I began this piece several weeks ago because I was so impressed with his current television work. I essentially wanted to write a review to highlight his growing contribution to the betterment of the world by improving communication and understanding between peoples. Before I finished the article, he committed suicide, alone in a small hotel in rural France. He was scheduled to film in nearby Strasbourg the next morning. Friends were puzzled that he did not come down to dinner that evening.
Anthony Bourdain had became an icon, and a very unlikely one at that. His reputation was of a hipster-punk anti-chef who became a foodie travel guide. In later years, though, he became something else -- something of a national treasure.
He rose to fame by writing about the gritty inner details of New York City restaurants. In Kitchen Confidential the tagline is "a quarter-century of drugs, sex, and haute cuisine." He attacked the pretensions of fine dining while clearly showing his love for food and his respect for the profession of food service.
He then moved on to a series of travel shows featuring exotic and adventurous locales with an emphasis on food. Over the past fifteen years, he produced 284 episodes of A Cook's Tour, No Reservations, The Layover and Parts Unknown.
His shows have always been fascinating, but in recent years, they took on a sharply political, philosophical and spiritual edge. In 2006 in Beirut, his film crew was caught up in Israeli-Palestinian fighting. He visited every conceivable destination on all continents, and many that are far off the beaten path. His shows address conflict, political repression and poverty along with the sights and the food.
The quality of production also progressed. Originally shown on the Travel Channel, Bourdain took full control of production after moving to CNN. Since then he won 5 Emmy Awards, garnered 11 nominations for writing, sound mixing, editing and cinematography, as well as a 2013 Peabody Award.
One of Bourdain's persistent messages is the value of travel, particularly for ethnocentric and uninformed Americans. He also emphasizes meeting ordinary people and learning about other ways of living. The United States is wealthy and powerful, but most citizens are profoundly ignorant of the outside world. Few speak any language apart from English. Many see the outside world through a lens of fear.
I was particularly impressed with Bourdain in Marseilles. Marseilles is the second largest city in France, on the Mediterranean. It has a reputation for being dangerous, and is a melting pot of ethnic groups. There is much concern about a rapidly increasing Muslim population. Many people, even in France, advised Bourdain not to go there. His response -- 'sounds like the kind of place I will like.' One pleasant clip from the Marseilles show is a dessert cheese tray -- Bourdain finds pleasure in a cheese cart.
Bourdain's television shows have inspired me for years, and I have always been awed by his energy and ability to cope so well with the stresses of travel. I began to think of extended and distant travel in a different way -- that is of a series of homes. I would like to visit Marseilles, Thailand, Kenya, and so on, and not stay in city hotels or resorts, but in small towns in pensiones or short-term apartment rental.
The Last Thing He Taught Me
I was a psychologist for thirty years and I dealt with many suicides, but this shocked and bewildered me. Like many people, I thought I sort of knew him. If he had such pain, I wish I could have helped ... or someone could have helped.
Our American society is enduring an epidemic of mental suffering including suicide, drug dependence, and pervasive isolation and alienation. Anthony Bourdain's last lesson to me was that money, fame, or admiration by millions are not enough to ease some kinds of pain.
His death immediately reminded me of the suicide of Richard Manuel, a musician with The Band, at the age of 42. At the time I worked as a prison psychologist. That day I was presenting a class to the staff on suicide prevention, and I brought up Richard Manuel's death as an example. The point I was making was that if you are concerned that someone might commit suicide, it is best to ask them if they are thinking of hurting themselves. You will not be giving them the idea to kill themselves. Rather, you will be opening a door to talk with someone about what is troubling them..
After the class, a music loving staff member talked with me and was brought to tears by his personal feeling of loss and bewilderment at the death of Richard Manuel. A celebrity suicide is no different than any other suicide, except that millions of people are affected by it and try to understand it at the same time. Most recently, Robin Williams did the same. All three of these talented and beloved men died alone, with a bathrobe cord around their necks.
We live in a society with epidemic loneliness. Not everyone is dangerously lonely, but many are. Family unity, the most basic need after personal survival, has gone with the wind. Two parent incomes result in children raised by institutions. Mobility to pursue better jobs results in disintegration of the family unit. Our youth are becoming barren because of ... as Dylan said ... "the fear to bring children into this world."
Since Bourdain's death, I have read a lot of commentary. One lady said in response to a Facebook post, "I never met him, but I love him and I will miss him." Someone responded to that, "That's ridiculous, you can't love somebody you don't even know." Someone else responded to that, "Isn't that the point? Aren't we supposed to love others"?
I will try to learn from this loss to observe more, to reach out more. However, to do anything about the loneliness epidemic, society must be changed. I put little hope in diplomats and political parties. They focus on holding and gaining power. The key issue is enlightenment, but that is a subject for another day.
Yes, most U.S. citizens are ignorant of the outside world, and few speak a second language. However, the same thing can be said of most of the world's population. They know little of the outside world, and they speak only their language. An exception, of course, is Western Europe, a relatively tiny portion of the globe where many languages and cultures rub shoulders, and being multilingual is not that rare. It's dang near a necessity.
ReplyDeleteBut most everywhere else, as far as this goes, is not much different than the United States.
As for Bourdain, I could count the shows of his I've seen on one hand. I did find them interesting. But in the end, clearly a troubled man.