Today I woke to the radio news announcing Whitney Houston’s death. She was 48 and died in her bathtub. A few months ago, Amy Whitehouse died at the age of 27. Axl Rose just turned 50 last week.
Celebrity is a strange thing. We all recognise celebrities’ faces and voices but they don’t recognise us. I say hi to my colleagues and they say hi back, recognising me. With celebrities they say hi to crowds of people at live gigs or appear on television in our living rooms, welcomed into our homes and lives. The effect goes one way only. These people don’t personally know their fans, admirers or detractors. So why do we care what happens to celebrities ? Sure Whitney’s death is tragic but many people tragically died over the last few days and we don’t hear about them and, even if we did, we wouldn’t really care much. If I die, celebrities don’t hear about it and wouldn’t care if they did. Why should they ?
We have a cult of celebrity in the modern world. People buy gossip magazines about public figures and excitedly buy newspapers whenever they reveal new information about the sex lives of famous people. What do we get out of this ? Is it a way of imagining a life where we are rich and famous or is it just an extension of the gossip which goes on in small, closed communities. Perhaps hearing about Whitney’s death on the radio is just another way of standing peeking out from behind the curtains, discretely spying on the people in the street outside.