Robin Williams/Headscratchers


 * Is it just me or is there an alarming number of people who psychotically hate this man? I do realize, despite my irritating, Entry Pimping, often disturbingly overtly sexual Fan Girly love for him, that he's not everyone's cup of tea. But I'm not talking about people snarking about how he's been doing the same John Wayne impression for 30 years, I'm talking about people who want to kill him. There are blogs, Deviant ART pictures, YouTube videos, anything you can think of on the internet dedicated to wishing him dead. Even Futurama got in on the act! And just when I thought that the people who wrote that scene needed psychological counseling, I read about this woman, Raquel Welch (not that one), who made a whole art show about how much she hates him. I AM FUCKING SERIOUS. Where the hell is all this coming from anyway? One thing I have noticed is that in anti-Robin diatribes Patch Adams is always mentioned as his worst film ever (never mind that he has done *cough*ClubParadise*cough* much *cough*LicenseToWed*cough* worse). It's as if because people had an aversion to sentimental comedy / dramas about doctors dressed as clowns, the film was a catalyst that started them thinking "GRR I WANT TO KILL ROBIN WILLIAMS". Now doesn't that sound... unreasonable? I know all this sounds a little paranoid, but keep in mind that on the internet, hyperbole can be very hard to spot. Futurama still has no excuse for that Bender's Game scene though.
 * There are two possibilities:
 * A) Some people are just plain moronic and have nothing better to do than play the Internet Tough Guy and make their dislike for a celebrity into Serious Business
 * B) You, Lurker Bunny have a Jekyll-and-Hyde esque evil alter ego.
 * Let Me Get This Straight.... You're upset because people are taking Robin Williams too seriously? :-P
 * Yes, but these people want to kill him. And I'm afraid one might actually try to. I know that sounds paranoid, but it's not out of the realm of possibility. I know people think I'm crazy for liking him, some have even accused me of being a Stalker with a Crush, but it's not like that. Because of Robin (or rather, because of me rediscovering him through Mork and Mindy), I was able to overcome a nervous breakdown. That's why he means so much to me.
 * It is my theory that the reason why people hate him so much is because they are told to, perhaps forced to by some all powerful unseen entity. This would explain why the hatred is so unanimous and universal. Also, around here a lot of people seem to share the same level of hatred for Robbie Williams, the singer. Perhaps when said entity sent out the memo to here there was a typo.
 * Was the Futurama thing really against Robin Williams? Because I thought it was more about Mork and Mindy, or rather Mork (yes, I know, Robin Williams' character), his funny names, and his seemingly idiotic Fish Out of Water tendencies. Imagine some other show doing a Whole Plot Reference to Mario that calls the Shy Guys Fry Guys, makes their red skin into a nehru jacket, and makes them use atrocious grammar and like robots, then someone online used that as an example of Billy West hatred. Would you think they were reading too much into it? But really, as soon as the brought out the "Wipe Castle" quest, how could you take any Take That that they did at all seriously? Including the Green Aesop, alas.
 * A few things here:
 * 1) Billy West and Fry are not so closely associated with Robin Williams and Mork. Fry is an animated character who was designed before anyone voiced him, while Mork was first and foremost played in live action by Robin. I know I'm sounding like Captain Obvious here, but the point is that Billy in relation to Fry is not comparable to Robin in relation to Mork. Mork will always = Robin Williams.
 * 2) However, actually I was more upset in the first place that it was Mork of all characters being targeted. Mork is an absolute sweetheart of a character, a darling, cute alien who was very strange but always had words of wisdom in the end. And yes, I find him very funny. The fact that anyone would want to hurt him of all Robin's characters... I don't care if they're writing for one of the most beloved animated shows ever, the people who came up with that scene are sickos.
 * 3) Billy West, as far as I know, has not spent the past 10 years being bashed, trashed, shamed, blamed, demeaned, and threatened by critics, internet critics, amateur Perez Hilton wannabes, or the mainstream media just because he took a role people didn't like. But guess who has...
 * 4) My rage has subsided a bit since I initially posted my FANGIRL RAAAAAAAAAAGE over the Bender's Game horror. One reason being that I've run into some Futurama fans who actually did think the scene was gratuitous and in poor taste, the other being an interview with Billy West himself where he lists Robin amongst the voice actors he admires. Like I said, Billy is easy to separate from Fry (at least personality wise).
 * Is it possible to criticise any aspect of this man on the website without getting jumped by a dozen of his fans? It seems anything remotely negative gets quickly edited, or snarked on with some of the venomous postings you can get here. It's rather jarring.
 * That's not just Robin Williams. Every popular person, company or work of fiction on this site will have fans coming along and editing negative comments.
 * It's especially quick and venomous with Robin though, hence my question.
 * That's probably me. Look, I realize I'm the sort of person who gets obsessive about things (if this site were around 6 years ago, nearly every edit I made would have been about Anthony Ainley). But apart from that, the reason I feel I have to defend Robin is the fact that I feel he saved my life in a way. Like I have said above, I overcame a nervous breakdown because Mork and Mindy made me laugh so much and gave me hope for life (it also made me realize he was pretty cute then... and still is, to me). Same with his films. And having met him several times, I think about him as a person, not just an actor. I will admit that maybe it's me who gets hurt more by terrible things said about him than he does (if he reads this place at all... I kinda hope so). That's just the way I am. I now wish I'd never started this IJBM. I shoulda just ranted on my Livejournal or something. If anyone wants me to get rid of this, I'll do it.
 * I've developed a bit of hatred for him since coming here, and it can be explained in only two words. Hype Backlash. I find him a mildly amusing standup comic, but you pimp him so much as if he was Our Lord and Savior that I develop a hatred for him in much the same way that I hate Final Fantasy VII despite it not being a bad game per se, just an extremely overrated one. As for the Futurama bit, I still have yet to see how that was "hatred". I see it more as "taking advantage of an easy pun". They would have done the same with any actor whose famous character resembled that of a fantasy monster.
 * Okay, look folks. As said before, I tend to be a very obsessive person in general, and when Robin more or less saved me from my breakdown, I wanted to just tell the world how wonderful he is. Sorry you don't feel that way.
 * My feeling is, your love of Robin Williams has clearly reached the point of religion, in terms of interest and belief. As such, I think you should probably classify preaching about him the same way you would classify preaching any other religion here on TV Tropes or in public- keeping it strictly to statements of opinion rather than of fact. Otherwise, you don't contribute anything positive to anyone who doesn't already agree with you, and everyone else just gets annoyed. Whenever you're tempted to say something about Robin, imagine for a second if you would be annoyed if someone kept saying the same thing about Jesus, Mohammed, or L. Ron. Hubbard, and if you would be annoyed by people constantly making such statements, don't make the statements yourself.
 * I admit I was pretty religious about him, but it was mostly tongue-in-cheek. But when he had heart surgery I realized he is a mortal just like you and me. And that's probably made me more defensive of him, actually, but that's only because I'm more worried about him now.
 * As for the Futurama thing: I honestly don't think Robin himself gets hurt by the pot-shots that Futurama / Family Guy / Cracked / Saturday Night Live / what have you take at him. But his fans do. Do you know what it's like to be a fan of a guy who somehow became a walking punchline over 10 years ago (Patch Adams wasn't a bad movie, dammit!)? I also know that the people who dislike him are actually in the minority (otherwise there wouldn't be so many people going to see his shows). But they're a very vocal minority. Add the GIFT to that and... Yeah. (Also, I think that if the Futurama bit had been directed at a more currently liked actor, everyone would have been as up in arms as I am.)
 * I honestly think there would have been more laughter if it was a currently liked actor. Most people take that sort of thing as good-natured ribbing. The people who take perceived insults to celebrities personally are a in the minority by far. Besides, number of people who took the Futurama thing as anything other than "hahaha, Mork sounds like Orc with an M" is extremely low. If there was an Animorphs parody with Michael Jackson clones instead of Taxxons, the reaction would be exactly the same.
 * Maybe in 2008, sure. But since Michael Jackson is now Serious Business, there would be riots in the streets over it. :P
 * Yeah, the entire thing was pretty much entirely because they needed something that rhymed with "Ork" and "dork" was too general (and might seem like a rip off of Kids Next Door and its Nerd Zombies). And considering that the slaughter of the Morks was much less graphically brutal than Leela's rather disturbing mutilation of Futurama regular Zoidberg in the following scene, (up to and including ripping out his heart and taking a bite out of it), and that the same movie had Amy become a raging slut and Hermes a gender-flipped hyper-pacifistic centauress, Robin Williams kinda got off lightly in comparison. Hell, the first movie had an army's worth of self-destructing Benders at the end, as well as Fry's repeated apparent (and ) deaths, Hermes' decapitation followed by his wife leaving him and his body being destroyed again, the second movie had Kif being wiped killed and then pseudo-cuckolded, and the fact that the main series included things like a horny Zoidberg maiming Fry, Zoidberg's identical brother being aged to death, the cast of the original Star Trek throwing down with the crew and needlessly losing their newfound bodies, an entire cheerleading squad's worth of Lucy Liu-bots swelling up grotesquely and exploding. Not to mention how we've seen Leela hack apart (the robotic avatars of) her own crewmates with an axe and murder everyone except Fry in a What If episode (another one had giant Bender and giant Zoidberg fighting each other to the death), so I don't think they did anything to Mr. Williams that they wouldn't do much, much worse to towards any other celebrity or especially their own characters.
 * Before I get started, I have to say that I find Robin Williams a very talented, enjoyable actor who brings a lot to his roles, whether it's John Keating in Dead Poets Society or Mork from Mork and Mindy. But when he was on Whose Line Is It Anyway?, I have to admit I was very annoyed at his obvious camwhoring. I know that, to some extent, that's what Robin Williams does so I should just let it go. It's just... ugh, he's not why I watch the show, y'know? I watch it more for the regulars. (Still, though, he was pretty hilarious.)
 * To be fair, lots more gets taped for an episode than is ever shown (some material from one taping was put into multiple episodes- you can often tell by the performers' outfits). The editors may be partially to blame- it's possible Williams toned it down for parts but the editors decided to make it more about him to please his fans. I agree that it was a good episode though.
 * His interview on Inside the Actor's Studio bugs me. I'm not sure whether to blame the man himself, the show's editor, or some poor soul as yet unnamed. Lipton asked some worthy questions, and Mr. Williams' answers WERE more in-depth than I remember from my initial viewing. I just wouldn't have minded a little bit more information. Let us hear his thoughts on mask work (which were touched on), compare improv for comedy versus drama, his approach to building characters, that kind of stuff. If he doesn't want to talk at great length about his process, I can understand, but I get the feeling that the episode was either cut to favor the wacky moments, or else Mr. Williams just digressed from them and never bothered to return. If the former, I'd kill for an uncut DVD of the proceedings. If the latter, that's unfortunate. This is pure Your Mileage May Vary, but I'd have liked to have heard a little more from Robin the Actor.
 * I'm going to quote the Nostalgia Critic in that Robin Williams can either be really funny or really annoying depending on what you see him. His 'Live on Broadway' preformance and such films like Aladdin are him at his very best, showing him to be a very talented actor and comedian. Then there are thing like 'Ferngully' in which I really wanted to strangle him with cheese wire. He is a polarizing figure to say the least, like marmite, you either love him or you hate him. He can be really awesome and funny and then make you want to rip your own ears off.
 * And WHY is this a headscratcher?
 * Um... it just bugs me that the main page for Robin Williams is so ridiculously, slavishly worshipful. I mean, as the above person here mentioned, he can be annoying sometimes, even to people who like him. As for me, I find him to be almost ALWAYS annoying. He has the same creepy man-child thing that Will Ferrell does, not to mention an obnoxious voice and a complete lack of funny jokes. I understand some people find him funny (although I think the OP fangirl on this page needs to calm down), but I don't understand this level of adoration. Sheesh.
 * Personally, I believe that hatred of Robin Williams is a belief so strong that it will replace Islam as the second largest religion on Earth. And while that SHOULD bug me....I actually find it rather comforting.
 * Personally, I've always considered that Robin Williams is cruising along on the good will that people have from his earlier performances. It's hard for younger people to believe this now, but there was a time when Robin Williams was genuinely FUNNY and did things that no other comedians were doing. Unfortunately, it seems that giving him the Oscar for The Fisher King was the worst thing that could have been done, because w/ a few exceptions, everything he did after that were just varying degrees of maudlin.
 * It wasn't The Fisher King, it was Good Will Hunting
 * I wasn't sure to add this to your other page or here, so I'll default to here. No mention of The Birdcage? The Ho Yay is strong with it after all...
 * Has anyone considered if it is possible he is doing this to himself so that he doesn't get typecast? Personally I don't how long I could last if all I was offered were projects reinventing roles like the ones Williams played in "Good Morning Vietnam" and "Alladin". I personally prefer his later work such as "Instant Photo", "Insomnia", and "The Final Cut" where Williams plays roles that are downright creepy. I will always admire Robin Williams but not so much for his comedy but more for his dramatic roles in "Awakenings" and "Good Will Hunting". If this really is an example of bandwagon loathing then it's up to individual people to stand up and state their convictions instead of agreeing with the unwashed masses. He's won Oscars and Golden Globes that show he's been recognized and accolaided by his peers. There is no question he is an actor of immeasureable talent and a comedian of boundless humor.
 * You don't suppose any of the hatred comes from people who find his Funny Foreigner and Camp Gay routines offensive?
 * Eh. I'd be considered a minority in the States, but I still like his stuff. It's true some of the stuff he does can run a little long, and some of his material in his shows are repeats of what he has said and done in interviews, but I still think he's one of the best comedians alive for being able to keep them somehow sounding fresh every time he does it. He spews jokes like it's breathing, and that's a mark of hard work and experience, and I respect him for that. As for his movies, well...he's got good stuff, he's got bad stuff. Some may not like his maudlin roles, but that just shows his incredible range for me. The guy giving his penis names suddenly making people cry? Rock on. Also, his fellow actors actually like him, and he's best friends with Superman. That's gotta count for something, man.
 * He likes 40K? Which army does he play?