I really don't give a shit about any comedian/actor who offs himself. The outpouring of feeling when such things happen are a symptom of a societal illness in which people imagine that (a) the public personas of celebrities are somehow reflective of who they really are as people and (b) individual members of the public have an emotional connection to the celebrity.
Largely, entertainers are self-centered assholes. Successful ones manipulate and control how they are perceived; this is fundamental to long-term success. Everything they do is contrived and they are never out of character. It's their job to appear to be something they're not.
People feel a need to think of themselves as somehow connected to celebrities because Americans worship entertainment and can no longer distinguish fantasy from reality. Movies, especially, are manipulative tools to make people think they are experiencing real intimacy with the actors. Movies draw people out of their own empty, impoverished lives for a little while, so I understand the appeal. But anyone who tells me that they are grief-stricken because a pampered, cross-addicted asshole Cobained himself seems a little dim to me.
Comments