"You have to be nice to people, you have to give the best of yourself every moment of your life, and you have to believe in yourself."
-Walter Mercado, Mucho, Mucho Amor
I miss whimsy. I mean, I miss a lot of things: seeing friends, buying paper towels without undergoing a massive search effort, going to concerts, thinking our president is just terrible and not a fascist who's going to get us all killed, getting coffee, reasonable people. But whimsy is pretty high on the list. It's hard to be whimsical right now. Whimsy seems like an extravagance, something that we need to put on hold. I've been buying into this idea since the end of May; scale back the whimsy. Rage bake. Rage blog. Donate. Advocate. Work at home and ignore the the obvious - that you could always do your job at home. Everything is wild. We're all in this perpetual state of something: anxiety, fear, anger, uncertainty, sleepiness, sleeplessness, rage, random joy. Emotions are on hyper drive and the mood swing set is out of control. Ignore whimsy.
Well, ignoring whimsy has to give a little, even if temporarily. I decided to do myself a small favor and invest in some whimsy this past week. I was in a bit of a funk, which is probably the most obvious thing in the world, but also a complete understatement. I took some solace in the fact that people I follow on Twitter, who have very serious jobs, seemed to be embracing whimsy too. Maybe "return to whimsy" is a stage in a pandemic. It comes after hoarding toilet paper, cultivating your own yeast, and excessive online shopping (I've only done one of these, so I'm skipping ahead). Anyway, one of my favorite people on Twitter received a mermaid tail blanket for her birthday. An adult woman with a mermaid tail blanket! I was intrigued. Where did one get a mermaid tail blanket?
Turns out the answer is pretty much wherever you can buy frivolous things - Amazon, Target, Etsy. I'm sure there are other places, but those came up first. I went the Etsy route and ordered a lovely mint green mermaid tail blanket. I haven't bought many frivolous things since March, so this feels particularly lovely. It's legitimately everything I hoped it would be.
Unfortunately, my blanket didn't arrive in time for the truly exceptional moment of whimsy and joy I experienced last week. The blanket came the following day, but the association is enough. I watch a lot of documentaries. I tend to watch documentaries about cults (tiger-based or otherwise), serial criminals, cats, the mafia, random pop culture figures, and baking. I have a lot of interests. Anyway, I wasn't prepared for the utter delight I felt while watching Mucho Mucho Amor: The Legend of Walter Mercado. I truly believe the only thing that could have made the experience better was having the mermaid tail blanket. Walter doesn't strike me as mermaid tail blanket kind of guy, but I bet he had a cape with a mermaid tail, so basically the same thing.
I had no idea who Walter Mercado was before watching the documentary. I'd seen the preview for the film, but all I really took away from it was "this man has a lot of capes." And he does, he has a cape room (basically). It's possible I have a vague memory of him being on talk shows in the 1990s since he did appear on all of them, but I had no idea who he was or the impact he had on millions of people. If you haven't watched the documentary, I highly recommend doing so to get the full impact of Walter on your life. The film debuted on Netflix in early July.
The quick, quick version: Walter was a famous astrologer and Spanish language television personality. He got his start as a dancer and actor on telenovelas in the 1960s in Puerto Rico. His life as a tv astrologer started by chance; he was on a talk show promoting a play in costume, and ended up talking astrology with the host. His "reading" was so popular that it became a fixture on Puerto Rican television for decades. Eventually, he would become famous across Latin America and then worldwide. His show was theatrical; high camp might be a good description. He wore extravagant jewelry and so many amazing capes. Walter did for capes what Elvis did for sequined jumpsuits. That's one of my main takeaways from the film. He was over the top and flamboyant. He wore beautifully applied makeup and had perfect hair. Just watching him for a few minutes, you can see his dance training in his gestures and his presence. He combined multiple religions into what he called "interfaith religion." He was an icon in Puerto Rico, which is traditionally both very Catholic and very macho. It shouldn't have worked, but it did.
I won't spoil the story by telling you about the drama and revealing some of the more amusing parts of the film. Seriously, watch it. If you spent time watching Tiger King or watch any amount of the daily news, you deserve Mucho, Mucho Amor. It's delightful, a little bit whimsical, and so very affirming.
And that's where I sat with the movie last weekend. I felt so good after watching it. I was upset for Walter at the appropriate times, but overall, the whole film was affirming. That's the word that keeps coming to mind when I think about Walter. He made a career out of reading daily horoscopes on television. In theory, anyone could do that job. But the way he did it was so positive and beautiful. Every clip of him doing one of his readings is so full of positivity; you can feel it through the television. Even clips from 50 years ago still feel so real. He was sending actual love and light through the television to people. His sign off was always "mucho, mucho amor" (lots and lots of love). Yes, he was theatrical, but that wasn't necessarily the point. Did that hook a person in? Yes, but that wasn't why they came back. People responded to him, and the way he made them feel. There's never an example of him telling someone about a terrible tragedy or telling them they're going to win a million dollars. He doesn't really predict anything. He simply gave people encouragement and inspiration without it sounding like watered down empowerment, or what I like to call "Girl, Wash Your Face empowerment." It's a simple message of being kind, caring about others, and doing your best. No wonder he was so popular.
Walter died in 2019. The documentary was one of the last things he worked on before his death. He was a lot of things for people: a part of their culture and childhood, a non-binary pioneer, a positive influence in the universe. The filmmakers, all Latinx, grew up with Mercado in the background. They associate him with grandmothers and childhood memories. There's so much love and joy in this documentary. I have to believe the universe gave us this film right now for a reason. I'm not saying Walter knew I needed a little whimsy and extravagance in my life at this exact moment, but I'm not saying he didn't.
Stay safe. Wear your mask. Wash your hands. Be nice to one another. Vote. Black Lives Matter.
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