Prince’s untimely death on Thursday, aged 57, has left fans shocked and grieving. While many expressed their grief, others were shocked to experience such a powerful personal reaction: “I didn’t know him, so why am I this upset”? With the recent deaths of Alan Rickman, David Bowie, and now Prince, I ponder what it was about these deaths that captivated us. As a young twenty-one-year-old woman whose musical interests tend to fall into an indie/alternative vibe, I’ve possibly spoken of Prince maybe once or twice in my life. Even although I knew very well who he was, what he looked like, and about his three songs, I never thought, “Prince is one of the greatest artists of all time”. I know my friends and I’ve never had a discussion about how astonishing Prince is, but here they’re on numerous social media sites claiming how sad they’re and how much they will miss this legend. Why? Why do we feel the need to participate in something that has little to do with us? Do I find it tragic that somebody so talented died long before he was supposed to? Absolutely, but aside from the first time I heard about it on the news and thinking about how sad I was for the family, I possibly would not consider it anymore. However, it’s spread across every website and news station. Friends of mine who never once spoke about Prince posted about how sad his death was and how devastated they were by this great loss. I doubt they’re really interested. The same could be said for Bowie and Rickman. While I’m sure Rickman is a tremendous actor, I can not name any movies Alan Rickman has starred in aside from the Harry Potter and Sweeney Todd series. I see fourteen and fifteen year olds posting how sad they’re over Prince’s death. At fifteen years old, are you really an enormous Prince fan? Maybe this is the cynic in me but I find it nearly insulting for artists to pretend to be your fans.
Celebrity worship syndrome (CWS) is classified as an obsessive addictive disorder in which a person becomes overly involved with the details of a celebrity’s personal life. While I’m surprised to learn that this is an actual disorder, I do not think it explains our morbid fascination with celebrity deaths. This brings me to a question that actually bothers me: Why do we do it? We join in the mourning. Is it for attention or do we just want to feel included in the hype? What do we gain by pretending we’ll miss someone who, in a year, we will not really remember? Is the loss of a famous person just a reminder of our own mortality? Maybe, but I believe this feeling of mourning gets stronger, within minutes of death because thousands of articles are published on the subject. In less than twenty-four hours after Prince’s death, you can Google his name and see more than ten pages of hundreds of articles. Just a couple of minutes later, I logged onto Facebook and saw it was a trending topic. Maybe we just want to feel like we’re not alone. Perhaps, those who share and post about the situation share a deep emotional connection with one another. Even although I haven’t got any real answers, I find myself hooked on these questions.
As a side note, I want to let anyone who may be feeling overwhelmed with grief and sorrow know that there are options. There are counselors, psychologists, psychiatrists, and even professional hotlines and websites available if you need to speak about your grief. One such site is http://www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org/.
