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We're sad only because we reminisce and remember the past and then realize who old we are getting. So in fact, the sadness is for our own sorry aging selves more so than the person who passed.
Besides the obvious, why would the average person be saddened when a celebrity dies at an old age? PIck someone like Andy Griffith or Doris Roberts. Many times, these are actors whom we haven't seen for decades, yet as soon as they pass away, we are saddened. It isn't like they are a part of our daily life. We don't know them at all. Is it just that their death is a reminder that many people we "grew up" with are dying so we are going soon? I don't think there a mechanism inside of us that feels bad if any anonymous person dies because I rarely am saddened when I pass a funeral home with people hanging around outside. I do feel bad for the survivors but not for the unknown deceased person. However, many are sad for the deceased actor.
Has anyone else ever even thought of this or am I thinking too much?
I don't feel sad when a celebrity dies of old age or even a young age. I might think for all of 5 seconds "what a shame" but that's about it. I saw on FB that some people were crying when they heard Prince died. I don't get it at all, they didn't know him personally and his death does not affect them in the least. Some people are such drama queens. The only celebrity death that bothered me was Princess Diana because it was so needless and my heart went out to her children who were almost the same age as my kids at the time.
Okay I was a little sad when Michael Landon died because I had a crush on him since I was a teenager but even then I didn't cry or dwell on it.
I'm not into the celebrity culture, and avoid what celebrity gossip or BS I can, but there are still a few that I feel a emotional connection with their lives. It's kind of like at a certain time of my life a singer's music or lyrics may have had some impact on me or my life. Or there were TV shows or movies that I somehow was affected by. At my age, there's few left that I would be sad about. Prince wasn't one, for instance. He was a star I guess, and I enjoyed his music, but no, I felt no personal connection to his life.
Besides the obvious, why would the average person be saddened when a celebrity dies at an old age? PIck someone like Andy Griffith or Doris Roberts. Many times, these are actors whom we haven't seen for decades, yet as soon as they pass away, we are saddened. It isn't like they are a part of our daily life. We don't know them at all. Is it just that their death is a reminder that many people we "grew up" with are dying so we are going soon? I don't think there a mechanism inside of us that feels bad if any anonymous person dies because I rarely am saddened when I pass a funeral home with people hanging around outside. I do feel bad for the survivors but not for the unknown deceased person. However, many are sad for the deceased actor.
Has anyone else ever even thought of this or am I thinking too much?
I wouldn't be "sad" per se and there are some celebs i wouldn't give a second thought to. However, Andy Griffith, I grew up watching him, Redd Foxx and many others. I suppose I have seen many of them as part of my "extended family" if you will. When Robin Williams died, I was very shocked and saddened, as this man kept many laughing, yet inside, he was sad.
Singers, athletes and celebs like Sammy Davis Jr, Muhammad Ali, Michael Jackson and Prince, I also grew up with. Additionally, when a celeb dies, it also reminds us that these folks are not immortal. heck..we thought Prince would live forever, lol and one day, he's gone. I also think the way a celebrity dies has a lot to do with it as well.
Well, unlike y'all trons and robots here on this thread , as a huge music-lover, I've been having a terribly weepy year thus far. I cried for a week when David Bowie died. He was 69. Young for mere mortals by today's standards, not so young by rock star standards considering what many rock stars put their bodies through both in terms of substance abuse and plain old wear-and-tear from the work of performing, touring, etc.
Homina touched on part of it. Celebrities can become associated with a certain time. When they die, their passing is a marker. When Bob Hope died, my parents, both of the WWII generation, saw it as "the end of an era." When David Bowie died, it felt that way for me.
But also, I tend to see this a bit philosophically. The world can be a brutal, nasty, ugly place, both on a grand scale with things like war and natural disasters and on an individual scale with personal events like illness, financial hardship, divorce, being the victim of a crime, etc. People in the arts bring beauty and solace to such a world. Who hasn't escaped into a good movie or album when times were rough? They also stand as a voice for the voiceless at times, both in expressing things that people might not be able to express for themselves (the guy who dedicates an uncharacteristically mushy song to his love) or don't have the power to express for themselves (see: folk music in the 60s, punk rock in the 70s, etc., or certain actors like Leonardo di Caprio, Jason Momoa, and Susan Sarandon today). And some are just plain inspirational to others. How many times have you heard someone say this celebrity or that inspired them to pursue an art, stay true to their dreams despite the odds, etc?
So when these folks die, the world loses all of that. Yes, others come up behind them, but their particular brand of beauty, voice, and inspiration that struck a chord deep within their fans comes to its cap. We can always enjoy what they left behind, but there will be no more new stuff, no more opportunities to see them at their art live, no more interviews to see or read. They may have gotten old, and maybe they even retired, but they were still around to remind us, and to speak of their work, and lend their voices. We miss their presence on earth because we were aware of it and appreciated it in the first place.
What boggles my mind is how many here say they feel little to nothing. When an admired celebrity dies, my social media explodes with people sharing their grief. Maybe it's just that as a writer, I pal around with a lot of creatives--actors, musicians, artists, other writers--and excepting the narcissists among us, creatives tend to be a pretty high-empathy group. These are also the folks who cry at sad movies, feel wiped out when they finish reading a powerful novel, and listen to music for hours as a form of catharsis.
All I know is that while I'm not a rabid fan of Keith Richards, when he goes, it won't be the end of an era. It will be the end of the dang world because it's going to take all four horsemen to bring that hunk of death-defying granite down!
Regarding the bolded, 5 year old Ernest Hemingway faced some challenge and through quivering lips said "fraid a nothing", then went on to live the rest of his life proving that he was indeed "fraid a nothing". He seemed to have a difficult time convincing himself. Likewise here, some folks are adamant that no aspect of popular culture or mass media has any impact on them. As with Ernest through his lifetime, they haven't convinced themselves yet and so they keep proclaiming it, hoping they'll believe it one day.
Besides the obvious, why would the average person be saddened when a celebrity dies at an old age? PIck someone like Andy Griffith or Doris Roberts. Many times, these are actors whom we haven't seen for decades, yet as soon as they pass away, we are saddened. It isn't like they are a part of our daily life. We don't know them at all. Is it just that their death is a reminder that many people we "grew up" with are dying so we are going soon? I don't think there a mechanism inside of us that feels bad if any anonymous person dies because I rarely am saddened when I pass a funeral home with people hanging around outside. I do feel bad for the survivors but not for the unknown deceased person. However, many are sad for the deceased actor.
Has anyone else ever even thought of this or am I thinking too much?
Why are we ever saddened when a 90 year old dies? Its part of the cycle of life... Always laugh when we hear the world is saddened as 92 year old so and so passed away. Hell, they were on borrowed time anyway.
May sound callous , but its a fact. Now when a 70 year old or younger passes...well, that is sad.
Besides the obvious, why would the average person be saddened when a celebrity dies at an old age? PIck someone like Andy Griffith or Doris Roberts. Many times, these are actors whom we haven't seen for decades, yet as soon as they pass away, we are saddened. It isn't like they are a part of our daily life. We don't know them at all. Is it just that their death is a reminder that many people we "grew up" with are dying so we are going soon? I don't think there a mechanism inside of us that feels bad if any anonymous person dies because I rarely am saddened when I pass a funeral home with people hanging around outside. I do feel bad for the survivors but not for the unknown deceased person. However, many are sad for the deceased actor.
Has anyone else ever even thought of this or am I thinking too much?
Might be because they can see the signs of their own demise. Might be because everyone is supposed to make a show of sorrow, it's considered callous not to, and it's easier to just squeeze out a public tear than turn away and say: "I simply do not care. This death means as much to me, but no more, than the other oodles of deaths today, some of which will be much more tragic and untimely." I'm of the belief that a lot of people's public pronouncements are not so much because people are feeling a thing, but because it's considered sort of socially obligatory and people don't want to stand out.
Regarding the bolded, 5 year old Ernest Hemingway faced some challenge and through quivering lips said "fraid a nothing", then went on to live the rest of his life proving that he was indeed "fraid a nothing". He seemed to have a difficult time convincing himself. Likewise here, some folks are adamant that no aspect of popular culture or mass media has any impact on them. As with Ernest through his lifetime, they haven't convinced themselves yet and so they keep proclaiming it, hoping they'll believe it one day.
Sometimes I think some people regard feeling sadness or sorrow as a weakness. It's almost like they want to deny that they've let anything or anyone touch their hearts, because that would be a weakness, too. Now you know I'm a bit of a frosty one on the Relationships forum (mainly because I'm out of patience with rerolls there), but the way I see it, if your heart and life are open enough to be moved by something or someone you'll never have close contact with, that's actually a sign of strength. People are only open when they are in tune with the world around them, and have empathy and compassion. I'm not going to name names, but some of the responses here from certain individuals really shouldn't surprise me in the least, given their constant condescending, snitty, callous, and judgmental crap on other subforums. Frightened 5-year-olds is how I see their emotional selves.
For century after century "ordinary" people elsewhere have been following the lives of exemplars in their culture, their royal families. Many still do. They rejoice at the births of new little princes and princesses, pay attention to the gossip, and weep when the old king or queen dies, or when, in modern times, divorces break up what looked like an ideal family. It is a peculiar form of mass infatuation--and I actually don't mean that in a bad way. It is actually very similar to rooting for a sports team/hero: we feel the sweeping emotion of sharing something deep inside of ourselves with total strangers. The upside is that we hook up with other human beings in what E.O. Wilson calls a super-social connection. The downside is that we can also be swept away by populists.
Some of us have never been able to "get" that kind of group emotion. But there is a deeper phenomenon happening, and I think that is perfectly normal, psychologically: many people need to think that there is a world out there where rich and powerful lives make sense--an ideal situation come to life, and then we share it vicariously. And celebrities have simply become the U.S. version of royalty, so there is a mass outpouring of grief when someone like Prince passes.
But I think that is in addition to what a few great posts have mentioned--how (some of) our own lives have become intertwined with the images, art, and influence of a few celebrities that have meant something to us, particularly in our youth. And losing that beacon in our lives can be a deep, individual sorrow that we just happen to share with strangers.
I'm still not over losing George Harrison...
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, as a huge music-lover, I've been having a terribly weepy year thus far. I cried for a week when David Bowie died. He was 69. Young for mere mortals by today's standards, not so young by rock star standards considering what many rock stars put their bodies through both in terms of substance abuse and plain old wear-and-tear from the work of performing, touring, etc. 
