Tales with Hoffman

[oldmangrumpus]

It seems a lot of the people I know are viscerally upset about the death of Philip Seymour Hoffman. For myself, well, I think it's sad - pathetic, actually - and intellectually I know it's a loss to art, but I'm having a hard time mustering up all that much sympathy for the man himself

Comments

[holyoutlaw]

Could well be. An intriguing idea.

[scarlettina]

You know, everyone reacts differently to these things, and your points make sense. I didn't know the man; I have been a fan of his work, but that's the extent of my connection to him. He was completely unaware of my presence on the planet. No question that the children he leaves behind are the ones who are going to truly suffer as a result of his loss. I don't agree that his death was an act of hubris; I think that hubris takes a kind of self awareness (not the most valuable kind, by any means) that this act suggests he didn't have--or that he had and chose to ignore. I think he was more interested in self medication than anything else. A for what else may have been behind it? No one can say. As I've said before: I mourn the performances we'll never see. I mourn the lost potential. And it saddens me that, with all his resources, he could find no other outlet or solution for whatever it was he was dealing with. And then, we move on.