Why do people care when celebrities pass away?

[Anonymous]

I hope this doesn’t sound too callous. With Matthew Perry’s death I am seeing all these people posting about how much they loved him - people who have never met him. If you’re one of these people, what drives your attachment to pop culture figures you don’t actually know?

[Anonymous]

I always thought this was bizarre (maybe kind of stupid?) too, until recently. Now that I'm older, when certain celebrities die it is like they take a piece of my life with them. When Prince died, I remembered the night in MS when my friend and I stayed up all night and she permed my hair -- we were listening to Purple Rain over and over. With Prince gone, it felt like that night was a world and lifetime away. I didn't really mourn Prince as I didn't know him, I mourned the end of an era and the end of a part of myself with it.

It doesn't surprise me that people would react to Matthew Perry like this -- (for better or for worse) his show Friends is a real cultural touchstone for a lot of people.

[Anonymous]

Like PP I would have agreed until Robin Williams died. He was in so many movies that were so important to my childhood, but especially The Birdcage, which was such a touchstone growing up with queer parents. I understand it if you don't get it, since I didn't used to, but there certainly is something painful about it for others of us.

[Anonymous]

I don’t know but I was genuinely bummed by Steve Irwin’s untimely passing.

[Anonymous]

I think people are mourning themselves getting older, when a little piece of their younger life is gone.
It's also a bit shocking when it's someone young, like Perry, despite the drug issues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t know but I was genuinely bummed by Steve Irwin’s untimely passing.

Steve was one of those rare exceptions. Most of us mourned the person more than an association to a time in our lives or a certain memory. That was personal sadness.

[Anonymous]

Because people enjoy their work and it’s sad that they won’t be able to perform anymore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t know but I was genuinely bummed by Steve Irwin’s untimely passing.

Steve was one of those rare exceptions. Most of us mourned the person more than an association to a time in our lives or a certain memory. That was personal sadness.

What really got me with his death was his little girl reading her eulogy about him at his funeral. That was heartbreaking.

[Anonymous]

I used to watch the Thanksgiving episode of Friends with my cousins every Thanksgiving. It was the one time each year that. we watched tv together. When I was older, I'd come home from work and watch two reruns of Friends while eating dinner. I saw Fools Rush In, The Whole Nine Yards, etc. I read his book a few months ago.

After a while you get comfortable seeing someone over the course of years (decades, in this case), and if you like them you start rooting for them. So you're sad when they die.

I never cared about Steve Irwin. I think it's a little weird how neither of his kids have ever really explored other careers, and were basically brought up to spend their lives orbiting around their dead father. Who the son can't possibly even remember at all. It strikes me as a tiny cult. They wear their all tan clothes, if you date or marry one of the kids you have to eventually also wear tan clothes, you go on dates AT the zoo, etc. It just doesn't seem like there's any balance.

But I grew up in NY and Billy Joel songs were the first recognizable songs I ever played on the piano, and remember being devastated when the news broke he and Christie Brinkley were getting divorced. I remember saying to my mom "They're the first people I've ever known to get divorced," even though I didn't ACTUALLY know them. But we listened to Billy Joel records, heard his songs on the radio,, played them on the piano, etc.

[Anonymous]

Isn't it part of the human condition to care?

A lot of people have memories connected to Friends. I have memories of crowding around a tv in a dorm room on Thursday nights and watching Friends. I think people also turned to Friends when they needed to be comforted or needed a laugh.

Saying that, I often feel upset when people I don't know. Murder, cancer, animal cruelty, child abuse, etc. It comes from a place of feeling that this shouldn't have happened and it shouldn't be this way. I don't have to know someone to feel something for them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Isn't it part of the human condition to care?

A lot of people have memories connected to Friends. I have memories of crowding around a tv in a dorm room on Thursday nights and watching Friends. I think people also turned to Friends when they needed to be comforted or needed a laugh.

Saying that, I often feel upset when people I don't know. Murder, cancer, animal cruelty, child abuse, etc. It comes from a place of feeling that this shouldn't have happened and it shouldn't be this way. I don't have to know someone to feel something for them.

This.i sometimes become emotional when a fictional character on tv/movie passes away on screen.

[Anonymous]

I don't understand why anyone cares who celebrities date or what they're wearing, but the death of a fellow human being whose work touched you in some way through their performances, music, etc.? I can understand why people feel real sadness, especially when the death is premature/unexpected.

[Anonymous]

Showing my age…
When Lucille Ball died I cried. I remembered all the times I watched it with my brother and mom and the times we laughed together.

Pretty sure I’ll cry when Julie Andrews dies for the same reasons. Brings back memories with loved ones.

[Anonymous]

There’s a whole lot of research on this. You want to read about “parasocial relationships”

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parasocial_interaction

[Anonymous]

Entertainment provides almost every person in the world a chance to relax, de-stress, take a break from work....however you want to classify it. Entertainment is prevelant in almost EVERYONE's lives. Sure, there may be a few of you snobs out there that claim to never watch TV, or watch sports, or any of that stuff, but you are an extreme minority (and probably a bit dishonest).

Television, music, sports, art.....all the various forms of entertainment that gets entwined in our lives is important. It's relevant. We don't need to know a person personnally to have an attachment to them. Matthew Perry probably brought more joy to strangers lives than the OP brings to the members of their own family.