Was Orlando Bloom
supposed to play Balian with no personality?
shareProbably, the script had him not responding to many questions. Hard to infuse some personality into that.
A blacksmith is like today's engineer. Not a very social vocation.
Modern engineering 'not a very social vocation'? How many engineers do you know? ๎๎๎
And blacksmithing was as social as a medieval occupation got - your forge was always central to village society and economy, and everybody had to come to you, explain what they needed and haggle for the cost. Besides, this blacksmith is supposed to have picked up irrigation techniques and the very latest principles of fortification and artillery, which he can only have done by scraping acquaintance with the practitioners of those skills and picking their brains.
Not going to get too off topic but you are off base. If you think engineering is social, keep enjoying what you're smoking.
Taking orders is not being social.
I'm reasonably sure that my chemical engineer father, my construction engineer brother and my many military engineer neighbours are not figments of a druggy dream - and all of them can and do talk the hind leg off a donkey.
But youโre right, this is off-topic, since movie-Balian is a blacksmith, not an engineer. What is on topic is that he must have been an expert schmoozer, to have managed to learn so much about professional skills that had no bearing on his own occupation, and some which it would in fact have been actually illegal for anyone to teach him.
You can be social when you're off the clock. In general, you're engaged in what you're doing.
When I used to work in a shop doing rapid prototyping, I was surrounded by people. We hardly talked when we were working at all. Mostly just simian grunts and gestures at best.
Conversing is for when you're playing. Design and work are done quietly. There's a rhythm to it.