5 Comments
Mar 30, 2022Liked by Marian Bantjes

Compelling insights, Marian!

Expand full comment
Mar 30, 2022Liked by Marian Bantjes

Really interesting take that I haven't read anywhere else.

Expand full comment

Marian, yours is a very wise and forgiving take. Will, like all of us, is flawed. But he has been buoyed by overwhelming success and fame, which has to warp one’s mind and any recognition of your actual place in the world. He reacted on impulse. A misguided, immature, unnatural impulse. It was perverse and unbalanced.

WIll Smith is untethered from what most of us would call reality and any understanding of a humble place in that reality. His Oscar speech was an attempt to explain away his detachment. But he nakedly revealed how little he understands. Fame is a drug and its side effects are a grave loss of self and perspective. I’m uncertain there is a path to recovery from that.

Expand full comment