be seen as a general plan for students at school The

article mentioned that the characteristic and behavior were an essential part in students’ becoming famous plans especially consider the feeling of other people popular people do not just know everyone-they are on good terms with everyone They establish those terms by helping people out, and they don't do it in

particularly noticeable ways (they are not the martyrs or saints of society) They dolittle things to establish rapport (in addition to some big things, like volunteering) They offer someone a pencil when they need it They close the neighbor's gate when it opens after a strong wind They hold the door open and wait for the person behind them But most often, they listen to people when they talk, and they offer tohelp somehow

Writing in 2012, Paterson also emphasized that in order to be popular;

students need to be confident to demonstrate who they are and what they can do

“Sitting in the corner is not suitable, people have to get up and get into the

spotlight where everyone can recognize and admire you without difficulty.” In addition, famous students should concern about their appearances particularly theirown styles because “no one wants to follow a person who has a bad fashion sense”.People ought to ensure that their clothes not only are fashionable but also express their personalities They do not have to dress themselves by expensive or luxury

outfits; however, learning how to combine normal clothes which makes your

outlook so cool and attractive is actually significant

In another website teenadvice.about.com, Hardcastle, M former About.com Guide pointed out various aspects around the famed desire in teenagers Obviously,there are a number of ways to be a well-known person such as become an inventor,scientist, politician, philanthropist, singer, actor, etc Nevertheless, the author assumed that the prominence almost all teenagers want is the flashy glitzy type of fame and it is broadly referred to as “stardom.” He mentioned that “there are

hundreds of thousands of working actors, athletes, musicians and models who havecareers in these fields but who are unknowns” It can be clearly seen that they are not famous despite successful careers in the entertainment and fashion industries

To make this dream come true, besides having real talent, the most important thing

is you must be a lucky person After analyzing the difficult people have to deal with whenever pursue the fame, to sum up, this article gave useful advices and valuable tips which people can use to find the right way to achieve their goals

Taking everything into consideration, despite a number of drawbacks

mentioned above, almost all teenagers still chase the dream of being on top by variable methods This literature review demonstrated some common ways which were very useful for foreign teenagers However, whether they are applicable to

Vietnamese adolescences in general and Hanoi high schools’ student in particular

is still a question that this research attempts to sort out

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY AND PROCEDURE

The topic and target population were selected on the 24th January This study will use a mixed methods design, which is a procedure for collecting,

analyzing and “mixing” both quantitative and qualitative data The rationale for mixing is that neither quantitative nor qualitative methods are sufficient by

themselves to obtain the research purposes more completely When used in

combination, quantitative and qualitative methods complement each other and allow for more comprehensive analysis

The study was carried out relying on the participation and the input of high school students in Hanoi city To make this study highly generalized, the

researchers decided to select three high schools in Hanoi which are Kim Lien high school, Hanoi-Amsterdam high school and Dong Da high school After one month being prepared and designed, the whole paper of questions for interviewing and surveying were completed The real interviews and surveys among three schools above were carried out on 8th and 10th March

In the first section, with a hope of gaining an insight into the students’ perceptions and reasons to achieve the fame, face to face interviews with 15

students was conducted, eight came from Kim Lien high school and seven from

Hanoi-Amsterdam high school Each student had to answer five questions in 15 to

20 minutes The recorders were also used during the interview Participants were received the interview questions prior to the scheduled interviewing time and were informed the interview would be tape-recorded Respondents will have an

opportunity to review and, if necessary, correct the contents of their answers The interview included five key questions relating to the topic:

1 What do “famous” mean?

2 What will you achieve when you are famous?

3 Why do people want to be famous?

4 Recently, a lot of people choose scandals as the methods to be famous What do you think about this?

5 What are the differences between common ways to achieve the fame in Vietnam and in the world?

In the second section, quantitative phase of the study will focus on

discovering the common ways to achieve the fame in both society and high school situation The primary technique for collecting the quantitative data will be a self-developed questionnaire, containing items of different formats: multiple choice, asking either for one option or all that apply, three answers like “Yes”, “No” or

“Neutral”, self-assessment items, and open-ended questions The questionnaire

consists of ten questions, which are organized into two major sections or scales This survey conducted among 311 students from three high schools In detail, thereare 109 out of 311 in from Kim Lien high school, 155 students from Hanoi-

Amsterdam Dong Da high school has 87 respondents took part in this research All respondents will have approximately 10 minutes to both answer and review all questions

From 15th March to 31st March, all opinions and statistical data were

analyzed and summarized to finish the written report

CHAPTER 4: ANALYSIS OF DATAS AND PRESENTATION OF

RESULTS

In this chapter, the researchers will show the results of the research, followed byanalysis and discussions at the end of each part To correspond with two researchquestions, this chapter is divided to two sub parts The first section will discussabout the fame’s perceptions and the motivations to become famous while thesecond one will analyze the common ways to be famous in high school’s students

4.1 What are high school students’ various perception about fame and their reasons to become famous?

To make clear this first research question, the researchers concentrate onanswering three following questions:

1 What do “famous” mean?

2 What will you achieve when you are famous?

3 Why do people want to be famous?

4.1.1.The perception of fame or being famous

Most students gave various replies when asked about the definition of fame.Although the answers in detail are quite subjective and different, generally some of

them can be associated to each other and be aggregated in these below typicalviewpoints Particularly, out of fifteen students interviewed, there are nearly threequarters agreed to the idea of Bui, B D who comes from 12A4 at Kim Lien highschool He suggested that: “Famous people can be recognized at anywhere byanyone so that they must make-up, disguise by wearing mask, wigs and sun-glasses… when they go out to conceal their identity” While, Pham, T T H.,student at grade eleventh – major in Literature from Hanoi Amsterdam high schoolsaid that: “Celebrities can lead or create the tendencies Their activities alwayshave great and unexplainable impacts on almost fields of social life” This concept

is considered as receiving the consent of about five dissimilar students However,unlike two above perspectives, Kieu, H Q., student at 12A15 from Kim Lien highschool stated that: “The famous dare to show their unique characteristics and realtalents to the public They are ready to go into the spotlight regardless of opposingreactions of public opinion Therefore, choosing the fame means accepting bothsupports and objections from community” Almost half interviewees approved ofthis highly generalized idea

Altogether, the summarized definition of fame is widespread reputation We allknow fame when we see it but perhaps we don’t recognize exactly what it is;rather, we just know that the famous are somehow just a little bit better or at least

more interesting than the rest of us Fame is very big and very visible professionalsuccess It is the key to the good side of life’s velvet ropes For those who win it,society will grant them wealth, power, access, recognition, and other tools to live

an extraordinary life

4.1.2The reasons why high school students desire to be famous

In spite of multifarious point of views, majority of which are only disparity inexpression ways Thus, the researchers will just select some typical reasons whymany people, especially high school students desire to become famous andmention how many respondents have parallel opinion

The first reason driving many people desire to become famous is their cravingfor attention However, for this reason, interviewees tend to have twointerpretations

Firstly, the thought received ten out of fifteen consensus belongs to Ngo, N H.,student at 12A4 from Kim Lien high school He noted that: “I think people want to

be famous because they crave for attention Imagine that one day, you become astar or celebrity, when you go out, everyone will stare at you and they can realizeyou immediately They shout your name, try to follow and catch you in order tobeg your autograph, take the photos with you or even touch you just a little I bet if

you want to be known by as more people as possible, you feel happy and proud somuch, regardless of suffering paparazzi’s troubles and invasion of privacy.” While,the second explanation was pointed out by Nguyen, V Q., (grade eleventh – major

in Literature - Hanoi Amsterdam high school) had nearly half acquiescence ofother respondents: “The urge and the thirst to be appreciated by other people haveexisted in the nature of a human since it took birth People are literally thirsty foradmiration They desire that they are noticed by each and every person The reasonwhy people wish to be famous is that they crave for attention They want otherpeople to give them importance, show them utter respect and honor wherever theyare headed to The root cause for this might be in childhood, they would have beendeprived of love and care that a child needs They might have undergone variousfamily tribulations such as divorces In reality, these people lack self-confidence,self-esteem and a sense of security They yearn for attention which they have neverreceived.”

The second reason which makes many people covet to be famous is theirmisleading thoughts about fame “Nowadays, most people find it easy to gain thepopularity and this is the shortest and fastest way to earn money, become rich…Obviously, celebrities have many invitations to join in big events, advertisingprograms, fashion shows, press conferences or represent the brands… It seems the

great bargain that fame brings to people, makes them “from zero to hero” ”, Le,

C P L., (grade tenth – major in English at Hanoi Amsterdam high school) sharedand received one third concurrent views

Beside two above popular reasons, some people still choose being famous bytalented and genuine reasons According to Nguyen, N T., (12A3 - Kim Lien highschool) and six other interviewees, at the age of 16 to 18, it is appropriate for highschool student to show their real proficiency to the public They must try to studyhard, achieve the high degree, valuable prizes or medals in national, international,Olympic examinations… These famous people maybe contribute a part of theirspecial and excellent abilities to our country This reason is worth admiring andrespecting

Furthermore, eight students including Tran, T H., (grade tenth – major inEnglish - Hanoi Amsterdam high school) described that more and more the young

at high school-age tend to be famous because of huge influences from idols andcrowd tendencies from friends Most these teenagers grow up with a TV, anetwork-connected computer in front of them and the propagation of stars’information around them Gradually, they not only see the stars as idols but alsostart to take behaviors or imitate their styles, even make scandals They think while

there are may be a handful of ways to climb to the top of social ladder, becoming acelebrity is probably the most obvious one.

To summarize, the whole respondents explained that most people, especiallyhigh school students desire to be famous because of the achievements which thefame brings to them The positive aspects of fame contain expanding of the socialrelationships and promotion opportunities; receiving plenty of invitations forevents, fashion shows, press conferences, brand representations… From theseevident advantages, many people think that being famous is the shortest and fastestway to earn money and become rich, irrespective of the negative aspects which ittakes along

In conclusion, some reasons why people desire to be famous are craving forattention, yearning to earn money and become rich, wanting to show their realtalents to the public, or being affected by their idol stars… People always seekrecognition and desire the approval of others for achieving goals their value Adesire for fame could also mean that people want admiration for what they'veaccomplished and validation that what they're doing is worthwhile Fame is just theupper end of the admiration spectrum Some people have a desire to be the best intheir field, apart from any external recognition it may bring about Since the most

famous people in a field are largely considered the best (whether correctly or not),

a desire to be the best may transfer into a desire to be famous

4.2What are the common ways that high school students choose to achieve the fame?

The major technique used in this part is surveying because it is a great way todiscover a large amount of respondents’ opposing views To make this part moreclearly, the researchers divided it into three small sections: in society generally, inthe situation of high school students and the differences of becoming famousbetween Vietnam and other nations

The column chart describes the number of participants choosing popular trendnowadays for people chasing fame.

In total 311 joiners, while culture and society stood at the second place with just

65 choices, there were 253 people preferring entertainment being at the top place.About two last sections, one-sixth of participants were attracted by politics andone-eighth of them chose economy

Obviously, entertainment surpassed significantly all other choices to becomethe best way reaching popularity

The following question focuses on the aspects making up a famous person inaudience’s opinion

Question 3: What factors are important roles in famous people?

The bar chart illustrates different votes for the factors that needed to become aperson admired by many people, namely, real talents, social relationship, fortune,financial capacity and social status

Two hundred and twenty nine of 311 joiners (about 74%) decided real talentsshould be the most essential condition It was followed by social relationship

locating at the second place with 164 supports and fortune at the third positioncontaining 110 units Financial capacity together with social status which were twolast sections shared the forth and the fifth selections with 72 points and 52 points.

To a brief conclusion, real talent is always judged higher than the other factors

It is a matter of fact that many celebrities had nothing but their special abilities forthe first begin and, after a lot of time devoting, they gained the marvelous career orsuccess

Presented right next, the question would discover the features that audience isinterested in well-known people

Question 4: What aspects of celebrities do you concern when reading newspapers, watching television or mass media programs?

The diagram demonstrates the interest of students in different aspects ofcelebrities In general, there is a significantly difference, in which charity withsmallest quantity

Having contained most votes with 175 ones, scandal was on the top of public’sattention Privacy being less 16 students than scandal placed at the second position.Achievement stood at the third position with 111 units, being nearly three timeshigher than those of charity with 42 ones It is possible that so obsessed for their

reputation are many celebrities overused the act of joining charities to lighten theirnames, which can unpredictably reverse and raise objection from audience.

In conclusion, well-known people’ successes and private lives seem to be lessexposing to publicity than scandals which are made to attract attentions and itwould be discover deeper right after this

Question 5: How important of scandals in well-known person’s life?

The pie chart describes the scandal’s influence on celebrities’ lives Overall,almost all participants agreed with the idea while the percentage of disagreement isirrelevant

The answers were classified into three main groups: Agree, Neutral andDisagree To specify, more than one half of participants shared the same thoughtthat scandals are necessary for famous people; 30 percent was neutral and just about

18 percent chose the opposing pattern It is undeniable that scandals are created forpublicity, which leads to involved person being known broadly

According to the collected data around the scandal issue, there are more supportsand objections as well Therefore, an interview with 15 high school students wasconducted to answer the question:

4 Recently, many people choose scandals as the method to be famous What do you think about this?

Several conflicting patterns to explain the trend of scandals appearing likemushroom nowadays were recorded

Most students agreed that scandals can be considered as the shortest, fastest andeasiest way to be famous It turns out to be uncomplicated to understand whyscandals are overused especially in showbiz Sharing the same opinion with threeother students, Ngo, N.H from 12A4 of Kim Lien High school said “Theentertainment company takes advantage of it in advertising program for star andgains a lot of profit from it”

However, everything has both side and scandals do not own the exceptions Hoa,

H B H., from grade eleventh – major in Literature at Hanoi - Amsterdam Highschool shared “Scandals can lift you from zero to the top in only some seconds andconversely, you could lose everything in bad scandals as well”, Nguyen, V Q P.,and Nguyen, D T., from same school and Kieu, H Q., together with Ngo, N.H.from Kim Lien high school also are of the same mind

To sum up, scandals play an important role in famous people’s lives In spite ofits drawback, a large number of people still consider scandal as a practical way toachieve the fame

4.2.2.In High School

The target audience for this research was defined as high school students so in thispart, the study will discover common ways of these students to achieve the fame

Question 1:

Do you want to be a famous person?

Question 7: In your opinion, are high school students (from 16 to 18 years old) suitable for being famous?

The first question aims at defining respondents’ opinions about being famous at the age

of high school student (from 16 to 18 years old) in general and themselves in particular.Obviously, anyone has their own decisions which were described clearly in the figure 6.Being asked about desire of being famous, there are nearly one half of people said that theyreally want to become well-known in comparison with only 18 percent of studentsdisagreed

Combining this data with figure seven, readers will be presented a broader and clearerperspective about this matter This pie chart illustrates the conformity of being famousamong high school students

Among 311 respondents, a significant number (nearly half) of students assumed thatthese ages are suitable for being famous The second sector is “Neutral” which occupiedapproximately 30 percent In contrast, there is a small minority of students who actuallydisagreed with this section

Based on these figures, the author came to a small conclusion that the desire of beingcelebrity becomes one of the most outstanding trends in high school students

In the next question, it mentioned directly to students’ approaches to become prominent

Question 8: In your opinion, what are the popular ways of high school

students or teenagers to become famous?

This chart describes high school students’ opposing views about their ways to win thefame with The most unique feature of the diagram is that the column indicated being hotboys or hot girls was the highest.

When the students were asked about the popular ways of being famous, their responseshad brought a surprising result There are 262 among 311 people believed that being hotboys or hot girls is the most common way, followed by joining in entertainment or sports.However, comparing between two first approaches, it is clear that the number of studentswho chose “joining in entertainment or sport” (about 147) is just over one half of the firstsection Two another sectors are good at studying and leading a trend were enormouslylower, they also made up from 83 to 87 choosers Moreover, the figure of people chooseinventing something new was 42 and only 10 students think about others ways

This result reflects a fairly accurate situation in Vietnam today, from these responses;the researchers would like to emphasize the most common way to be well-known in highschool When surfing in the Internet, reading newspapers or watching television, auditionscan easily see a lot of information about famous teenagers and most of them are hot boys

or hot girls This phrase refers to the school girls or school boys who have pretty faces,beautiful pictures, good dressing styles… Furthermore, Entertainment or Sport also can beconsidered as two major fields where students can make their dream come true Someteenagers who have real talent such as beautiful voices, sporting potential, acting abilities