(Heath Ledger as The Joker)
“I believe whatever doesn’t kill you simply makes you . . . stranger.”
The Dark Knight
“I've had enough bad experiences and growth to last me plenty . . . Right now, I'd be glad to trade some growth for happiness..”
American Splendor
Heath Ledger’s portrayal of The Joker in The Dark Knight has to be one of the finest performances by an actor in many years. I sometimes wonder if the role played a part in his untimely death.
Jack Nicholson was furious that he was not asked to revive the role he had played in 1989, and apparently warned Ledger about it.
Ledger told reporters he “slept an average of two hours a night” while playing “a psychopathic, mass-murdering, schizophrenic clown with
zero empathy . . . .”
He continued, “I couldn't stop thinking. My body was exhausted, and my mind was still going.”
He also said that prescription drugs did not help.
Unlike Nietzsche, The Joker didn’t believe that hardship makes you stronger. I wonder too. I belong to a caregivers’ support group through the Alzheimer’s Association and one of the ladies in our group lost her mother yesterday. It came as a shock to me, even though she had been ill for a long time, and we all know there is no cure for Alzheimer’s. Nor is there a cure for old age.
I started thinking about my own mother, how I would feel if she passed away. Would I be relieved, as I have often thought and even said aloud in group? Would I feel guilty that I didn’t do more, that somehow I wasn’t able to prevent her illness or make her more comfortable, or spend more time with her? We all do what we can. As another friend in group once said, as long as we do what we do with love, we can feel certain we did the best we could.
I mourn the loss of my friend’s mother. I met her a few times at the nursing home and we exchanged smiles, but no words. She was a beautiful woman with a radiant smile.
I don’t know if the past two years of hardship have made me a stronger person, but they have made me stranger.
In Webster’s dictionary, strange is defined as follows:
1. (a) archaic. of, relating to, or characteristic of another country: foreign; (b) not native to or naturally belonging in a place: of external origin, kind or character
2. (a) not before known, heard or seen: unfamiliar; (b) exciting wonder or awe: extraordinary
3. (a) discouraging familiarities: reserved, distant; (b) ill at ease
4. unaccustomed (“She was strange to his ways”)
Are you strange too?
TIP:
Enter the amount, and click "Tip" to submit!
WorkingSlob
Monsieur Chariot
CynMaRose
Anna Voy
Texas Means Friends
Lucinda Bliss
Salon.com
Comments
...and yes, I do like The Doors, even though I completely disagree with the lyrics as far as my life goes.
I get remembered plenty, and I cannot seem to shake my unease...
If I stand about six feet away from him in the right light, I will sometimes see him look at me intently, chasing a flash of memory or recognition. The times I am least strange to him are when I have brought him banana bread or chicken and dumplings like our mother used to make. Those he wolfs down with a broad smile. Sensory memory seems to be that last to go. Most of his siblings have traveled to see him in the last year. We fear or hope this is his last year in his prison. I am recently reminded that one can hold two conflicting emotions at the same time.
I'm so sorry about your friend's mother. I like the way your friend put how if we do what we do with, we've done the best we can. You do so much for your mom and I admire you so much for that.
Hmmm, I think I'm definitely strange!
JT, I always enjoy checking definitions in the dictionary. So many unknown or little-known meanings of words.
Mary, absolutely. "Different, not less," like Temple Grandin's mom said (I think).
beauty147, beautifully said. I know from whence you speak.
I m sure of it.
HUGGGGGGGG
Great piece, Erica.
I loved Heath ~ he wasn't strange, but he was an actor.
The more familiar I become, the stranger I get.
I am most definitely stranger than most and as strange as I dare to be without giving sufficient reason for commitment (to an asylum, I have plenty of other commitments, thank you.)
And compassion, too, is a strange beast to many. How many of us really feel as if we know how to truly comfort another person in times of stress, need and sorrow? I do my best, but I feel inadequate to the task the whole time.
Maybe that's the key -- if we feel like we're doing it right and that we shouldn't be affected to the point of feeling very vulnerable and unknowing, then would we really be experiencing that thing we call compassion?
See? I told you I was strange.
--r--
Mom warned about wooden slivers. And I am thinking of Walt
Whitman's verse I saw on a tattered calendar several years ago, [sic]
cast off 'ol soul thou with me thee with me....
What the world can do!
671k!
I was watching the american idol show and there were some depressingly insane folks who made you think " so strange"
Delusional about talent level is a bad form of strange. Then, there are great forms of strange or types that seem estranged from this default norm or those that seem like strangers in certain environments. This comment is getting strange.
Very interesting about Heath Ledger. Did not know this about his last role etc.
Kim, I think (being one in my sordid past) all actors are, by default, strange.
Dunniteowl, You are a philosopher. Perhaps we are all strangers, to ourselves and/or others. We all wear masks at some point or another, no?
Wren, thanks for reading and commenting!
Thoth, you are always so insightful. Thank you for reading.
Chicken Maaan, wonderful way to be. Going with the flow is what I try to do, too. One day at a time.
JP, You do sound strange! Ha ha!
fernsy, very profound statement. I try to avoid "American Idol" at all costs. Makes me sad. Hate seeing performers (whether talented or not) abused on stage.