Warm Fuzzies For Sad Keanu

Don't be sad, Keanu… the bunnies love you! Image: Sweded

Jeez, can’t a guy get papped eating a sandwich on a park bench these days without the whole internet speculating on his emotional state and Photoshopping him into all manner of LOLsome scenes?

Not if Sad Keanu is any indication. One of several candid pics of actor Keanu Reeves eating his lunch, this particular shot has become the basis of an image meme. There’s even an accompanying Twitter account.

And now there’s a movement to ‘cheer up’ Keanu, with 15 June being declared Cheer Up Keanu Day. Reddit users are encouraging each other to donate to charity, be nice to people and/or “put a blazer over what you normally wear”.

What made this picture of Reeves look so “sad”? Was it the dishevelled appearance of his hair and beard? Was it his hiking boots-and-sports-coat fashion sense? Was it his downcast gaze or the slump of his shoulders as he forced down his joyless meal?

The Enthusiast suggests the meme springs from the way gossip media have ‘packaged’ the actor’s life as “tragic”. Profiles of Reeves frequently mention that he is estranged from his father, who abandoned the family when Reeves was three, and that his childhood was unsettled due to his mother’s peripatetic career as a costume designer and her many marriages. Reeves was also reportedly a promising ice hockey player whose career was cut short by a spinal injury.

Reeves is known to be uninterested in material wealth or celebrity hobnobbing, which has led to his being branded lonely, depressed or unambitious. He personal life has given observers plenty to suppose him to be sad about. His good friend River Phoenix died in 1993, and in 1999 his daughter Ava, with girlfriend Jennifer Syme, was stillborn. Two years later Syme was killed in a car crash at age 28. Reeves’s sister Kim, with whom he is close, has suffered from leukaemia since the early 1990s.

However, the most heartening aspect of the Sad Keanu meme and associated cheer-up efforts have been the revelations that, in an industry built on artifice, he has a reputation for being respectful and generous. He gifted much of his earnings from the Matrix sequels to the films’ stunt artists, wardrobe staff and special-effects teams, and has spent millions on cancer research.

People who’ve met him tell warm, fuzzy stories about his humility and good deeds. He even respects people’s personal space while using public transport.

“Are these stories all true? it’s starting to sound like Chuck Norris jokes,” wrote one cynic on Reddit.

But as another user noted, “Sometimes it’s nice to spend a few days not shaving, just sitting around the city on benches eating sandwiches. Life doesn’t always have to be about friends and smiles. Sometimes it calls for introspection.”

We couldn’t agree more. In a widely cited 2003 article for The Atlantic, Jonathan Rauch argued that, rather than ridiculing introverts or wondering why they’re so… well, sad, we should “recognize that it’s not a choice. It’s not a lifestyle. It’s an orientation.”

Or, as Keanu once said, “Be excellent to each other.”

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