Falco

Anthony T. Falco
Professor Benjamin Ristow
WRRH: Digital Rhetoric
(E)dentity Final Version (Portfolio)
March 13th, 2015
Robin McLauren Willaims, hero or zero?
According to Time Magazine Robin McLauren Williams was a man of many
hats. Robin was the father of two children, the divorced husband of two wives, a self
promoter, a poverty stricken young adult, a drug addict, a victim of suicide, a Grammy
award winner, a street mime, a student at Julliard, a 12 time Oscar nominee and of course
a dynamic form of entertainment for a large group of people. Born July of 1951 Robin
was the son of two parents who were born and raised during the great depression. In the
realm of cyberspace Robin Williams has multiple identities, various avatars of the
material version of himself that he never created. At the same time with that kind of
history how did he become such a renowned figure in the entertainment world and such a
dominant presence in cyberspace? What precisely about Robin Williams resonated
enough with the culture to be featured across a multitude of digital media?
Robin Williams is currently six feet under the Earth. With his recent death in the
material world cyber space can only do what is does best and globalize his life
information digitally. Within each online reference is some manipulation of the material
world version of the beloved Robin Williams. Most of the recent representations position
him as a victim of suicide. The cultural significance surrounding that position is a
powerful indicator of the explanation for the existence of this avatar. The cyberculture

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through which this identity or avatar exists clings on to the material world identity Robin
created his whole life and left behind.
Being the man he was described as by Time Magazine would infer that his actions
of suicide resonated with a large culture in cyberspace. This could be because of his
popularity as an entertainer and the disbelief that comes with his suicide or because of the
current cultural interest in celebrity suicides. It is hard for a popular well-liked person
like Williams to be seen as a man that would take his own life and leave a family behind.
This is patricianly because of the controversy surrounding the other avatars that belong to
him in cyberspace. What makes Robin Williams a topic of conversation is the collection
of avatars that represent him in digital space.
Aside from being a victim of suicide Robin Williams was a power figure in the
entertainment world. Predominantly he was known for his goofy humorous role in
sitcoms, films, and television skits. We can see this from his physical participation in
many popular comedic films; stand up routines, and impromptu speeches/actions.
When Robin Williams was alive this identity was mas produced online because of his
popularity and positive feedback within the culture. Through a various amount of
domains, sites, mediums, and portals we can experience this entertaining figure that he
himself created. Robin Williams was a self-made celebrity, starting as a street mime he
worked his way up to becoming a Holly Wood super star. The culture related with this
identity and created avatars in comparison to this material identity. Especially being an
American the people of America can relate to this idea of hard work and self-success, it is
essentially the underlying theme of the American Dream Ideology.
Part of what makes his avatars significant in digital space is who he was in the

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material world. Not everyone could physically be the funny, dashing, powerful figure of a
celebrity that Robing Williams was. Cyberspace offers others to live through him by
creating the spectrum of online identities that exist today. People can now have Robin
Williams as an extended part of themselves. By creating his identity to their personal
liking Robin essentially is a small representation of that person. It is significant to
observe how Robin had no control over the avatars that were representing him online.
Material people were manipulating the identity he worked so hard to create in the comfort
of there homes. It is this concept of accessibility and opportunity that makes him such a
significant presence. People wanted to be him, wanted to share their version of him the
only way to do that or best way rather is to publish it publically in cyberspace.
A physical person was made into something he was not. A body translated into a
digital text and code and shared globally. From his career we can find 30 years worth of
videos and moments of a talented actor. All of which contain the material version of
Robin Williams who was then a man thats smile made others smile time after time. The
generations to come will never experience the Robin Williams he wanted everyone to
experience. All they will get to acknowledge is the bias interpretations represented by
diverse forms of media. Thats the problem with the Internet. The information society is
so powerful that it can control how we perceive material life. Nayar says, that
information is money he also says that the cyberspace has material consequences. Robin
Williamss current identity in the material world has been consequenced by the negative
connotations of the information society and cyberspace. What good is information if it
has been manipulated and reconfigured to fit nothing but lies and deception? If the
information filters out the good of the world how will we ever see true form?

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