Monday, February 3, 2014

Philip Seymour Hoffman. Another one bites the dust.

Philip Seymour Hoffman died yesterday. Or at least that is when they found his body. If you are on any type of Social Media site it was hard to miss, as is just about anything else, whether you want to know about it or not. It wasn't difficult to guess what might have been the cause of his death.  At the first news of his passing the "feed" was packed with words like sadheartbreaking, genius, and gifted. Later as more news broke the word shocking was added to the list. And then it took only a matter of hours (I say that generously, it was probably more like minutes) for those words to change. Soon the "feed" was packed with words like pathetic, tragic, loser, addict, and junkie. In the blink of an eye, the masses, once again, decide who or what a person is based on their demons. The talent becomes overshadowed by the needle found in his vein.

I'm not saying that it should be this way, or it shouldn't. I don't know. I do know that personally I don't like it. I hate to see people turn so quickly. To dismiss someones beauty simply because of what was ugly. To judge so harshly, a demon that I'm guessing most of them have never battled. It makes me sad. It also makes me angry. There is far too little understanding and compassion in this world, and far to much judging and condemning. That alone, makes it much harder, for certain types of people to find their way. They simply feel it all on a much grander scale.

As I said, I wasn't surprised to hear his death was drug related. I was hopeful that maybe it wasn't, but not surprised that it was. You will rarely find an individual with that level of depth, that has not, at the very least "dabbled", in an attempt to shut some of it off.

I'm sure people will lose interest in bashing as they always seem to do. Soon enough, the overdose won't be the main focus, and hopefully his legacy will be more about what an amazingly talented actor he was. More accurately though, it will most likely turn a sharper corner, and he will be idolized because of his demons.  In either case, I think we miss the point.

RIP, Philip Seymour Hoffman. A man, who despite all of his fantastic character portrayals, will forever be known (to me) as the man that invented "sharting". :)

3 comments:

  1. Stigma, it's a bitch. I'm struggling more with the Woody Allen article that's going around. I love his movies. Apparently that's an unpopular opinion. But to say that he suffers from mental illness may be an understatement. I am sorry for any abuse that anyone had or has to suffer because they live with a mentally ill person. I am also sorry that the mentally ill are an underserved population. In the end, at least in my mind, we all will be what exactly what we are. Human.

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  2. I've read a few different articles, each with their own spin. I've all liked his movies, but at same time, it was hard not to notice something was a little "off" with Woody Allen. Whatever that is, is probably the same thing that makes his movies what they are. The letter from Dylan hit home. And so did the immediate reaction of "who's to say wether it's true or not." That infuriates me. It probably always will. In my mind the victim has far more to lose than gain by coming forward. Our society has made it this way. It's sad, and people are sad.

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  3. I totally agree that it's disgusting how we shame people who come forward with stories of abuse. Also sad is that no one considers what might have shaped Woody Allen's behavior, should he be guilty of what Dylan has put forth. I appreciate that she spoke up. If it's true, I hope they both get help. And yes, her story is hard to read, especially when I've felt so connected to some of his movies. Art is so damn complex. As for the morons who jump to conclusions without a thought - they are sad. They make me feel sad. But they also make me want to think more, feel more, and care more.

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