Shifts in Cultural Icons: Johnny Depp

Many Hollywood stars have made a career out of changing with the times and constantly “updating” themselves, (i.e. Madonna), but there are a few select who have done quite the opposite. These stars have used their careers to change the environment around them. Some of those people include rocker Tommy Lee, musician Mariah Carey, and comedian Jim Carrey. One other such person is Johnny Depp. Depp quit high school when he was fifteen, not to become an actor but actually to be a musician. It wasn’t long before his close friend Nicolas Cage suggested that he read for a small part in Nightmare on Elm Street in 1984, and he has been redefining our world from that day on. (1)

Depp has since starred in 40 plus films and TV shows besides the Nightmare on Elm Street series. A full filmography includes; Private Resort (1985), Slow Burn (86), Platoon (86), 21 Jump Street (TV 87-89), Cry Baby (1990), Edward Scissorhands (90), Arizona Dream (93), Benny & Joon (93), What’s Eating Gilbert Grape (93), Ed Wood (94), Don Juan DeMarco (95), Dead Man (95), Nick of Time (95), Donnie Brasco (97), The Brave (97), Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (98), The Ninth Gate (99), The Astronaut’s Wife (99), The Man Who Cried (2000), Before Night Falls (00), Chocolat (00), Blow (01), From Hell (01), Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (03), Once Upon a Time in Mexico (03), Secret Window (04), And They Lived Happily Ever After (04), Finding Neverland (04), The Libertine (04), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (05), Corpse Bride (05), Kingdom Hearts II (05), Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (06), The Rum Diary (06), The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (06), Pirates of the Caribbean Three (07), and Shantaram (07). (2) And that’s only the ones he actually acted in, not to mention the films he has directed or produced. In each of these films the audience is being given a little tour through Depp’s life at the time of the filming.

For example, in 2001 while filming Blow, a movie about the life and times of the cocaine importer George Jung, Depp did an interview in which he said, “It’s a cautionary story and you learn from other people’s mistakes.” He also stated that he never quite fully recovered from when friend, River Phoenix, died in 1993 due to an overdose near his nightclub, The Viper Room. (3) The Tiscali website states Depp admits the same fate nearly consumed him. (4) Yet another example of how Depp’s movies have imitated his life are his latest roles.

Up until the birth of his children, Depp took on many interesting characters, a confused Satanistic antique book dealer in The Ninth Gate, a drug dealer in Blow, a crazed astronaut in The Astronaut’s Wife, and several small parts in the “Freddy Kruger” movies. But when his children started getting old enough to see their father in action, his audiences saw a sharp turn in his typical role, to an outstanding children’s author in Finding Neverland, Willy Wonka in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and a bumbling husband in The Corpse Bride.

While many believe that Depp has gone soft, I believe that his taste in roles has just been expanded to fit his current lifestyle. Depp continues to take on many daring roles, such as one of his most audacious characters yes in The Libertine. He has also transformed old movies into modern-day box office smashes with his personas. Take Captain Jack Sparrow; had it been any other actor, he would have been thrown off the set, but Depp made millions love his womanizing pirate portrayal. Willy Wonka is another example. He not only credited the one and only original Wonka, Gene Wilder, but he also recreated the role to fit his ambitions and to bring a new crowd in on a classic. This shows that he is still making an impact on Hollywood with his own brand of stardom, though he doesn’t quite fit the “norm” for movie superstars. He would rather be in Europe drinking a cup of coffee and having the rest of the world ignoring him, save his family, than be at a movie premiere. And while he doesn’t quite fit the mold of the cookie-cutter idol, he does fir the high-low hierarchy. Depp is definitely on a “high” hierarchy, he is renowned throughout the world as an amazing actor, he is a dedicated family man, and he still makes a career out of quality acting.

So while many are here for a decade at most before they wash out, Depp has been on the scene for 22 years, and is not expected to be leaving anytime soon. He has shocked us, on occasion disgusted us, amazed us, and enlightened us all. Anywhere you turn a Depp movie is abuzz, he is literally known worldwide, and yet he is still most comfortable at home with his loved ones. I would consider that adapting to the times quite well.

(1) The Online Wikipedia Encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/Johnny_Depp
(2) IMDb Film Database http://www.idmb.com/name/nm0000136/
(3) The New York Times Online http://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movies/filmography/html?p_ud=18682&mod=bio
(4) Tiscali Film & TV http://www.tiscali.co.uk/entertainment/film/interviews/johnny_depp_blow.html