Happy Birthday Johnny Depp
"If there's any message to my work, it is ultimately, that it's OK to be different, that it's good to be different, that we should question ourselves before we pass judgement on someone who looks different, behaves different, talks different, is a different colour."
- Johnny Depp
Johnny was one of the first people who made me feel like it was OK to be different. Then he taught me that it was good and fun and fruitful to be different. I owe my existence to his message. If not for him I would have been unable to cope with the world and how alienated I was. I would have killed myself without him as my sanctuary, I can say that with certainty. Whenever people comment that I'm strange/eccentric or look at me like I'm a weirdo I should just say 'blame Johnny Depp', because he is truly to blame for all of this. I'm proud to wear my Mad Hatter badge as an added part of my work uniform to let everyone know who my main man is. The King of Surreality, nothing would be possible without him.
This is the eighth year of our affair. It never loses its sparkle. I can watch his movies countless times and still be amused by the way he squints. Thank Gaga he hasn't made too many boring movies, but I can be distracted from even the best storyline by studying his amazing cheekbones.
It's been an unpleasant year for Johnny and I. I can't even pretend to tolerate this year's release, Transcendence. A truly terrible movie, that was excruciatingly boring. I can't believe how dull it was and how disconnected from the whole thing Johnny appeared. I gained nothing from the movie, the only good thing was getting to watch all of the press he did in the lead-up and listening to him 'errr' and 'uhhhh' his way through a bunch of interviews. I can't wait to get it on DVD, put it in the back row of my collection and then forget that it ever happened. But I still have faith, the next one will be better.
After that disaster I would love for him to go back to work with Tim Burton. Their movies together are my favourites of his back catalogue, gothic and twisted dreams brought to life. But so far as I know they have nothing in development. Whenever they work together it's a guarantee that I'm going to love the end result to death. I love how their movies are complete fantasies, they allow movies to do their purpose: transport the viewers into another world. They are masters and I never want them to stop making movies together.
It's funny how people can watch movies and be entertained and have that be the end of it. Whereas I fully become absorbed and study them and learn things from them. They're tools for me to navigate my way through a world I don't quite understand and Johnny's movies are the most powerful in my bedazzled tool-belt.
Johnny taught me about the power of masks. His endless transformations showed me that I could transform myself into something better, something stronger and something I liked more. The point of masks in this fashion isn't to hide the true identity, rather they're a liberating vehicle that allow you to express your truth in various and sometimes obscure ways. And they can help you forget parts of yourself that you don't necessarily like.
When I first started to take writing as an actual part of my life it was just to create fantasies surrounding Johnny. Nowadays I feel my writing has vastly improved. But my original projects still incorporate a character I imagine Johnny playing when the film adaptation is made. He continues to be an essential vehicle for my creativity.
I view Johnny as my history and my future. He's been the man of my life for the past eight years and I can't imagine anything happening to threaten this.