Celebrity Deaths: Why the Desire to Report and Discuss?

[SalixIncendium]

I've seen a couple of threads now reporting celebrity COVID-19 deaths. While they are, indeed, sad, I think they're every bit as sad as any other death from this horrible pandemic. I know I'd be much more rattled if someone I knew or someone I have formed a relationship with on this forum succumbed to this virus than I would of celebrities I've never met. Which leads me to my question...

Why do people have a fascination with celebrity deaths? Why do people react differently to their death than to that of John or Jane Doe? Not only because of this virus, which is likely more relatable to us since we're all in this together, but in general. Is it because people form some sort of bond with people who have entertained them or people that they've looked up to even though they've never met them?

What are your thoughts? Is there any reason from a psychological perspective that this condition exists?

 

[Revoltingest]

We know them, & even like some of them.
They're like family, but better cuz they don't say nasty things about/to us.
So we want to know about them.

 

[PoetPhilosopher]

Talking about on a forum basis, I find it simply easier to discuss. For example, one could link to X celebrity having it, say "Wow didn't expect that", and generate a discussion.

But let's say someone's mom has it. A poster may feel insincere saying "My mom has coronavirus" and leaving it at that, and other posters may not know really how to respond if they do - they could talk up their mom, but it might rub salt in the wound if the poster's relationship with their mom isn't the best. If the poster does go into more detail, that can be really hard for the poster, also.

So it's just simpler to talk celebrities.

 

[Treasure Hunter]

Admiration is a precursor to imitation, so people who we admire are more meaningful from a sense experiential perspective. Sometimes popularity gets confused for admiration.

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

What are your thoughts? Is there any reason from a psychological perspective that this condition exists?

It irritates the hell out of me. I'd love to know what's behind it.

 

[Twilight Hue]

I've seen a couple of threads now reporting celebrity COVID-19 deaths. While they are, indeed, sad, I think they're every bit as sad as any other death from this horrible pandemic. I know I'd be much more rattled if someone I knew or someone I have formed a relationship with on this forum succumbed to this virus than I would of celebrities I've never met. Which leads me to my question...

Why do people have a fascination with celebrity deaths? Why do people react differently to their death than to that of John or Jane Doe? Not only because of this virus, which is likely more relatable to us since we're all in this together, but in general. Is it because people form some sort of bond with people who have entertained them or people that they've looked up to even though they've never met them?

What are your thoughts? Is there any reason from a psychological perspective that this condition exists?

Its just something people like to do I think.

just to be the first to announce it or pushing an agenda. Even boredom.

Whatever it is, it's no question people like to gossip and talk about celebrities. It's obviously why there's so many magazines and rags out on them.

 

[Stevicus]

I've seen a couple of threads now reporting celebrity COVID-19 deaths. While they are, indeed, sad, I think they're every bit as sad as any other death from this horrible pandemic. I know I'd be much more rattled if someone I knew or someone I have formed a relationship with on this forum succumbed to this virus than I would of celebrities I've never met. Which leads me to my question...

Why do people have a fascination with celebrity deaths? Why do people react differently to their death than to that of John or Jane Doe? Not only because of this virus, which is likely more relatable to us since we're all in this together, but in general. Is it because people form some sort of bond with people who have entertained them or people that they've looked up to even though they've never met them?

What are your thoughts? Is there any reason from a psychological perspective that this condition exists?

I think it's just interesting to know, especially if it's someone whose art one might have enjoyed. I don't think it forms any kind of "bond" with the celebrity, although fans have sometimes formed bonds.

Like when John Lennon died, a lot of his fans came together, lit candles and sang his songs. Even if they didn't actually know him or met him, they still liked his music and wanted to share in the loss with others like them.

 

[Mock Turtle]

Obviously deaths can be rather personal - as in how closely related or as in friendships or as work colleagues, etc. - but celebrity deaths are rather different so often in that they might have given a lot of pleasure to many more, and over a long period, than any of those mentioned previously, and it is more the way they die so often too. This virus especially makes dying not exactly easy unless one is drugged and completely out of it. It's just a sad end, as it is for many others. It hardly means we value one life over another, just that what their life has meant for us over the years - as in Tim Brooke-Taylor's case - and ending rather suddenly and tragically.

Plus it is a place to discuss how we appreciated what they might have given to us over the years. No one is obliged to read such threads.

Edit: And if one has read Paul Bloom's book Against Empathy, it does seem more natural to just be more empathetic towards those we know. With many celebrities, I suspect it is more about how much we have invested in them. For someone who has listened to all of Tim Brooke-Taylor's radio shows and watched virtually all his TV programmes this might be quite high compared to someone who has hardly heard of him. Rather natural I would think and perhaps not necessary to look into the psychology. If anything I would suspect anyone asking such a question.

 

[MNoBody]

-media puts that type of material out and some people really crave that kind of fan material....tabloids...paparazzi ..it has been an epidemic for a long time already and many people seem to have no immunity to that type of news

 

[Erebus]

I've seen a couple of threads now reporting celebrity COVID-19 deaths. While they are, indeed, sad, I think they're every bit as sad as any other death from this horrible pandemic. I know I'd be much more rattled if someone I knew or someone I have formed a relationship with on this forum succumbed to this virus than I would of celebrities I've never met. Which leads me to my question...

Why do people have a fascination with celebrity deaths? Why do people react differently to their death than to that of John or Jane Doe? Not only because of this virus, which is likely more relatable to us since we're all in this together, but in general. Is it because people form some sort of bond with people who have entertained them or people that they've looked up to even though they've never met them?

What are your thoughts? Is there any reason from a psychological perspective that this condition exists?

My suspicion is that people in general have a difficult time processing death when it occurs on a mass scale to people we don't know. As of this moment, there have been more than 10,000 confirmed deaths due to the coronavirus in the UK. Picturing what that actually looks like is difficult, it's a number of people far beyond what most of us can digest and we only see a very small number of names and faces to go with it.

Obviously when it's our own family and friends, we have a much more personal stake in the matter. We knew them, we spoke to them, we understand something about who they were. That's a relationship we just don't have with the 10,000 others who died in the same way.

With celebrities, people tend to develop a sort of one way relationship with them. I'm not all that keen on the obsession with celebrities in general but there are certainly a few people I genuinely respect despite them being unaware of my existence. When they die, we experience it as a loss in our own lives. Perhaps not with the same intensity of family and friends but there is a little touch of personal grief nonetheless.

This isn't to say that people don't care about non-celebrity deaths (though admittedly, some genuinely don't) it's just that it's more abstract and less personal to us.