over sentimentality about celeb deaths (woman, issues, depressed, thoughts)

[Upstate67]

Originally Posted by sas318

You watch a TV show/movie, listen to a song, see an athlete win a game, you like it, they make you HAPPY, now you want to know everything about them. Sounds normal to me. It's similar to making a new friend or getting into a new romantic relationship.

Just not really lol.

[LLCNYC]

Originally Posted by MoonBeam33

I'm not a shill, I'm not "looking for attention," and I'm not "fragile." David Bowie has been a huge part of my life for literally 30 years. Robin Williams brought joy to millions of people while wrestling with his own demons, which eventually took his life. Carrie Fisher was one of the first female "action heroes" - not something that a lot of us 70s and 80s girls had example of. Believe it or not, famous people can have a profound effect on ordinary people.

All of us should be so lucky that when we die, people outside of our immediate family give a damn.

Bowie was not a "part of your life", his MUSIC was...

You enjoyed Williams' humor, not him personally...

There is a big difference.

[oldwoman]

It's because many people identify on an intimate level with celebrities. I don't get it either, but there you are. Perhaps it's the access to intimate details that allows people to 'fool' themselves into thinking there is more to their relationship than is actually true. Or perhaps it is the ability of many people to blur the line between fiction and non-fiction....

[ChessieMom]

Originally Posted by elhelmete

Are people really this fragile?!

Let's get one thing straight. By any objective measure, there was an average # of 'celeb' deaths this year.

But my god, the sheer volume of static out there about people being devastated by the carnage, and gutted and depressed about it, seriously, this is just for show, right?

Sure, when Bowie died, I may have cranked up the volume on 'Heroes,' and when Carrie Fisher died I went looking for my copy of 'Postcards,' and in general I probably paused for maybe a moment and thought kind thoughts for them and their families. But....that's it.

It starts to devalue actual devastating events like the death of a spouse or child or parent, or heck even a lifelong pet or friend. Or an illness diagnosis or job loss. Those things are worth being devastated over. How are these people going to handle those kinds of events??

I don't know anyone that was "devasted by the carnage". Didn't read where anyone was either. I think you are maybe taking the inteweb too seriously.

[Vectoris]

I don't think it's overly sentimental or fragile. I think it's complete melodrama and hysteria when people fall to floor in supposed grief over someone they had a one-way financial transaction with, and a week later, will have forgotten all about it.

It's always a bit sad to me that so many people choose to idolize those who are pretty, those who can act, or sing and dance. There are others more worthy of worship and praise, who never receive it.

[Vasily]

Originally Posted by ChessieMom

I don't know anyone that was "devasted by the carnage". Didn't read where anyone was either. I think you are maybe taking the inteweb too seriously.

Me, either. Unless maybe some histrionic media creature like Perez Hilton made a big deal about being devastated. But I haven't really seen that. Or anyone "gutted and depressed" over celebrity deaths. I haven't seen the "over sentimentality" the thread is addressing -- but I have no doubt it exists out there. But saying blank you 2016 in response to Debbie Reynold's death -- histrionic, yes, but hardly the evidence of devastation or depression.

What I have seen is friends who were made thoughtful about these deaths -- pondering their own mortality, and how they have or will react to their own losses. That's the effect they've had on me. And when Debbie Reynolds died in grief over her daughter -- that's a tragedy no matter who it is. It made those of us who have lost a child through divorce or death or estrangement grieve with her for our losses. We recognize our mutual humanity in our pain. And if we're incapable of recognizing that mutual humanity -- well, that's a different problem.

[Jukesgrrl]

I have a little more understanding for this feeling than some people are exhibiting here. We live in a media culture. People who are prominent in the media can become a big part of our lives. Personally, I don't have much interest in television actors because I rarely watch TV other than news or sports; I don't remember the last time I saw a sitcom and I don't watch reality TV at all. But I go to the movies and I have, at certain times in my life, been very moved by some particular films and actors who performed memorably in them. I was shocked and saddened, for example, to learn that Alan Rickman passed away. He was a supremely talented artist and sue me if I cried knowing he would never make another film.

In my case, music and poetry are the primary arts that inform my life. Unlike mordant's wife, I didn't play Prince or David Bowie's music obsessively when they died. I was so heartbroken I can barely stand to hear them right now. I'll get over it and listen again with joy at their talent, but right now I'm still a bit shaken by their loss. If that makes me a shallow, silly woman, so be it. But their music has been a huge part of my life. I've seen them in concert, certain ones of their songs mean a lot to me and are constant reminders of people and events that played an important part in my life. I hear certain Janis Joplin or Jimi Hendrix songs and I swear to you I can SMELL my college dorm room (and, no, not just marijuana). I read certain poems and they speak to me about certain incidents or emotions that moved me deeply. That's one of the primary purposes of art and if we get emotionally involved with the people who evoked those emotions, what's wrong with that?

Now you might say some of the people who are idolized in our culture are somewhat too shallow to be classified as artists. But meaning is where you find it. My late father was utterly crushed when his boyhood idol Ted Williams passed away. Did I laugh at that? No, it would have been cruel. Just because I didn't share his feelings about baseball or that particular player didn't make that "relationship" meaningless to him.

I'm not into rap music but I felt sorry for people who were in grief over the recent loss of the musician known as Phife Dawg (Malik Taylor) to complications from diabetes. He was one of the founders of the seminal rap group A Tribe Called Quest and his work was very influential to a particular segment of music lovers. Many, many people wrote and spoke very movingly of their love for this man, a person who may have been dismissed by much of our citizenry. Just because many of the mourners only knew Phife's work and not his person doesn't make his loss less important to them.

If the Star Wars fans are taking some time to get over Carrie Fisher's unexpected death, so be it. It's nothing to laugh at in my book. It doesn't matter if they are responding to the loss of an actress or the character she played. This was a being in their lives and if they need to mourn her and memorialize her, I respect that and it makes me respect Miss Fisher and her talent.

[English Dave]

Originally Posted by don1945

Well, at least some of us humans feel for others. These celebrities become part of our lives and part of our fond memories. When someone like this passes, I feel bad because a memory has also died.

I think we feel sadness when celebrities die because of our connection with them from our youth. Young people don't remember folks like David Bowie in his, and our prime. I was a teenager when Bowie first came on the scene in the late 60s. I saw him 'live' in London in the early 70s.

As the years pass, a celebrity like him turns up in our lives. Things like 'Live Aid' in 1985. Then more time passes, and he turns up on a chat show, alongside Tom Hanks. More years pass, and then suddenly, he is gone. It is upsetting, because those of us of a certain age have watched him perform since we were young. Part of our upset is for ourselves, and the passing years.

Now, someone like Debbie Reynolds is different. She made her greatest film 'Singing In The Rain' before I was born. My connection with Debbie is that film, and seeing it turn up on television for decades. Debbie was always there somehow. Later in her life, I would see her on chat shows, and admire her down to earth style. Then we hear of the difficulties of her daughter Carrie Fisher. This makes them both very human and frail to us. Suddenly Carrie is gone, and the day after by her grieving mother. Our humanity causes us to feel sad for these people, even though we never really knew them at all.

My son, who is 39 years old, was really upset over the death of Carrie Fisher. She was part of his childhood in the Star Wars films. That's a generational thing....... I was upset for the mother, he was upset for the daughter.

[ylisa7]

People die every day and when I hear about it I always feel bad for the ones left behind. I don't think celebrities deserve more feelings than anyone else but more people will remember them and what they did to entertain us.

As for me it just hits closer to home when I hear about people my age dying.

[swgirl926]

I don't know anyone who was "devastated", but we remember a lot of those celebs from when we grew up in the 80s, and when they died, a part of our childhood died with it.