Remembering Robin Williams
Posted by Michelle Moquin on August 13th, 2014
Good morning!
I couldn’t help but post one more time about Robin Williams. He impacted our lives in a personal way through his comedy, films, and personal passions of helping the homeless and AIDS to name a few. Through the characters Williams played, some of his movies addressed social issues that also influenced society and elevated those same issues.
From Think Progress:
The sudden death of Robin Williams has left the world without an acting genius. Williams was able to bring characters of all kinds to life not just for a few hours on the screen; he was able to make them stay permanently in his audience’s memory.
Through these characters, Williams was able to elevate social issues in movies in a way that few actors can. To honor the man, Think Progress assembled a list of seven such issues Williams touched in his films. We give you an excerpt below:
1. Homelessness and mental health in ‘The Fisher King’. Williams earned an Oscar nomination for his performance as Parry, a homeless man suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder living on the streets. The National Alliance for Mental Illness named The Fisher King one of the top movies for mental illness, and while there’s been some debate over how accurate his portrayal of mental illness was, the movie clearly reflected Williams’ personal dedication to the issue.
2. Gay identity and gender expression in ‘The Birdcage’. In a time when it was still relatively controversial to be gay in America, Robin Williams and Nathan Lane played a loving gay couple who fought through stigma and showed their son why he shouldn’t be ashamed to be part of a gay family. It was just one of several Williams films that positively portrayed drag to mainstream audiences, but more than that it normalized gay love and adoption writ large.
3. Press freedom in ‘Good Morning Vietnam’. War and censorship are rarely laughing matters, and in other hands the the 1985 film “Good Morning, Vietnam” could have been a maudlin flop. Instead, Robin Williams took on the role of Airman Second Class Adrian Cronauer and performed with such gusto and conviction that the movie rightly is remembered as one of his best.
4. Addiction in ‘The Crazy Ones’. Williams returned to television last year on David E. Kelley’s sitcom “The Crazy Ones,” playing a character not far from himself as Simon Roberts. Roberts, a recovering addict who had struggled with mental health issues (“I prefer nutjob or psychologically interesting,” Roberts quipped), was still able to build a successful advertising agency around his extraordinary energy and creativity.
5. Domestic abuse in ‘Good Will Hunting’. In 1997’s Good Will Hunting, Robin Williams and his co-star Matt Damon worked together to give heightened national attention — and a human face — to the struggles of those who endure domestic violence and abuse. The role earned Williams an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
6. Deforestation in ‘FernGully’. In the 1992 Australian-American film fully titled FernGully: The Last Rainforest, Robin Williams provided the voice to a fruit bat named Batty Koda, in his first role in an animated film. The plot revolves around a protagonist who leaves his rapacious team of loggers that threaten a magical rain forest, and joins the indigenous magical natives to save it.
7. Single parenting in ‘Mrs. Doubtfire’. In character as Mrs. Doubtfire, Williams addresses the stigmas of divorce and single-parenting, responding to a note from a little girl: “You know, some parents get along much better when they don’t live together. They don’t fight all the time and they can become better people. Much better mommies and daddies for you. And sometimes they get back together. And sometimes they don’t, dear. And if they don’t… don’t blame yourself. Just because they don’t love each other doesn’t mean that they don’t love you.”
BOTTOM LINE: Williams’ characters evinced progressivism and were role models for our lives. He showed us what it meant to be compassionate, open-minded, empathetic–and, of course, how to have a good laugh.
♥♥♥♥♥
Lastly…
Goodbye, to another film legend…Lauren Bacall.…We all remember the line, “…You just put your lips together and blow.” Bacall was a combination of classic elegance, talent, and grace. Love and condolences to her family and friends. May she rest in peace.
Peace & Love…
Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.
Gratefully your blog host,
michelle
Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)
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August 13th, 2014 at 10:48 am
Very sad. Such a great actor and comedian. He will be missed.
August 13th, 2014 at 10:48 am
A true legend is lost.
August 13th, 2014 at 10:49 am
Shocked. RIP
August 13th, 2014 at 10:49 am
damn
August 13th, 2014 at 10:49 am
The line between genius and tortured is very thin.
RIP
August 13th, 2014 at 10:50 am
So sad. RIP
August 13th, 2014 at 10:50 am
Definitely one of the comedic icons. Thoughts and prayers go out to his family. RIP
August 13th, 2014 at 10:51 am
Aww I liked him… But he seems like the type.. He was probably back on drugs and alcohal.
August 13th, 2014 at 10:52 am
I worked with him on a movie in the 1990s, I’m a nobody and he took time out to sit and talk to me .. such a great human.
August 13th, 2014 at 10:52 am
Sad that he ended that way. RIP.
August 13th, 2014 at 10:53 am
How sad, he was super talented RIP
August 13th, 2014 at 10:53 am
Well f*ck that sucks..RIP
August 13th, 2014 at 10:54 am
OMG This is so sad. Such a talented person! To many he had it all. So sad.
What a loss to everyone. His family must be devastated.
Condolences
August 13th, 2014 at 10:54 am
Damn.. didn’t see that coming. RIP
August 13th, 2014 at 10:55 am
50- “Ain’t Nothing You Can Do To Stop My Shine, This is God’s Plan Homie, This Aint Mine!” -50
August 13th, 2014 at 10:57 am
Robin Williams has become a joke.
August 13th, 2014 at 11:01 am
Michelle, you may not want to hear this but Robin Williams was not trying to kill himself. He was sitting in a chair whacking off while hanging himself.
It was a tragic accident. It will eventually come out.
August 13th, 2014 at 11:07 am
So sad – a brilliant comic and actor, lost to his person demons. Condolences to his loved ones. We need to change our stance on mental illness and recognize it as a disease, not a character flaw.
August 13th, 2014 at 11:11 am
You are so right about depression being an illness, just like diabetes, it needs medication to level the chemical imbalance.
I’ve been struggling with this and those that don’t know, how hard it is to find the right medication so we just handle it and deal with the demons.
August 13th, 2014 at 11:19 am
Robert, 1, you could be right. David Carradine died that way.
August 13th, 2014 at 11:23 am
Here is a link that describes the discovery of his body and a tribute to this great man.
But when you hear the description of how his body was discovered you can decide for yourself.
http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/robin-williams-apparently-committed-suicide-hanging/story?id=24947586
August 13th, 2014 at 11:26 am
In the movie “worlds greatest dad” the kid didnt commit suicide, he liked to choke himself while jacking it and died while masturbating and his dad covered it up as a suicide.
This may be what happened to Robin Williams. RIP
August 13th, 2014 at 11:28 am
“Robin Williams was like no other,” actor and director Henry Winkler said. “To watch him create on the spot was a privilege to behold.. Robin you are an angel now !!! REST IN PEACE”
August 13th, 2014 at 11:32 am
Williams was a close friend of the late comic John Belushi and was with him March 5, 1982, just hours before Belushi died of an overdose at the Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles. The pain of a friend’s death helped Williams kick his own bad habits, but the cure wasn’t permanent.
August 13th, 2014 at 11:41 am
I think this LA Times article makes for a great short read.
http://touch.latimes.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-81060630/
R.I.P.
August 13th, 2014 at 11:42 am
In the end it really doesn’t matter how he died. His death is a tragedy and we all will miss him.
R.I.P.
August 13th, 2014 at 11:49 am
Thank your Robert I. The truth is always better in the end. But as was said it really doesn’t matter we all loved him. I live in San Francisco and the house where Mrs. Doubt Fire was played is covered with tributes.
I like this commentary from CBS.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/robin-williams-committed-suicide-by-hanging-himself/
August 13th, 2014 at 11:51 am
Your fans can always count on you Michelle to do the right thing. I couldn’t get in yesterday. Thanks for making it available to express my feelings today.
Love you Robin Williams. RIP.
August 13th, 2014 at 12:35 pm
Robert I,
I thought it was odd how they described his body. And I told my friend yesterday, I didn’t think he really wanted to die by 1) the superficial wrist wound (that’s an easy cut to make if you really want to do it) and 2) he was seated and the belt was in an odd location. I didn’t take my thoughts as far as what you propose, but I see now that sadly could be very true.
/SB
August 13th, 2014 at 12:52 pm
Robin Williams will surely be missed. Loved by millions, his comic style cannot be duplicated and was genuinely unique. It is sad that his death is being made into a circus sideshow with so many speculating into the specifics of his final hours.
Is nothing personal & private anymore? I realize that he was a public figure, so there goes the privacy. The news reports his death was suicide, what more does anyone need to know? Family and those closest to him are the only ones that should be privy to anything more.
It is bad enough that the news will milk this tragic story for all it’s worth. Me, I will remember Robin Williams for who I believed him to be. A fine comedian who has entertained me for countless hours.
Robin Williams may you Rest In Peace and thank you for what you did so well, you will not be forgotten.
August 13th, 2014 at 2:04 pm
The Rumor is that Pakistan could go the way of Iraq if something isn’t done. I hear that AnonZ’s connection may be necessary to get the group’s in power to stay together.
If one doubts the power of AnonZ, look no further than Libya. It was rumored that the Chief of police there accepted two of the young kidnapped girls as payment to look the other way for passing through Libya.
AnonZ swore that he would pay. Yesterday authorities found the body of the police chief Col. Mohammed Sweissi, dead in Tripoli.
Already 8 more of the missing girls are being offered for return my other Libyan officials fearing retaliation by AnonZ.
While denying Libya had anything to do with receiving any of the kidnapped girls, Libya has entered a formal protest of interference into the internal affairs of a sovereign nation to the US.
Obama has said that no such person works for the US government in any capacity. So the shadow of AnonZ is looming large in Libya and giving rise to a quick vote by the newly elected Parliament to electing the new president of Libya by direct popular vote.
One can see why the threat of his presence in Pakistan could prevent an uprising in Islamabad. Tahir-ul-Qadri and Tehreek-e-Insaf both fear AnonZ more than they do the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif.
For his part Sharif, has refused AnonZ’s help and instead has decided to rely on his military to keep the peace.
Check you world news concerning Islamabad in the next week to discover if that was a wise decision.
R.I.P. Robin Williams, I was a very big fan.
August 13th, 2014 at 2:06 pm
Ditto Al.
August 13th, 2014 at 4:42 pm
Just so you know:
Apple releases employee diversity statistics, CEO Cook says numbers not satisfactory
Posted 1 day ago by Himanshu Arora Filed in Apple, Industry News
Apple’s US workforce mainly consists of whites, Asians, and males, according to a diversity report released by the company today. The report comes a month after Apple CEO Tim Cook said the company would detail the demographics of its work…
So if you are a woman or a black male good luck getting a job at Apple.
August 13th, 2014 at 4:49 pm
Yaaaaa California:
In an effort to fight smartphone theft, California state legislators yesterday passed a bill that makes it mandatory for smartphone manufacturers to install a “kill-switch” in their phones to render them inoperable if lost or stolen. Introduced by Sen. Mark Leno and sponsored by San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon, the bill passed with a 27 to 8 vote.
“Our goal is to swiftly take the wind out of the sails of thieves who have made the theft of smartphones one of the most prevalent street crimes in California’s biggest cities,” said Leno.
The legislation passed the State Assembly last week.
Smartphone theft accounts for over 50% of all crimes in many of the state’s large cities like San Francisco and Oakland. Several other states including New York and Illinois are also considering similar measures to stem what government officials have called an “epidemic”. According to security firm Lookout, one in ten smartphone owners in the US has had a phone stolen.
The bill, which is now headed to Democratic Governor Jerry Brown for his signature before becoming law, requires all smartphones manufactured and sold in California after July 2015 to come pre-installed with anti-theft tech.
After being introduced at a press conference in February, the bill failed its first vote in the state Senate in April, amid opposition from the wireless communications industry. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) also opposed the bill arguing that the option could be exploited as the bill doesn’t make it clear who would be authorized to turn off a phone. However, the bill passed the Senate two weeks later in early May.
The bill incorporated some changes before it won final approval from the Senate yesterday; its enforcement date was pushed to July from January 2015, tablet computers were exempted from its requirements, and more.
“I commend the Legislature for standing up to the wireless industry and voting to protect the safety of their constituents,” said Gascón.
===========================
Now if we can just get the other states to stop taking brides from these bastards. We’ll we can hope.
August 13th, 2014 at 4:53 pm
I’m gonna make it so my phone’s kill switch releases deadly radiation just so anyone who tries to steal my phone knows if they do they best be ready to die of radiation.
August 13th, 2014 at 4:55 pm
This is downright ridiculous.
The “kill switch” should be on the carrier side to deny registration of any IMEI that’s been reported stolen.
There is no need to install expensive extra’s into the handset itself.
Also the stolen and bricked phones will still be sold online and when you get it, it wont work and the seller mysteriously would be gone.
Also how excatly wil lthis work, if its a software program the phone could just be booted into factory mode and wiped (android anyways) or alternative rom installed without the killswitch app.
If its a hardware fuse type thing that blows and bricks the device no one wins, thieves are often not the smartest bunch and will still steal phones without realizing they will become useless.
Giant waste of money is all it is. What works much better is a national blacklist so stolen phones cannot be registered on networks.
August 13th, 2014 at 9:31 pm
My friend n I were talking about the blog today and what Robert I suggested about the truth of RW’s passing and she said to me a mutual friends boyfriend died the same way. How popular is this crazy fetish?！ do women enjoy it in the same way ? I just don’t get it. -SMH-
August 14th, 2014 at 8:15 am
HAGÅTÑA — Senators have sent a letter to United Airlines regarding the recent string of mechanical mishaps suffered by United aircraft that service Guam.
Among the lawmakers who signed the letter were Brant McCreadie, Tony Ada, Aline Yamashita, Tommy Morrison, Chris Duenas, Dennis Rodriguez and Tina Rose Muna-Barnes.
“The people of Guam are rightfully concerned with the mechanical issues that have been faced by United Airlines. My colleagues and I want to ensure that United Airlines is aware of how important an issue this is to the people of Guam,” McCreadie said.
The senators are asking that United Airlines address the cause of the mechanical issues with the overall goal of replacing the aircraft to ensure “that the lives and the livelihoods of the people of Guam” are not affected.
On Aug. 5, United flight 200 from Guam to Honolulu returned to Guam after take-off due to a “maintenance issue.”
The aircraft landed safely. However, the 297 customers and 13 crew members were delayed for hours before arrangements were made for the customers to complete their journey.
Last month, United flight 201 was forced to make an emergency landing on Midway Island on its way to Guam from Hawaii because of what United Corporate Communications has labeled a “mechanical issue.”
McCreadie acknowledged that United Airlines has been an important part of the island community for decades because of the valuable service it provides.
“I remain confident in the airline and its employees. However, my colleagues and I echo the people of Guam’s desire that measures be taken to ensure that these mechanical issues do not worsen. We respectfully request that United Airlines take corrective measures to ensure the safety of our people,” the senator said.
August 14th, 2014 at 8:53 am
Thank you Robert 1 for bringing this to the attention of the people of Guam. The news item has way more ramifications than it appears to on it surface.
August 15th, 2014 at 9:06 am
[…] Robert I: You are correct, if what you say is true. After reading what you posted it makes sense. It makes his death more sad even though the end result is the same. I just really feel for the family now. I sincerely HOPE that it doesn’t come out in the news. It’s no one’s business. And from what I have been seeing on the news the family is making sure that it doesn’t with all of the talk about his finances, health, etc,. backing up reasons for him to commit suicide. I think I’ll be missing him even more now. Too bad. So sad. […]