{"id":649282,"date":"2025-01-15T04:45:16","date_gmt":"2025-01-15T01:45:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/why-is-robbie-williams-a-chimp-in-better-man-it-actually-makes-perfect-sense\/"},"modified":"2025-01-15T04:45:16","modified_gmt":"2025-01-15T01:45:16","slug":"why-is-robbie-williams-a-chimp-in-better-man-it-actually-makes-perfect-sense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/why-is-robbie-williams-a-chimp-in-better-man-it-actually-makes-perfect-sense\/","title":{"rendered":"#Why is Robbie Williams a chimp in Better Man? It actually makes perfect sense."},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_85 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a36cdf621847\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a36cdf621847\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/why-is-robbie-williams-a-chimp-in-better-man-it-actually-makes-perfect-sense\/#Its_easy_to_be_numbed_to_the_plight_of_the_A-list_but_seeing_it_through_the_eyes_of_a_monkey_is_different\" >It\u2019s easy to be numbed to the plight of the A-list, but seeing it through the eyes of a monkey is different.<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2 class=\"deck\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Its_easy_to_be_numbed_to_the_plight_of_the_A-list_but_seeing_it_through_the_eyes_of_a_monkey_is_different\"><\/span>It\u2019s easy to be numbed to the plight of the A-list, but seeing it through the eyes of a monkey is different.<br \/>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><\/p>\n<div class=\"content_blocks\">\n<style>\n<\/style>\n<div id=\"content_block-266827\" class=\"content_block breaker triple_gutter_right triple_gutter_left image\">\n<div class=\"media_wrapper\">\n<p>  <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/thefader-res.cloudinary.com\/private_images\/w_1440,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:best\/GettyImages-2187199446_ffruzk\/why-is-robbie-williams-a-chimp-better-man-review.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thefader-res.cloudinary.com\/private_images\/w_220,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:best\/GettyImages-2187199446_ffruzk\/why-is-robbie-williams-a-chimp-better-man-review.jpg 220w,https:\/\/thefader-res.cloudinary.com\/private_images\/w_300,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:best\/GettyImages-2187199446_ffruzk\/why-is-robbie-williams-a-chimp-better-man-review.jpg 300w,https:\/\/thefader-res.cloudinary.com\/private_images\/w_400,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:best\/GettyImages-2187199446_ffruzk\/why-is-robbie-williams-a-chimp-better-man-review.jpg 400w,https:\/\/thefader-res.cloudinary.com\/private_images\/w_600,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:best\/GettyImages-2187199446_ffruzk\/why-is-robbie-williams-a-chimp-better-man-review.jpg 600w,https:\/\/thefader-res.cloudinary.com\/private_images\/w_750,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:best\/GettyImages-2187199446_ffruzk\/why-is-robbie-williams-a-chimp-better-man-review.jpg 750w,https:\/\/thefader-res.cloudinary.com\/private_images\/w_840,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:best\/GettyImages-2187199446_ffruzk\/why-is-robbie-williams-a-chimp-better-man-review.jpg 840w,https:\/\/thefader-res.cloudinary.com\/private_images\/w_960,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:best\/GettyImages-2187199446_ffruzk\/why-is-robbie-williams-a-chimp-better-man-review.jpg 960w,https:\/\/thefader-res.cloudinary.com\/private_images\/w_1260,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:best\/GettyImages-2187199446_ffruzk\/why-is-robbie-williams-a-chimp-better-man-review.jpg 1260w,https:\/\/thefader-res.cloudinary.com\/private_images\/w_1800,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:best\/GettyImages-2187199446_ffruzk\/why-is-robbie-williams-a-chimp-better-man-review.jpg 1800w,https:\/\/thefader-res.cloudinary.com\/private_images\/w_2400,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:best\/GettyImages-2187199446_ffruzk\/why-is-robbie-williams-a-chimp-better-man-review.jpg 2400w,\" sizes=\"100vw\" alt=\"Why is Robbie Williams a chimp in &lt;i&gt;Better Man&lt;\/i&gt;? It actually makes perfect sense.\"><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"img_caption\"><\/p>\n<p>  <span class=\"credit\"><\/p>\n<p>      Photo by Samir Hussein\/WireImage<\/p>\n<p>  <\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<style>\n<\/style>\n<div id=\"content_block-266820\" class=\"content_block paragraph text triple_gutter_right triple_gutter_left center_align\">\n<div class=\"content_inner_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"paragraph_wrapper center_align\">\n<p>\n            Robbie Williams, like beans on toast or the Royal family, is something that makes sense to British people and is completely alien to an American mind. On paper, an all-singing, all-dancing biopic of Williams \u2014 one of the most successful British artists of all time \u2014 as both a celebration of his life and an introduction to the uninitiated, is probably long overdue. But in <i><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_new\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=KVeH5T4wxkE\">Better Man<\/a><\/i>, the newest musical biopic that aims to do just that, things are a little different. Williams is portrayed by a CGI monkey with zero acknowledgement of the situation. Imagine if in the climactic scene of <i>Bohemian Rhapsody<\/i> it wasn\u2019t Oscar winner Rami Malek inhabiting the role of Freddie Mercury but a hairy backed Planet of the Apes-style primate \u2014 that\u2019s <i>Better Man<\/i>. And weirdly, in this dizzyingly maximalist movie, it all (just about) makes perfect sense.\n          <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<style>\n<\/style>\n<div id=\"content_block-266828\" class=\"content_block paragraph text triple_gutter_right triple_gutter_left center_align\">\n<div class=\"content_inner_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"paragraph_wrapper center_align\">\n<div class=\"\" style=\"padding-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px; text-align: left;\">\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<style>\n<\/style>\n<div id=\"content_block-266821\" class=\"content_block paragraph text triple_gutter_right triple_gutter_left center_align\">\n<div class=\"content_inner_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"paragraph_wrapper center_align\">\n<p>\n            To understand why Williams is played by a digital ape you must first understand him as a human. Williams, or Robbie as he is referred to by millions of adoring fans, is comfortably one of the most famous men in Britain. A former member of the wildly popular \u201890s boyband <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_new\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=N2ICtCO8TCw\">Take That<\/a> turned solo giant, his songs are karaoke staples, his love life the stuff of tabloid legend, and his live shows fill stadiums across the globe. His good humor and down-to-earth personality add primary color to songs about love and chasing a good time. (Conversely, his song \u201c<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_new\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=luwAMFcc2f8\">Angels<\/a>,\u201d a mawkish mega-ballad released in 1997, is among the nation\u2019s most requested funeral songs.) Robbie is everything to everyone: teen idol, Saturday-night entertainer, co<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">media<\/a>n, show-off, footy legend, object of desire, a grandma\u2019s dream, and the nation\u2019s best mate. An American equivalent doesn\u2019t quite exist but think Justin Timberlake if he was actually likeable, and you\u2019re close.\n          <\/p>\n<p>\n            Understandably, this kind of career comes with a large dose of pressure attached. &#8220;Quite often Rob will say, &#8216;I&#8217;m just like a performing monkey&#8217; or &#8216;I&#8217;m up the back like a performing monkey,&#8217;\u201d<i> Better Man<\/i> director Michael Gracey recently told the <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_new\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/articles\/cg7r21egd82o\">BBC<\/a>. &#8220;It just sparked this idea of, we&#8217;ve got this chance to tell this story, not from the perspective of how we see Rob, but how he sees himself.\u201d\n          <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<style>\n<\/style>\n<div id=\"content_block-266824\" class=\"content_block breaker triple_gutter_right triple_gutter_left embed\">\n<div class=\"media_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"\">\n    <iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Better Man | Official Trailer (2024 Movie) \u2013 Robbie Williams, Michael Gracey, Jonno Davies\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/KVeH5T4wxkE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<style>\n<\/style>\n<div id=\"content_block-266829\" class=\"content_block paragraph text triple_gutter_right triple_gutter_left center_align\">\n<div class=\"content_inner_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"paragraph_wrapper center_align\">\n<div class=\"\" style=\"padding-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 20px; text-align: left;\">\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<style>\n<\/style>\n<div id=\"content_block-266822\" class=\"content_block paragraph text triple_gutter_right triple_gutter_left center_align\">\n<div class=\"content_inner_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"paragraph_wrapper center_align\">\n<p>\n            In <i>Better Man<\/i>, Gracey, who previously directed <i>The Greatest Showman<\/i>, captures Willams as both a performing monkey and an unevolved man tr<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>ed as the teenager who left home and became famous overnight.\n          <\/p>\n<p>\n            The magical realist film starts in his childhood, a time spent in the Midlands of England with his beloved mom and grandma, as well as a police officer father preoccupied by a dream of being Stoke\u2019s answer to Frank Sinatra. It\u2019s a testament to Gracey\u2019s direction (and to the work of Weta, the special effects company that created Gollum in <i>The Lord of the Rings<\/i>) that you quickly forget that you\u2019re watching a monkey on screen and, instead, get caught up in the whirlwind of Williams\u2019 life as he seeks to emulate his father\u2019s ambition and scratch the itch at the bottom of a child\u2019s attention-seeking soul.\n          <\/p>\n<p>\n            The structural framework of <i>Better Man<\/i> does a solid job of showing his journey from Take That in the early \u201890s before later, while harboring dreams of being a \u201cserious\u201d songwriter, to quitting to go solo and becoming hugely successful on his own terms. The band scenes are largely played for laughs but also give the viewer insight into how ego has both powered and hampered Williams throughout his career. Whether it is clashing with his bandmates, a devilish manager, or, in one memorable scene, Liam Gallagher, <i>Better Man<\/i> smartly depicts the way in which confidence and insecurity are a hair\u2019s breadth away from one another.\n          <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<style>\n<\/style>\n<div id=\"content_block-266826\" class=\"content_block breaker triple_gutter_right triple_gutter_left pull_quote\">\n<div class=\"media_wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"pull_quote\"><p>Gracey captures Willams as both a performing monkey and an unevolved man trapped as the teenager who left home and became famous overnight.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<style>\n<\/style>\n<div id=\"content_block-266823\" class=\"content_block paragraph text triple_gutter_right triple_gutter_left center_align\">\n<div class=\"content_inner_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"paragraph_wrapper center_align\">\n<p>\n            Time and time again, we see that there is only so much space for an oversized sense of self and that it often leads to a life of loneliness. The scenes of Williams alone in a palatial country mansion trying to lose weight ahead of a sold-out concert are among the most heartbreakingly sad in a movie that&#8217;s unafraid to pull on the heartstrings. The fact this is all happening to a chimp also weirdly helps to emphasize the pain and suffering Williams has clearly felt throughout his career. It\u2019s easy to be numbed to the plight of the A-list, but seeing it through the eyes of a little monkey? You want to protect him with your life. In that way, the decision to portray Williams as a chimp works beyond mere metaphor; it\u2019s a visual shock intended to break us out of any pre-established leanings.\n          <\/p>\n<p>\n            <i>Better Man<\/i> can be a little cliched in parts \u2014 nobody will be <i>really<\/i> shocked to discover that being successful can be an isolating and alienating feeling. And it certainly works better as a musical than biopic, with Gracey turning \u201cRock DJ\u201d and \u201cShe\u2019s The One\u201d into heart-racing choreographed moments. But it\u2019s to the film\u2019s credit that it can still make overtrodden tropes feel newly resonant through the simple switch of watching an ape snort cocaine and headline Knebworth. <i>Better Man<\/i> would be less compelling without its furry and quietly astute gimmick.\n          <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<div class=\"author\">\n    <span><br \/>\n      By <span class=\"credit_name\">David Renshaw<\/span><br \/>\n  <\/span><\/div>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMN63nwsw68G3Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more Like this articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" target=\"_blank\" >Social Media category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thefader.com\/2025\/01\/14\/why-is-robbie-williams-a-chimp-better-man-review\" target=\"_blank\" >Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s easy to be numbed to the plight of the A-list, but seeing it through the eyes of a monkey is different. Photo by Samir Hussein\/WireImage Robbie Williams, like beans on toast or the Royal family, is something that makes sense to British people and is completely alien to an American mind. On paper, an&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":649283,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefader-res.cloudinary.com\/private_images\/c_limit,w_1024\/c_crop,h_377,w_724,x_165,y_5,f_auto,q_auto:eco\/GettyImages-2187199446_id0bwv\/GettyImages-2187199446_id0bwv.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[33587,140560],"class_list":["post-649282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-social-mediaa","tag-film","tag-robbie-williams"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=649282"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649282\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/649283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=649282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=649282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=649282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}