A few days ago, my wife and I settled down to watch 'Dead Poet's Society'. I still remember the first time I watched the film on its release in 1989. The excitement raised by the prospect of seizing the day, the challenge to suck the marrow from the bones of life and the inspiration break away from the pressure to be just like everyone else. The mesmerising performance of Robin Williams in that film, with the mix of wisdom, wit and pathos, is one I have returned to again and again. One scene that I have used to illustrate talks over the years takes place in the courtyard of the boarding school in which much of the action is set. Three students are asked to walk around the square and gradually their strides fall into step with each other. The other students observing find themselves clapping in time until the point is made that the pressure to conform comes from all around us and that we need to be free to break in order to be who we really are or, as I would prefer to say, to be the person that God has made us to be.
That sense of being different and thinking freely characterised much of Robin Williams' life. Whether it was the free improvisation on some comment in an interview taking him off on flights of fancy or the almost entirely improvised script for the part of the Genie in Aladdin, Robin Williams had one of those minds that was able to go off on wonderful tangents before reconnecting seamlessly though briefly with reality with hilarious effect.
However behind that performer there was a vulnerability that enabled him to have such range as an actor, taking on the parts of heroes, villains and especially those who were in some way in touch or getting in touch with their brokenness. Much of this came from his own difficult early life followed by huge success and an inablilty to cope with the sudden adulation that came his way. Robin's battles with coccaine and alcohol are well documented as is his battle with the depression that ultimately seems to have led to him taking his own life.
It has been interesting to note that the reactions to Robin's death have frequently made reference to 'Dead Poet's Society', perhaps more than to any of his other films. It may just be that this was one of the defining films for my generation, ending our schooling at about that time,or it may be that it is a film that has touched people more widely. A number of tributes quote Walt Whitman's poem 'O captain, my captain' with its reflection on the death of Abraham Lincoln, another man who was able to think the unthinkable and defy the conventions of his time. As I reflect on Robin's life and death, I don't know where he stood with God, but I can say that the encouragment he, and many of the characters he played, gave to be willing to think freely and even wildly have helped me to encounter the living God who is willing to defy our conventions and be who he really is in all his holiness and splendour. The conventions in Britain today seem to be to push away from faith and conform to some selfish ideal. Let's seize the day and be different to that. God can cope with free thinking.
