I'll start with this quote:
"It's hard to resist when someone really wants to listen to you. That's a very rare thing in most of our lives."-Ira Glass
I think that's for sure one of the reasons people do interviews. You feel encouraged to speak when someone engages in conversation with you and makes sure they hear every word you're saying. It gives you a sense of affirmation in a sense. They wanna know what you're about and how you feel, so you feel honored that they would ask to interview you. I see that so many times in magazine interviews with celebrities or on talk shows. The interviewee allows permission to be interviewed because they know that someone wants them to be interviewd. Someone cares enough to hear about their life experiences.
His essay makes a good take home point I think about how to be a successful interviewer. (Paraphrasing kind of) If the interviewer let's the interviewee know that they're interested in their answers then it's a success. And if you don't let the interviewee know you are fully engaged in hearing their response, then the interview turns toward failure. So that's something to think about when I conduct my interviews next week and also something to remember when I make up questions.
I don't know if I agree with Errol Morris when he says if people were reasonable, they would never give interviews. I would modify that statement and say, "If SOME people were reasonable they wouldn't do interviews". Take Charlie Sheen for instance. He shouldn't do interviews. It just affirms his deep, deep craziness. Or Gary Busey...or basically anyone on Celebrity Apprentice right now.
Sheen & Busey kind of prove Klosterman's point, I think. They probably shouldn't do interviews, but perhaps they can't help themselves. It's a basic human need not only to answer questions, but also, in their case, for affirmation.
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