Solitude Rife With Contentment
Rejoicing one of the funniest characters ever created.
If you ask me which fictional character gives me inspiration in life, it’s definitely not comic book superheroes, supervillains or characters played by big stars in commercial films. The person who has completely changed my (and a significant number of others’) take on life is none other than Mr. Bean, a man who lives a simple life by himself and yet somehow manages to stay happy, engaged and lively. As someone who grew up in the first decade of this millennium, Mr. Bean, both the live action and the animated series, were one of the shows I would watch the most.
I recall the first time I encountered Mr. Bean: The animated series when I was around 7 years old. I was randomly shuffling channels on our TV, stopped at the famous Indian kids channel at the time — Pogo TV, and noticed a funny looking man driving a green Mini 1000 and talking to a stuffed brown teddy bear. Weirdly enough, I got instantly attracted to the character and wanted to know more about what his deal was. After looking up the show’s airing times, fortunately there was one show after I was back from school. I then began watching a show which played a significant role in my perspective of life.
What we mostly discuss is that he does things himself and has no friends or family except maybe the old lady downstairs, Mrs. Wicket (at least that’s what can be inferred). But what I’d like to explore is what I found so interesting in the character that is motivating enough for me to write a tribute of sorts to him.
First off, his perseverance is something I admire. In the episode Ray of Sunshine, he struggles to find a spot of sunlight on a cloudy day and tries every way possible to get under it, and even goes to the extent of boarding a cruise ship at the end just to get some sun. I know this sounds crazy, but you know what they say, “Crazy dreams take crazy efforts!”.
What comes from perseverance is the will to accomplish things, and even get creative if necessary. For example, consider the animated episode Super Trolley, in which he makes a controllable mobile trolley with hands for grasping, and an adjustable Periscope to look over aisles.
I remember watching this one episode the most number of times, and also I recall attempting to build something like that myself. Although I couldn’t make an entire super-trolley for my age, I was in fact able to make that Periscope using some tutorials online (my mom can vouch for that).
Another example of creativity is the live-action episode Do it yourself, Mr. Bean, there’s the very famous scene where Bean takes a load of items home on his car by packing all the stuff inside and controlling it from its roof using broomsticks and mops to steer and access the pedals.
When creativity is something that’s possessed, it becomes relatively easy to solve seemingly unsolvable problems in life. Consider the 1997 movie Bean, where Mr. Bean accidentally sneezes on the Whistler’s Mother painting and ruins it, but later gets inspired to use a poster of Whistler’s mother to replace the original which eventually ends up being a big success at the public reveal event.
Last but not least, it’s his honesty and the will to do the right thing that’s charming for me. We find him retrieving not only his missing teddy bear from robbers but also teddy bears missing from children of his town, taking care of an abandoned baby, being a guardian to a teenage boy until he finds his dad in the movie Mr. Bean’s Holiday (2007), saving a bunch of raccoons that were painted in pink to be illegally sold, raising an abandoned bird, and a lot more.
Mr. Bean may seem like an idiot for some and very smart for others, but the way I see it, one thing is clear — a lot can be learned from him when it comes to navigating through life. At his time there wasn’t much internet or social media, but since he already was by himself and was occupied pretty much all the time, I’m sure he didn’t feel the gap too much.
As time passes, I feel that a lifestyle similar to that of Mr. Bean is a good lifestyle one can inculcate. I am not saying that one shouldn’t have a social life at all or shouldn’t use social media, but rather get an interest to engage in activities and pursue hobbies so that he/she isn’t fixated on one thing. And especially in the face of a pandemic that has forced us to distance from one another, I feel it is something that can potentially contribute to one’s thriving.
I felt that writing about Mr. Bean was important because this is a character that significantly shaped up my growing years, and has an influence on me even today. While the show may have ended a while ago and no more Mr. Bean movies have been made in recent times, I still feel that Mr. Bean will continue to be celebrated for a long time to come.
