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Less is not more, more is more

Posted by Bookworm on August 02, 2004

In Reply to: Less is not more, more is more posted by Kashima on August 02, 2004

: Thanks for helping me with the word "Pan the Man".
: Would someone help me again with the following phrase?
: An actor says in an interview,
: "This (=doing a voice for a funny and shrewd character in a animation film) is so fun for me, to be able to be larger than life. And in animation less is not more. More is more in animation"
: What does "less is not more. More is more"?

: I am also not so sure of the meaning of "be larger than life." Does it mean to be more bold and daring, or to overact in perfoming?

There is a saying "Less is more" which means that when something is understated or done in a low-key manner, it's much more effective than if it were done with a lot of fanfare and exaggeration. When the speaker says "Less in not more", he is saying that in animation, one cannot afford to be understated and must exaggerate. Larger than life could indeed mean overact as you suggest, when referring to a perfomrer. Here is a M-W Online definition for larger that life:

Main Entry: larger-than-life
Function: adjective
: of the sort legends are made of

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