Celebritism Post 4: What We Are Reminded Of Everytime a Celebrity Passes Away

I’ve been thinking about the tragic and untimely death of Whitney Houston and how it connects to these posts on celebritism. The first thought that comes to me is that in today’s media-driven, celebrity-preoccupied culture, celebrity deaths receive extraordinary attention.

In some ways, it may seem like an odd thing to be saddened of a death of someone that doesn’t know of your existence. In some ways, it’s still very normal. People have always mourned the death of people they don’t know. The loss of life is sad on any level and it’s a good thing because the opposite, apathy, seems like an inhumane response.

I remember hearing the story of one of my grandmothers crying when she heard the news that John F Kennedy Jr. was assassinated. In 1963, all of my family was still living in Egypt, in fact, it would be almost 15 years before she could move here. Initially I found it surprising that my grandmother would be saddened by this. As was told to me, regardless of your citizenship, political views, and so forth JFK was the President of the United States and therefore he was a symbol of many things, including the American ideals and hopes. I now understand why she cried.

We probably mourn the deaths of people like Whitney, Michael Jackson, Steve Jobs, Joe Paterno for different reasons. Entertainers carry their symbols. Inventors and coaches carry them as well. Our lives are so inter-connected and only becoming increasingly more. Enter Social Media, the internet and cable news shows. Among the many changes we go through as a society is that we mourn now. Today we don’t only mourn when tragedy strikes the famous, we mourn almost every tragedy.

In some sense, we get to mourn together. We pass on our condolences. We get to pay tribute.

I know to some it feels odd that people would pay their respects online. In anyone’s timeline, there is a wide variety of messages ranging from the trivial to the profound to the practical to the tragic. Such is life. One house in the neighborhood celebrates a birth, another mourns, across the street a couple separates and next door to that one, newlyweds move in. Life is filled with everyone going in different directions all the time.

When a celebrity passes, we are reminded that no one’s life is exempt from hurt. We’re all messed up. Fame, wealth and power does not promise a painless life. We are reminded of our own humanity and everyone else’s. This is a good thing.

In Whitney Houston’s case, her voice is a part of my early adolescence, as Michael Jackson’s was. While I didn’t have posters of them on my wall, they’re part of the life soundtrack. Inevitably, there will people making unsympathetic statements, others will come to her defense. Someone will be blamed, an investigation will likely happen and media outlets will drag the story with new revelations and details for as long as possible.

Depending on how many of the details of the story you want, I find the tough thing is to not objectify the person either way. To be annoyed and dismiss it all in a way that removes sympathy for the deceased is dehumanizing. So is the other extreme of over-obsessing over the story.

Every time something like this happens, we are also reminded that not only is their pain in everyone’s life but something should be done about it. The Christian message proclaims there is hope, there is peace, there is life that Jesus invites us to. As we approach the season of Lent, I encourage fellow believers and seekers to reflect on that. I know I will. As far as the appropriate response, we ought to at least be sure it’s worthy of our human dignity.

Comments

  1. It seems to me that celebrity is a matter of scale. For my sons there was, and to some extent still is, “crazy Uncle Tom.” And in a local church, the pastor or even an associate pastor can be something of a celebrity — someone who is looked up to, and who disappoints if they fall. For me that makes it easier to extend grace to those who fall regardless of the scale of their following or of their failures.

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