my response to a facebook group about whitney’s passing:
interesting the amount of emotional outpouring i’m reading today…written by people who didn’t “know” her. i’m not criticizing; i know when debbie harry finally bites the dust, i’ll have to take time off work. but it’s curious to me what causes the emotional response over a celeb’s passing…i suspect it has more to do with one’s very specific memories (“i remember the first time i heard that song!”), and not the celeb so much.
i could be totally wrong. i haven’t thought this one out very fully, yet.
whitney means very little to me on a nostalgic or emotional level; i never bought any of her records or saw any of her movies. i was surprised at my own feelings when laura branigan (“gloria”) died a few years ago. and heath ledger. and river phoenix.
the MJ thing interested me from a “look what’s on TV” POV, and i think the whitney thing will be similar for me.
