Death of a Genie

No one could have guessed that the next tragic celebrity death we'd be dealing with would be that of Robin Williams. My social media feeds have been so full of things about Robin Williams, be it simple signs of memorial with people standing on desks, quotes from favorite movies, or articles about him, that I'm almost getting tired of it. Maybe you are too, and even if you aren't I'm going to try to keep this as concise as I can.

I think there are two reasons the world is so shocked about his death. One, being that he provided so much happiness and laughter for others, and two being the reason of his passing. It is unnerving and hard to fathom that someone seemingly so passionate and joyful, who could bring so much laughter to the world, was in fact so isolated and joyless.

Many took to Twitter to post their thoughts, and many of them simply said there were no words to describe how they felt. But one very popular tweet has me unsettled and I think I finally figured out why.

The Academy tweeted out this last night:

As you can see, it's been retweeted and favorited many times. Some have called it the 'perfect' way to pay tribute, or memorialize, or whatever it is you're trying to achieve. 

At first glance, it seemed kind of nice. After about 3 seconds it seemed kind of... off. 

In case you're a little fuzzy on the ending of Aladdin, in the Disney Aladdin movie, Aladdin uses his final wish to set the genie free. It's a semi-emotional scene with the genie being taken aback that he would do such a selfless thing, and Aladdin declares again that is his intent with "Genie, you're free." Some magic happens, the genie rises up, his cuffs of enslavement to the lamp are broken away, and he is free.

It's a joyous occasion.

Suicide... is not a joyous occasion. 

The image could also imply that suicide is a solution to freeing yourself of your demons or your pain. I don't think that's the message you'd want to send to someone dealing with depression and suicidal thoughts. 

There is a much better, more proper way, to handle this, and that would have been with another quote that follows immediately after the scene where Aladdin frees the genie:

Yes we will, Aladdin, yes we will.