Piece by Raymond Arroyo concerning celebrity deaths

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This article was excellent. I have never really been that much into celebrities but it really helped me to understand a cousin of mine who is very devastated by several celebrity deaths.

Raymond Arroyo is such an eloquent writer and blessed with speaking talent. Thanks for the link.

Mary.
 
Good article. One point I would add is that many people do spend more “virtual” time with these celebrities than the “Sam the Pharmacists” of our lives. I think that plays into it as well. Add to that time spent reading about them online and it can leave you with a sense of knowing them personally, even though you don’t.

It has struck me seeing on Facebook the friends who post about having their own personal memorial services for these celebrities by listening to their music or watching their movies and crying. I can be pretty emotional and sentimental in general, but I don’t recall ever shedding tears over a celebrity death. 🤷
 
That’s a good article. I wasn’t sure if it was an Autism related thing which made me not really care about celebrity deaths, but I feel better for not caring now. 🙂
 
Remember the enormous emotional outpouring and public grief when Princess Diana died? The scope and intensity of it creeped me out a bit and it did seem like a turning point in the evolution of our ‘celebrity culture’ at the time. But it’s clear that we do to various extents identify with and become emotionally invested in celebrities whether they be actors, musicians or artists of some kind, regardless of the fact that it’s a one-way street and only the illusion of intimacy.

But I do wonder to what extent this is a new phenomena. I also wonder whether it’s as dysfunctional as Mr. Arroyo seems to imply it is or whether we’re just being snobby. For example, I don’t usually fall to pieces when a mainstream actor or musician dies, but I did feel genuine pain when some of my favorite poets died recently (Seamus Heaney and Wislawa Szymborska). Was that different from the way people grieved over say David Bowie? (I had no idea he had so much cultural currency.) At the time I felt sad over these poets’ deaths, despite the fact that they were in their twilight years, both because I felt the loss of their art and because I felt that I knew them, because of my familiarity with and love of their poetry. This was the same illusion of intimacy that Mr. Arroyo is talking about yet I didn’t feel ashamed or embarrassed of feeling that way, despite being surprised at their acuteness.
 
tomarin said:
Remember the enormous emotional outpouring and public grief when Princess Diana died? The scope and intensity of it creeped me out a bit and it did seem like a turning point in the evolution of our ‘celebrity culture’ at the time. But it’s clear that we do to various extents identify with and become emotionally invested in celebrities whether they be actors, musicians or artists of some kind, regardless of the fact that it’s a one-way street and only the illusion of intimacy.

But I do wonder to what extent this is a new phenomena. I also wonder whether it’s as dysfunctional as Mr. Arroyo seems to imply it is or whether we’re just being snobby. For example, I don’t usually fall to pieces when a mainstream actor or musician dies, but I did feel genuine pain when some of my favorite poets died recently (Seamus Heaney and Wislawa Szymborska). Was that different from the way people grieved over say David Bowie? (I had no idea he had so much cultural currency.) At the time I felt sad over these poets’ deaths, despite the fact that they were in their twilight years, both because I felt the loss of their art and because I felt that I knew them, because of my familiarity with and love of their poetry. This was the same illusion of intimacy that Mr. Arroyo is talking about yet I didn’t feel ashamed or embarrassed of feeling that way, despite being surprised at their acuteness.
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Funny that you bring up Princess Diana. I was in college and had been exchanging emails with a girl in the early days of online interaction and was kind of surprised by how deeply she was upset by it. She said she cried for days.

Not that I don’t feel anything. When certain musicians or actors (or popes :o) have passed, I will feel some sadness. But nothing like when someone in the family passes.

It’s an interesting situation. Our culture seems structured around intimacy by distance. We’d rather connect over the screen (and to a lesser extent the page) than to connect with those around us.
 
Joe_5859 said:
Funny that you bring up Princess Diana. I was in college and had been exchanging emails with a girl in the early days of online interaction and was kind of surprised by how deeply she was upset by it. She said she cried for days.

Not that I don’t feel anything. When certain musicians or actors (or popes :o) have passed, I will feel some sadness. But nothing like when someone in the family passes.
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Or think of the kind of theatrical, over-the-top grieving that is supposed to happen when the supreme leader of a totalitarian society dies (eg North Korea): I can understand being pained or saddened by the loss of a famous writer, actor, athlete and so forth, but I reserve that kind of stark emotionalism for people I actually know and feel close to.
 
Maxirad, interesting link, thanks for posting it.

While discussing this topic with my Catholic co-worker last week, he made an interesting observation. He contended that every human has an innate need to worship something greater than themselves. When secular folk lack a worship of God, many of them replace it with celebrities. Viewed in that light, maybe the hysterical, over-the-top reaction isn’t surprising.
 
That was a good article. I was lonely growing up and spent a lot of time watching television shows in the 1950’s and 1960’s and movies as well. My escape was watching the actors on screen. I also liked reading. But I was familiar with every famous Hollywood actor and actress on TV and in the movies. I am 65 now so I have lost many of my favorite celebrities. When I was younger, I would mourn, but now that I am older I know that celebrities must die like everyone else and I know that some abuse alcohol and drugs and many times their lives are cut short sooner than others.
There are celebrities who pass from accidents such as Carole Lombard and Princess Diana. Life is fragile. Many celebrities lead tragic lives like Whitney Houston, Michael
Jackson, Marilyn Monroe and we hope they will overcome their problems because we acknowledge they are talented or valuable. We mourn when they can’t overcome their
problems and death has won.
 
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