Very sad news yesterday, as it was reported that Anthony Bourdain had hung himself in France. He had been there working for an episode on his television show "Anthony Bourdain, Parts Unkown."
Bourdain was an intelligent television personality, and his show reflected this. It was a different kind of cooking show, one that showed glimpses of real life, and real cuisine, in numerous countries around the world. Bourdain would also delve into the local history and culture, and always added insight and thoughtfulness to each episode.
I happened to run into his show some years ago, almost by accident, and found it fascinating. It was unlike any cooking show that I had ever seen before, and had an almost conversational, real-life feel towards complicated subject matter that was instantly appealing to me.
On many levels, it felt like his show was what "reality television" shows could and likely should be like, as opposed to the often mind-numbingly stupid crap that passes for "reality television" that actually dominates the ratings.
In these shows, Bourdain revealed his own depth of character, and offered rare and very intimate glimpses of far away places that many of us likely could never afford to go to. He did it by appealing to the best within us, the childlike curiosity that can help to keep us, or at least our minds, young.
Bourdain will be missed.
Well said. I wrote the following last night, and not surprisingly it echoes much of what you've stated in your post:
ReplyDeleteAs much as I enjoyed Anthony Bourdain's wit, his often self-deprecating humor and his eloquence, the thing I'll miss most about him was his way of challenging all of us to be better than we are, without being a haughty, pedantic asshole about it. His travels included trips to places we typically only hear about in a negative context (in the rare instances when we hear about them at all) – places stricken by poverty, war and social strife. But when you watch those episodes, there's nothing remotely patronizing or condescending about his interactions with the people he meets. While he acknowledged those countries' struggles – it would have been disingenuous not to, after all – he refrained from defining those places and their inhabitants by those struggles, from reducing them to glib caricatures. Considering how depressingly easy it is to view the world through the tinged filters of race, nationality, religion, politicized history and conventional wisdom – often without even realizing we’re doing so – he showed that the real reward of traveling comes not from vindication of what we thought we knew, but in encounters and experiences that force us to rethink our assumptions and adopt a more nuanced view. Perhaps this quote sums it up best: “It's what makes travel what it is, an endless learning curve, the joy of being wrong, of being confused.” His intellectual curiosity, his humility and perhaps most of all his humanity were a lone voice in the wilderness, which makes his having succumbed to whatever demons were tormenting him all the more unfortunate.
Very well said...
ReplyDeleteThank you. I don't do nearly as much traveling as I'd like to, but if that ever changes I'll try to keep those things in mind.
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