Robin Williams RIP :(

[floridaorange]

Re: Robin Williams RIP

Robin Williams: 'I was shameful, did stuff that caused disgust – that's hard to recover from'

Robin Williams: 'I was shameful, did stuff that caused disgust – that's hard to recover from' | Film | The Guardian

That's a good article dude. Thanks for finding/posting it.

Off-camera, however, he is a different kettle of fish. His bearing is intensely Zen and almost mournful, and when he's not putting on voices he speaks in a low, tremulous baritone – as if on the verge of tears – that would work very well if he were delivering a funeral eulogy. He seems gentle and kind – even tender – but the overwhelming impression is one of sadness.
Even the detours into dialogue feel more like a reflex than irrepressible comic passion, and the freakish articulacy showcased in

Good Morning Vietnam has gone. Quite often when he opens his mouth a slur of unrelated words come out, like a dozen different false starts tangled together, from which an actual sentence eventually finds its way out. For example, "So/Now/And then/Well/It/I – Sometimes I used to work just to work." It's like trying to tune into a long-wave radio station.

I had a long written out statement about the acting biz and the kinds of people who become actors and do big things, but I really don't think it's going to make a whole lot of sense in this forum. But I would just say, it's a brutal business and a strangely psychological business as well. RIP RW, you were a master of the art.

[KiwiTollway]

Re: Robin Williams RIP

I know his most loved films are Dead Poet's Society and Good Morning Vietnam, and the serious roles, but by far, the one that means the most to me is "Mrs Doubtfire." [1993]. I remember when it was first released. It's very serious & funny. Everyone sees it as a zany comedy, but it handles the subject of "Parental Alienation" in an important way that brings light to those fragile moments many parents feel & Robin Williams must have felt before taking his own life.

In Mrs Doubtfire, his character is alienated from his children due to his wife characterizing him as 'not good enough, not a good provider, too childlike in nature,' etc. To her, he is like another child rather than a husband/spouse and she's tired of shouldering all the responsibility and wants him out. He goes to any lengths to be with his children. He'll endure watching the wife he still deeply loves date another man, he uses a disguise and deceives everyone he loves for his primal basic need to be with his children on a daily basis.

I'll never forget the court room scene where he says to the judge [paraphrased in my own words] "Do to me whatever you will, all the things she's said about me are true & I take responsibility for my shortcomings. But know this about me, I MUST BE with my children." Still, the judge favors his wife (played by Sally Fields) and awards custody to her, leaving William's character with little contact. His ex-wife takes some mercy on him for this one redeeming quality he holds of loving his children through all barriers & obstacles.

William's character in this movie gets up daily at 4 am to put on an elaborate disguise to be with his children as Mrs Doubtfire, their caregiver. And for reasons unbeknownst to his ex-wife, she feels an attraction to this unattractive, seeming woman, so much so she invites William's character to vacation with her and her new lover. And he goes! He goes along watching his wife build a life with their children and another man. Because to him, eating canned spaghetti on cardboard boxes in a dirty apartment on the wrong side of town makes no difference, as long as he's with his children. I love this film and all it represents.

Regarding depression and the shame he's admitted to feeling. As a parent, I'm confident he wanted to be with his children in real life. Maybe he was convinced, for probably logical reasons to him in the moment, that his kids would be better off without him or that he was a burden to anyone he loved? Suicide is a moment of insanity. In my own depression thinking thoughts of "If I just turn the wheel of my minivan over this overpass, all this pain will end." or "I'm in the garage now all alone for the day, I'll just leave the car running and go to sleep, forever." That primal need to 'be with' my children in life is sometimes the only thread holding my physical life together. Like the previous article stated, as we age, some challenges get more difficult to endure because we're also simply aging, whether you have a successful career and are loved by all, there's always the aging.

For me, Robin Williams represented well how his character, Mrs Doubtfire, held on with all his might to his children in any way possible, allowable or not. And Robin Williams did that with excellent acting ability; I believe because he could relate. And in the end, his ex-wife in the film sees that quality as one worth holding on to and having him as her husband even though their children have all adjusted quite well to the divorce arrangement and the new man in her life who also wants to marry her. He's (played by Pierce Bronson) handsome, successful, loving, and will be a great provider.

I am very sad that there will not be a Mrs Doubtfire 2 as was in the works. But, so much more than that, I am so grieved that Robin Williams (the man) most likely felt in that moment of despair, the lie that his children would all be better off without him. For that, I imagine, is the one and only reason any parent gives up on themselves or their lives. He endured his illnesses and addictions and yet, could not convince himself his sadness/pain would pass. If he could have just held on and let it pass, he could have saved his life and the grief his children are now facing without him. RIP Robin Williams

[KiwiTollway]

Re: Robin Williams RIP

for the record, I don't care if the above post doesn't make sense in this forum. It's called General Yakkity Yak.


"I used to think the worst thing in life was to end up all alone.
It's not. The worst thing in life is to end up with people that you make you feel all alone." -Robin Williams

[Miroslav]

Re: Robin Williams RIP

You know, it's astounding when you think of it on one level... Here was a man who in comparison to most others in the world seemed to "have it all."

Lots of money? Check.
Beautiful home north of SF? Sure.
Talented and funny? Immensely.
Famous and adored by fans? Yep.
Loving family and great kids? By what accounts I've hear, seems yes.

And yet...here we are today. For all of that looks like he should have been enjoying life with what he had, there was something in him for which none of these things could compensate.

It's so sad. And such a telling tale... not that wealth and all those things are necessarily bad, but in the final analysis, they just aren't enough to make life "worth it." It's the cliche we're often told, and here we see how true it can be.

[AchtungBaby!]

Re: Robin Williams RIP

You know, it's astounding when you think of it on one level... Here was a man who in comparison to most others in the world seemed to "have it all."

Lots of money? Check.
Beautiful home north of SF? Sure.
Talented and funny? Immensely.
Famous and adored by fans? Yep.
Loving family and great kids? By what accounts I've hear, seems yes.

And yet...here we are today. For all of that looks like he should have been enjoying life with what he had, there was something in him for which none of these things could compensate.

It's so sad. And such a telling tale... not that wealth and all those things are necessarily bad, but in the final analysis, they just aren't enough to make life "worth it." It's the cliche we're often told, and here we see how true it can be.

Very well said...

[sbando]

Re: Robin Williams RIP

Bullshit. He was close to bankrupt, has been dealing with substances abuse since his youth, he was a restless spirit with little or no peace of mind. You people are talking about what he meant to you because of a few sappy movies, not what he was.

[KiwiTollway]

Re: Robin Williams RIP

You know, it's astounding when you think of it on one level... Here was a man who in comparison to most others in the world seemed to "have it all."

Lots of money? Check.
Beautiful home north of SF? Sure.
Talented and funny? Immensely.
Famous and adored by fans? Yep.
Loving family and great kids? By what accounts I've hear, seems yes.

And yet...here we are today. For all of that looks like he should have been enjoying life with what he had, there was something in him for which none of these things could compensate.

It's so sad. And such a telling tale... not that wealth and all those things are necessarily bad, but in the final analysis, they just aren't enough to make life "worth it." It's the cliche we're often told, and here we see how true it can be.

But things, success, even relationships sometimes can't satisfy a person's inner being. Maybe actors (good ones) are those who through their acting roles are looking to transcend themselves through their physical self (name, success, family) to find the source of their being, which they often feel alignment with while acting as a character, or doing drugs, or however they can really relax and be their core selves?

Maybe the source of their being, at the moment of taking their own life, is so far out of alignment with itself, there's a fog keeping them separated from who they really are and in really appreciating all they have in this life? The battle, after all, is in the mind, through our thoughts, not through what shows up as way of things, people, & experiences. And he was ill. He's still with all of us, he's just on the other side of the veil, now at peace. He's now in constant alignment with his own being and he's seeing his life from an eternal perspective.

All we can see is this illusion of houses, cars, adoration, achievement, success, etc. But that's a very limited, illusory perspective. If you can't find enjoyment in who you are at your core, you can't enjoy anything life offers. And sometimes, we just have faulty mechanics in our brains and can't "see" things clearly.

[sbando]

Re: Robin Williams RIP

Success messes up people's lives, it doesn't fix them.

[sbando]

Re: Robin Williams RIP

Aren't you the same people (not Kiwi, of course) who just a few weeks ago were writing stupid and ignorant things about depression? What a bunch of cunts.

[Micko]

Re: Robin Williams RIP

RIP Robin

[Miroslav]

Re: Robin Williams RIP

Aren't you the same people (not Kiwi, of course) who just a few weeks ago were writing stupid and ignorant things about depression? What a bunch of cunts.

Smile and think of something positive. It just might improve your disposition. Life is too short to blanket slander everyone around you.

[floridaorange]

Re: Robin Williams RIP

Success does not give a person meaning

[trick12]

Re: Robin Williams RIP

Bullshit. He was close to bankrupt, has been dealing with substances abuse since his youth, he was a restless spirit with little or no peace of mind. You people are talking about what he meant to you because of a few sappy movies, not what he was.

thats true, u never really know how someone is doing just from what he seems like to you, and whats considered happiness by others may be nothing to some...

RIP

[DIDI]

Re: Robin Williams RIP

Smile and think of something positive. It just might improve your disposition. Life is too short to blanket slander everyone around you.

It doesn't work like that, not even remotely. In fact that is a really good way to make sure you are isolated.

[AchtungBaby!]

Re: Robin Williams RIP

whats considered happiness by others may be nothing to some...

RIP

This is definitely true and im sure everyone will agree ... There are a few things that (imo) are basic to be generally happy such as health, feel loved at least at some level (family, friends, etc) and money to assure basics needs (this could be debatable but you'll know what i mean) .... unfortunately money makes easier two of them and often has negative results on the third one...


If you think it well, being happy is easier than it seems... Human beings made a good job turning this into a nightmare for lots of people