We need Johnny Depp

We need Johnny Depp

August 23, 2022

Regardless of when an audience first came to meet Johnny Depp, whether stepping off a sinking ship in Pirates of the Caribbean, or maybe as the awesomely creepy eccentric Willy Wonka, he made the immediate impression that this was a man that had something you wanted to experience. For a while, though, this wasn't the Johnny Depp that you heard about. His character was much in contention because a rotten relationship had turned into a litigious one. Problem is, although that lawsuit between Johnny Depp and his ex-wife Amber Heard has concluded, much to his advantage, a certain subset of rumor and derogation about him persists in the discourse. And this, I contend, has to do with the panicked ending of the movement for women's rights specifically addressing relationship violence, which will collapse under the weight of its error in supporting Ms. Heard, if we do not have the moral force to remember. To remember who it is that we once knew in them. 

The movement known as MeToo had a long reign of relevance in popular culture. It went right at the heart of American popular culture: the stories we tell ourselves and perform for each other. It was not without reason that it held relevance. A lot of malfeasance was exposed. But it overstepped when it began to claim that its relevance was universal. Long before Johnny Depp was defamed by his former lover, the notion began to circulate that all men were abusers of women, without exception. I can't speak to whether this particular ideology, or general incompetence, is what tanked the MeToo movement, but when the populace began to see more and more unbelievable grievances brought to court under the auspices of this moral reform movement, it did appear to be losing exactly the credibility that it was seeking: the presumption of innocence. That women were innocent of provoking their abuse was a good thing; but that men were not presumed innocent before due process was conducted, negated that positive advancement. The overall interests of fairness were not served by warping the presumption of innocence into insistence despite any legal determination to the contrary that the other side is guilty from the moment the accusation is made and forevermore. 

I don't believe I have to go against my gender here. I don't know who Amber Heard is to women, but Johnny Depp is a totem to men. I believe that in this case and the many others like it that may or may not make it to court, the facts have been shunted aside in favor of a woman's, or a group of women's, curiosity about the minds of men. In my view, what became the most important social motivation about this trial, was "why do men like Johnny Depp?" And that's true in so many controversies like it. Men like Johnny Depp and others who are like him because he's like a good brother. He has time for you. But more, even more, than that, he has time for experiences with you. What most endears men to men like Johnny Depp, though, is that he'll always think about, and even work on, what you're thinking about. And this is undeniably attractive to men, among men. 

What absolutely concerns us men about men like Johnny Depp, is, this great bro always seems to want to be with women, who most outwardly seem to be a physical manifestation of someone like him, but a woman. But this woman that he is always attracted to because they seem to have the same interests, appears to be the female version of himself, but, among women, is very much not in the same role in relation to the women as he is in relation to the men. All of us are always concerned about this in relation to men like Johnny Depp. All he wants is a partner, but more often than not, what he gets is someone who's skeptically investigating him. His weakness is women who act as he does, but coudn't be more different in their social role relative to their own gender. 

Unequivocally, genders are equal. But they are not identical. So much of this simple fact has to do with the way that male and female bodies, and the minds encased in them, are initiated into adulthood. Men are initiated by choice, but women by necessity. The same can be said of bodies. Male bodies have to prove themselves, but female bodies have to stake a claim to who they are. To admit this is not to justify patriarchal oppression. Men have to conform to the reality of women, womankind, and a woman, equally as much as women have to conform to the reality of a society of men. Men like Johnny Depp are so integral to the society of men that they are essential. And believe you me, men stress ourselves to conform to him to reciprocate all that he does for us. It does very much concern men when men like Johnny Depp are hounded by people he takes an interest in, especially women who strike his fancy but don't know his heart. Men like him embody the subject of their interest, but those are also the interest of his brothers, because that is all he does for us, and in so many ways, that is everything we men could want. But women have always been trouble for him, or, should I say, the wrong women have always been trouble for him, because he lives, so completely and exactly, a man's life. Every stress and interrogation he goes through is also our stress, because we stand by him no matter what, and we're always better for it. 

I don't know who Amber Heard is to women, but my impression is, she still has not claimed something and is trying to claim it, but, is she claiming something about who she is, or is she just claiming something? Men like Johnny Depp are always giving of themselves, and they, honestly, don't see gender as a problematic. It's actually, probably, because of men like Johnny Depp that other men can see that there is no inequality between genders. I don't hesitate to speculate that the only difference he sees between people is someone who wants to be his equal, and someone that does not. And you can always try to be his equal, but there is no mercy rule with him. And men love that. 

You-know, us men, we're not all Johnny Depp. And that's why he's so important, because yes, we all want to be; every man in his own measure wants to be that much like Johnny. He keeps it all going, and he tests us at every turn, and that's why we men love him, and we love him the more every time he tests us in various ways. The biggest conniption men like Johnny give us is when they tell us that something is going on with "the women." Because he hurts himself bad nearly everytime he tries to figure that out. But we can't stop him, usually, because what if he finds the perfect, most ideal, love. And that's a thought that captures us all. So that's the man you have before you now, and many more are like him, if you can only remember who he is, before that eternal quest for perfect love, hurt him. You-know, there is a Love Supreme, and that's who he is, and why he's still chasing it. It's hard not to deal in absolutes when it comes to a man like Johnny Depp, because he is an absolute. Even with every new thing that he adds on to what he is building with his life, it was absolute before, and it is still absolute. We would do ourselves a disservice not to allow him to continue his work.