Comics Bulletin logo
Search
  • Columns
    Random
    • 5/2002

      Jeannie Deej
      April 27, 2002
      Ambidextrous
    Recent
    • The Full Run: Usagi Yojimbo – The Wanderer’s Road Part 2

      Daniel Gehen
      December 4, 2020
    • The Full Run: Usagi Yojimbo – The Wanderer’s Road Part 1

      Daniel Gehen
      October 30, 2020
    • Comictober 2020: DRACULA MOTHERF**KER

      Daniel Gehen
      October 27, 2020
    • What Looks Good
    • Comics Bulletin Soapbox
    • The Full Run
    • Leading Question
    • Top 10
    • The Long-Form
    • Jumping On
    • Comics in Color
    • Slouches Towards Comics
  • Big Two
    Random
    • 3.0

      Team-Up Review: 'Thunderbolts #1'

      Jeannie Deej
      May 9, 2016
      Big Two, Marvel Comics, Team-Up Review
    Recent
    • Retro Review: Detective Comics #826 Remains a Holiday Classic

      Daniel Gehen
      December 3, 2020
    • Stan Lee

      nguyen ly
      November 7, 2020
    • Collecting Profile: Jack O’ Lantern

      nguyen ly
      October 31, 2020
    • DC Comics
    • Big Two Reviews
    • Marvel Comics
  • Indie
    Random
    • Review: Aliens Salvation HC

      Jeannie Deej
      September 22, 2015
      Dark Horse
    Recent
    • Review: The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist

      Daniel Gehen
      December 14, 2020
    • The Full Run: Usagi Yojimbo – The Wanderer’s Road Part 2

      Daniel Gehen
      December 4, 2020
    • 4.5

      TMNT: The Last Ronin #1 Lives Up to the Hype (Review)

      Daniel Gehen
      October 29, 2020
    • Reviews
    • Archie Comics
    • Boom! Studios
    • Dark Horse
    • IDW
    • Image
    • Oni Press
    • Valiant
  • Reviews
    Random
    • 4.0

      Minicomic: Henry & Glenn Forever & Ever

      Jeannie Deej
      June 28, 2012
      Reviews
    Recent
    • Review: The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist

      Daniel Gehen
      December 14, 2020
    • Retro Review: Detective Comics #826 Remains a Holiday Classic

      Daniel Gehen
      December 3, 2020
    • 4.5

      TMNT: The Last Ronin #1 Lives Up to the Hype (Review)

      Daniel Gehen
      October 29, 2020
    • Singles Going Steady
    • Slugfest
    • Manga
      • Reviews
    • Small Press
      • Reviews
      • ICYMI
      • Tiny Pages Made of Ashes
  • Interviews
    Random
    • Billy Tucci: Sgt. Rock and an Appreciation for War Veterans

      Jeannie Deej
      July 18, 2009
      Interviews
    Recent
    • Interview: Jon Davis-Hunt Talks SHADOWMAN

      Daniel Gehen
      June 8, 2020
    • Interview: Becky Cloonan talks DARK AGNES and Her Personal Influences

      Mike Nickells
      March 4, 2020
    • Simon Roy

      Interview: Simon Roy on His Inspirations and Collaborations on PROTECTOR

      Mike Nickells
      January 29, 2020
    • Audio Interview
    • Video Interview
  • Classic Comics
    Random
    • Small-Press Super-Heroes of the '80s: Zenith

      Jeannie Deej
      November 21, 2014
      Classic Comics Cavalcade, Columns
    Recent
    • Countdown to the King: Marvel’s Godzilla

      Daniel Gehen
      May 29, 2019
    • Honoring A Legend: Fantagraphics To Resurrect Tomi Ungerer Classics

      Daniel Gehen
      February 15, 2019
    • Reliving the Craziest Decade in Comics History: An interview with Jason Sacks

      Mark Stack
      January 2, 2019
    • Classic Comics Cavalcade
    • Classic Interviews
  • News
    Random
    • Welcome to the New Comics Bulletin!

      Jeannie Deej
      November 1, 2011
      News
    Recent
    • 2020 Ringo Awards Winners Announced

      Daniel Gehen
      October 26, 2020
    • BAD IDEA Announces 2021 Publishing Slate

      Daniel Gehen
      September 29, 2020
    • A Full Replay of NCSFest 2020 is now Available

      Daniel Gehen
      September 15, 2020
    • Press Release
    • Kickstarter Spotlight
  • Books
    Random
    • 'Will Eisner: Champion of the Graphic Novel' is a Great Tribute to the Master Cartoonist

      Jeannie Deej
      May 23, 2017
      Books, Classic Comics, Classic Comics Cavalcade
    Recent
    • Collecting Profile: Disney Frozen

      CB Staff
      November 22, 2019
    • Collecting Profile: NFL Superpro

      CB Staff
      August 31, 2019
    • “THE BEST OF WITZEND” is a Wonderful Celebration of Artistic Freedom

      Daniel Gehen
      September 15, 2018
    • Review: ‘Machete Squad’ is a Disappointing Afghan Memoir

      Jason Sacks
      July 31, 2018
    • Review: ‘Out of Nothing’ is the Antidote to Our Sick Times

      Jason Sacks
      July 23, 2018
    • Review: ‘Bizarre Romance’ Shows Rough Edges in the Early Days of a New Marriage

      Jason Sacks
      July 10, 2018
What's New
  • Collecting Profile: Batwoman
  • Collecting Profile: Daredevil
  • Collecting Profile: Floronic Man
  • Review of Cheetah in Wonder Woman 1984
  • Review: The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist
  • Collecting Profile: Transformers
  • RSS Feed
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Google+
  • Contact Us
  • Write for us!
  • Visit Video Game Break!
Home
Columns

On the Loss of Robin Williams: The Art of Emotions

Jeannie Deej
August 13, 2014
Columns, Shot for Shot

It’s the saddest domino effect in the age of information. Bad news flying as fast as the high-speed DSL will carry it. R.I.P. statuses accompanied by links to canonized images and videos. Anguished tweets representing real life gasps and exclamations of disbelief. Tombstoned memes. Harried press releases bloated with shock and starved of details. Interviews and articles recalled from binary archives to be re-read in a devastatingly fresh tone of sorrow and loss. Within a day, we are saturated by the spectacle of death, delving further and further into our thoughts on Robin Williams. A man few of us knew, but so many of us loved.

Inevitably there is backlash, pitted against the worship of celebrity culture in a world brimming with humanitarian disasters and untenable daily hardships. Disbelief that so many care so outwardly about the passing of one person on a screen, when there are genocides and massacres the world needs to know about. Bickering over how to appropriately express grief and demands on how we should be prioritizing the underlying issues. Arguments over the personal decisions of a man in the lime light. Conjecture, posturing, and opportunistic chest-puffing.

I consider myself an empathetic person, engaged with world news, and cognizant of the rhythmic pulse of life. Aware that the heart has the capacity to simultaneously love as many different people and things as it is able to mourn. Steadfast in my belief that none should be shamed for expressing their feelings. And appreciative of the fact that sometimes we don’t fully understand why we feel the things we do.

When I read the first post about Robin Williams’ death, I felt it in my heart. His image had so recently been in my living room promoting a TV show that was destined for only a single season. My kneejerk reaction, silly but sincere: I should have watched The Crazy Ones. As if, somehow, an improved audience would have alleviated all that ailed Mr. Williams. My second thought resonated with a million of its brethren washing over a population raised on his work: I hope he knew how much we loved him. As if, somehow, if I had a moment to sit beside him to fully express how his characters and his commentary made strangers laugh and cry and how that made us care about him, it may have cured his depression and helped him overcome any residue of his battle with addiction.

That is, of course, not how mental illness works. And that is not the essence of celebrity/audience relationships. As 3rd party viewers to both, we the family and the fans, are attached to and disconnected from the sufferer and the face on the screen in ways that are surprisingly complex. And while I can’t explain the nature of these entanglements, I can try to unknot the threads of my own emotions and lay them flat in an effort to understand how they are tied to me. How he is tied to me.

Robin Williams has been making me laugh since I was old enough to pick out my own shows on TV and buy my own tickets to the movies. My best friend and I would rattle off quotes from Good Morning Vietnam with such frequency they became like mantras. I wore out the VHS copy of Hook from overuse, even after I saw it a half-dozen times in the theatre. My mother would laugh as heartily at “a run by fruiting” every time it was on the TV as if she was seeing Mrs. Doubtfire for the very first time. There have been occurrences in my life when I recalled the sage advice of Sean Maguire and incorporated it into my own personal decisions. I thank the writers of these moments as gratefully as I thank Robin Williams for understanding their words and delivering them to me (or ad libbing, as he was wont to do) in such a way that resonates. In such a way that they made me feel attached to him, emotionally, if not physically. In such a way that was relatable, calming, cheering, moving. Williams, through his acting, showed me how a sincere sense of humanity can be displayed through comedy as successfully as through drama. To me, he is an association to and proof of the existence of crinkly-eyed joy, brilliant free-associations of the mind, and a youthful exuberance that really can exist in adulthood.

His presence had become familiar. There is peace in familiarity. And there is comfort in the anticipation of seeing that which is familiar. I have always turned to his movies and his standup to laugh, to cheer me up, to make me think. Each stage in his career reflecting a stage in my life, like markers, helping me remember earlier times and feel like I felt back then. I turn to friends and family for these same wants. The relationships are fundamentally different, but the affect they can have, in the mind and in the heart are essentially the same. When Mr. Williams made me laugh, I was reminded of all the previous smiles he brought to my face. I was reminded of the giggle fits he induced in my friends in our childhood. The snorts he evoked from my mother. I’m saddened by the thought that his life is now destined to be as nostalgic to me as those memories. I had taken for granted that he would always have more to give. More mania, more subtleties, more assurances that it’s not my fault. It’s not my fault. It’s not my fault. Accompanying someone through decades of their life is an intimacy. One sided, in this instance, but no less important in what I took from him and what he gave to me.

It is a long-standing notion, the ease with which we can proclaim an emotional attachment to paintings or music. The fact that such pieces can have a personal impact on an individual is universally accepted. For some, the mourning of a celebrity by an audience of strangers is seen as a hollow endeavor. But I consider Robin Williams an artist. His celebrity is of no consequence. It’s his work and his spirit that have invaded my headspace and moved me to feel deeply. Immortalized by his catalogue of classics, remembered fondly for his gentleness, generosity, and genius. As a human being, he had so many sides that I will never see and never know. As an artist, he has left me with portraits that I have analyzed endlessly. I will hang them lovingly in the halls of my memories til I too take my final bow.


Thanks to our friends at Two Geeks Talking for letting us share this content.

Two Geeks Talking is a partner in Crossroads Alpha along with Comics Bulletin.

Jeannie DeeJRobin Williams

Share On:
Tweet
Review: ‘Dream Thief’ vol. 1 presents a world that begs to be read
Review: ‘Feline Classics/Canine Classics: Graphic Classics Volume 25’

About The Author

<a href="http://comicsbulletin.com/byline/jeannie-deej/" rel="tag">Jeannie Deej</a>
Jeannie Deej

Jeannie Di Giacomo is a human. She is nice, curious, enjoys the written word and a competitive game of hot hands. She has authentic prescription glasses, worn unironically while exploring her attraction to Science and the Arts. Trained in English Lit and Creative Writing, competent in Philosophy, and present in Psychology, her post-graduate works have focused heavily on scripts, fiction, and content creation. New to the world of journalism, Jeannie is titillated by the opportunity to ask others the questions she asks herself. And then write about it.

Related Posts

  • Superhero Films – Chapter 16: Popeye (1980)

    John Clark of HaphazardStuff.com
    December 20, 2014
  • E-disHarmony: The Shortage of Blue Ribbon Villains

    Jeannie Deej
    October 25, 2014

Latest Columns

  • The Full Run: Usagi Yojimbo – The Wanderer’s Road Part 2

    Daniel Gehen
    December 4, 2020
  • The Full Run: Usagi Yojimbo – The Wanderer’s Road Part 1

    Daniel Gehen
    October 30, 2020
  • Comictober 2020: DRACULA MOTHERF**KER

    Daniel Gehen
    October 27, 2020
  • What Looks Good for the Week of 10/14/2020

    Daniel Gehen
    October 12, 2020
  • The Full Run: Usagi Yojimbo – Monster Mash!

    Daniel Gehen
    October 9, 2020
RSSTwitterFacebookgoogleplusinstagramtumblr

Comics Bulletin is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for website owners to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com, audible.com, and any other website that may be affiliated with Amazon Service LLC Associates Program. As an Amazon Associate, Comics Bulletin earns from qualifying purchases.

All content on this site (c) 2018 The Respective Copyright Holders