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Keanu Reeves: A Love Letter

2019-05-21 · letter vlog · John · 3:49 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Pop culture (also: Philosophy & meaning) · mode: Personal essay · tags: timely hook

John, wary of the celebrity machine, explains why he loves Keanu Reeves: a great actor who listens carefully in interviews and keeps a private self inside the 'Mickey Mouse suit' of fame, a lesson that everyone can be kind and listen carefully.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — The celebrity industrial complex, Keanu's new-movie PR, and John loving Keanu anyway

  • ★★ John says he has seen up close how the celebrity industrial complex manufactures heroic or villainous narratives, whichever pays, and is disturbed by corporations commodifying souls to sell tickets. — 00:00:00 · celebrity
  • ★★ John acknowledges people are talking about Keanu Reeves only because he has a new movie out and PR gets free advertising, but he still loves Keanu. — 00:00:00

00:00:29 — Not a golden god, but nearest to enlightenment; Keanu as a great actor (Hamlet, Bill and Ted, My Own Private Idaho)

  • ★★ John says Keanu is no golden god: people who want someone to admire should look to teachers and librarians, not actors or novelists. — 00:00:29
  • ★★★ John thinks Keanu hasn't achieved enlightenment, but from what he knows has come closer to it than any other famous person. — 00:00:29
  • ★★ John says Keanu is a great actor; some people don't get his acting, just as some don't get why Shakespeare was great, but he still was. — 00:00:29
  • ★★ John says Keanu turned down $11 million for Speed 2 to play Hamlet in Winnipeg, and the Sunday Times critic called it one of the top three Hamlets he had seen. — 00:00:58
  • ★★ John grants Keanu has been in bad movies but believes he has never been bad in a movie. — 00:00:58
  • ★★ John calls Keanu a great comic actor (Bill and Ted is a classic), a wonderful dramatic actor (My Own Private Idaho) and an action icon who can hold a gun. — 00:00:58

00:01:27 — Keanu's off-screen work: keeping a sense of self with the press; acting and interviewing as listening

  • ★★★ What fascinates John most is Keanu's off-screen work with the press and his seeming ability to keep a sense of self while famous, which John reports is tricky. (hedged) — 00:01:27 · celebrity
  • ★★ John gives examples of Keanu in interviews: respecting Buddhism without having 'taken refuge in the Dharma', calling Hollywood gossip another universe, and his memification 'that internet deal'. — 00:01:27
  • ★★★ John agrees with Hank that Keanu is brilliant at interviewing because he really listens to precisely the question asked and answers it carefully. — 00:01:56 · Hank Green
  • ★★★ Before knowing actors, John thought acting was pretending, a form of lying; now he thinks acting is mostly about listening. — 00:01:56

00:02:26 — What we know and don't know about Keanu; the Mickey Mouse suit of fame and John's own experience

  • ★★ From decades of interviews we know Keanu is dyslexic, attended four high schools, wrote the funny book about sadness Ode to Happiness, plays bass, reads Proust and co-founded a motorcycle company. — 00:02:26
  • ★★★ John says that despite all this, we really don't know much at all about Keanu Reeves. — 00:02:26

  • ★★ Keanu Reeves (quoted): Keanu once said he is Mickey Mouse: people don't know who is inside the suit. — 00:02:26

    “I'm Mickey Mouse. They don't know who's inside the suit.”

  • ★★★ John wanted fame when younger so people would like him, but when his work became known he felt people liked Mickey Mouse, not him. — 00:02:55 · celebrity

  • ★★★ John concludes that we don't know who is in Keanu's Mickey Mouse suit, but Keanu does, and that is all that matters. — 00:02:55
  • ★★ John says fame's real problem (being photographed on a park bench) comes with real opportunities: lending your voice to causes and brightening days with selfies or photobombing weddings. — 00:02:55 · celebrity

00:03:24 — Fame's opportunities and the lesson to be kind and listen carefully; sign-off

  • ★★★ It's easy to make people happy in a Mickey Mouse suit, but each of us can every day be kind to others and listen carefully to them; John thanks Keanu for teaching him that. — 00:03:24

In the description and comments

  • ★ The description says John has read over a hundred Keanu interview transcripts yet knows nothing about him, which is the point. — video description

Threads in this video

Mentioned

Central: celebrity · Keanu Reeves · Mickey Mouse

Also: People: Marcel Proust · William Shakespeare

Works: Bill & Ted · Hamlet (play) · My Own Private Idaho · Ode to Happiness · Speed 2: Cruise Control

Organizations: The Sunday Times

Concepts: Buddhism · dyslexia · kindness · role model · selfie

Places: Hollywood · Winnipeg

Also centred on Keanu Reeves: Keanu. · The Ones Who Love Us

Replies to

  • continues · Keanu. — “Hank, as you pointed out in your video, what makes Keanu so brilliant at interviewing is that he really listens.”

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