People are sharing so much -- and so personally -- about Robin Williams, that Im almost reluctant to weigh in at all. I was never more than a fair-weather fan, and so Im reluctant to join a chorus of more ardent fans, who are probably taking the news harder than I am. But I did have one thought, which I have not seen, and that I thought might be worth sharing. I felt like my relationship to Robin Williams was somewhat like the archetypal relationship between a kid and his parents. Hear me out. When youre a kid, everything your parents do seems awesome, amazing, and perfect. They are authorities, they are geniuses, they know it all and can do everything. For me this started with my first encounter with Williams (Alladin) and ended with my last for a long, long time (Good Will Hunting). At some point, however, you start to take your parents for granted. You find their previously charming genius to be predictable, grating, and obnoxious. You roll your eyes at them. You find them embarrassing. You wish they would just shut up. Theyre so dated. And thats how I felt about Williams during most of my 20s. To be honest, I stopped following his work for a long time. Again, with your parents, many of us, and certainly I, reached a point where I recognized their wisdom and experience. Recognized that there was more nuance and depth to their perspective than I had either seen in my childlike awe or my adolescent disdain. You realize that they are better than adolescent disdain, and worthy of more than childlike awe. They deserve respect and understanding. Having heard or read an interview or two with Williams over the last few years, I had come to the same point. This was a man who saw the humanity -- and occasionally tragic humanity -- in humor; that humor is a by-product of a violent and chaotic universe. That laughter is a by-product of sorrow, and all the more dear for that contradiction. How worthy. How difficult. And so, he always challenged himself. Despite the Williams schtick, which he often tried to escape or transcend, he was always trying to push envelopes: of a coherent morality, of a personal identity, of a humor that could be nothing less than anarchic. That is a rigor worthy of great respect. This Robin Williams as your parents analogy implies one other thing: how personally he injected himself into the life of his audiences. People related to him on an intensely personal level. They disliked him personally, they loved him personally, and mostly, they laughed with him as they would with a slightly profane, slightly senile, but always sympathetic uncle. I think that is why this particular celebrity death has cut to the quick -- and so quickly -- with so many of my friends. So many friends who are so very different from each other. With Robin Williams, its more personal. With Robin Williams, its almost like it is family.
Posted on: Tue, 12 Aug 2014 05:41:41 +0000
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