The Robin Williams Effect
Jessica Glazer
Recruitment Director | Top Canadian Recruiter | Placing $100k-$500k+ Roles Across Canada | Fractional Talent Acquisition Specialist I Montreal-Based | Truth Teller | Top 1% on LinkedIn at MindHR Inc Placement Agency
I always find it an awkward moment when a celebrity dies as the emotions are:
"I didn't really know you, and you certainly don't know me."
"You aren't a family member or a friend but somehow I feel like we have some type of connection."
I am by no means an entertainment junkie. I don't follow specific music groups and never had favorite actors so my question is, why do we feel so affected by Robin Willams? O'Captain My Captain!
My first interaction with him was when I was a young girl, home from school and I would watch "Mork and Mindy" My mother would tell me "Turn it off, I have to see that all day as he is exactly like your father". Perhaps that's where my love for him came from. He wasn't my father but rather my fun uncle who lived so far away, in the entertainment world and as I
grew older, he grew older with me.
I was in elementary school when I was watching his stand up comedy in Comic Relief with Billy Crystal and Whoopie Goldberg. My friends and I would be rolling on the floor. I may not have understood all the jokes but I certainly remember his entire body went into his work and all for a great cause. To me, he was funny and caring!
I was in my teens when I saw Good Will Hunting and Dead Poets Society, and he played that teacher we all wanted. He was a role model regarding how we felt adults should be. He played a teacher, but he was a teacher.
In Hook he reminded me the innocence of childhood. His voice soothing and caring. How I wished I too could fly with him.
At the end of Patch Adams, I remember the tears he took from me, as I watched him with sick children...I never cried in movies. His work drew emotions.
Then came Birdcage, where taboo was exposed and I not just watched and laughed but learned after watching it and discussing it with my family, my very own uncle was gay, I had no idea!
Goooooood Morning Vietnam! What can I say?? My father was in Vietnam and it was one of the only movies he not only allowed me to watch, but he watched with me!! My father also bought me the tape so I could listen to the music and he listened with me. Robin Williams, was an inspiration and brought my father closer to a subject he never spoke about.
By the time Aladdin came out I was already in grade 11, but that didn't stop me from singing and laughing in the basement with my friends. As cool as I wanted to be Aladdin made me remember childhood wasn't that long ago. There was no such thing as "not cool", Robin Williams, made us young at heart as he was too, and the proof is in Happy Feet and Toys.
When I was in college I remember being freaked out by One Hour Photo...going to a photo shop was never the same. I thanked him for that and digital photography soon after!
With over 45 movies it's impossible to go through each one but every movie he took on, he provoked catchy lines, laughter and thought. He made it his own and for that I am thankful.
He matched my taste with his humour as I "matured"...it's not deliberate, I know that, but it gave me the opportunity to share my experiences watching his art with my own children, which alone is priceless.
One could say Robin Williams was "just an actor" trying to make his mark day in and day out but he touched our lives in ways I didn't even know, so how could he?
So as I reflect on the death of Robin Williams I realise he really was "just there", even though I quote and post his work on a regular basis, perhaps that is part of the problem. People who suffer from depression don't realise the impact they have on others and those who commit suicide don't see there actually is a light.
It's so unfortunate that we don't know what we have until it's gone as although Robin Williams will always have a place in my heart, his death is a realization how important it is to reach out to people, donate to Suicide Prevention organizations, drug rehabilitation centers and remember... people are important...before it's too late.
Nanu-Nanu, O' Great Funny Distant Uncle you truly made this a Wonderful World.
And for you, as one as one of my friends posted,
"Today we wear our rainbow suspenders a half mast!!"
Nanu-Nanu...
Great post Jessica, can't agree more with your sentiment. Not sure what Mr Becker's point is. "More in dire need than any white man in history";-) RIP Mr Williams..
Executive Business Coach | Intuitive Strategist for Leaders
10 年Fantastic post Jessica!
Since Jessica Glazer was 17 or 18 when Alladin came out (1992), she was 3 or 4 years old at the beginning of the Mork and Mindy era, which lasted 'till she was 7 or 8 (1978-1982.) Her account then jumps to 1986 with Comic Relief, then jumps again to 1997 with Goodwill Hunting although Jessica states she was in high school at the time of its release (she was 22.) Dead Poets was released in 1989, when Jessica was 14 so it seems to be in chronological order, at least with respect to Comic Relief but not Goodwill Hunting. She was 16 at the release of Hook (1983) and 23 at Patch Adams (1998), so despite the fact that she mentions both films in practically the same breath, there is a seven-year spread between the two films. We then we go back in time again and find her commentary about The Birdcage. When she says "then came", she is referring not to the release date, but the date she viewed the film I suppose(?) Then Good Morning Vietnam? It was released in 1987, therefore it was one of Robin Williams' first films! Jessica was 12 which kind of explains her father's watching the film with her. All's well that end well, the last film mentioned is the last film made, One Hour Photo (2002.) RIP Mr. Williams. "On his mentor, Jonathan Winters: "Jonathan taught me that the world is open for play, that everything and everybody is mockable, in a wonderful way.""
You have said it all. He warmed our hearts and made us laugh and none of us were able to provide enough light for him. Thank you for this touching article.