If I See One More Blog Entry About Steve Irwin…
Well, I’m sure this will bring me some more negative comments, but at the risk of being wholly insensitive I need to say: Shut up about Steve Irwin already!
We had lunch with friends yesterday. I asked them how their morning had been, and they responded by telling us of the death of the Crocodile Hunter. They’re good friends, and I respect them and their opinions, but I found myself trying to determine whether they were joking somewhat as they talked solemnly about how tragic the whole thing was. I asked, “Were you really into him?” “Well, we watched his show.” Huh.
I haven’t watched more than a couple minutes of Irwin’s show. I recognize that he was an exuberant personality, loved animals, etc. etc., but this outpouring of sympathy (three prominent blogs I read have blogged their sadness over the event) just seems a little bizarre. It’s as if our nation has been waiting for something to mourn. Like we’re ready for a good cry. Will President Bush attend the services?
I feel for his family’s loss; that’s probably the saddest aspect of the whole thing. I just don’t understand this reaction. Maybe I’m just crabby because my long weekend is over.
September 5th, 2006 at 5:08 pm
Perhaps people are consumed with Steve Irwin’s death because he was a sort of hero to them. A daredevil who seemed to always cheat death. And now that he is gone, done in while doing what he loved, it brings the whole issue of mortality right out into the open. I know that, while I never watched his TV programs, I, too, admired his bravado and daring attitude toward things. It’s not unreasonable that people are in mourning right now. Some are mourning the man, and others are mourning the excitement he provided to his audiences.
September 5th, 2006 at 8:56 pm
I’m also astonished at the undiluted praise and love for this clown.
Alas, this is the future. Cable TV dictates thought.
[ducks]
September 6th, 2006 at 12:29 am
He was a outgoing guy with a personality that made him popular in television. That personality allowed viewers to feel as if they personally knew him and so, much like a movie character people get emotionally attached to and show concern at the character’s demise fifteen minutes before the house lights come up and the credits roll. Irwin, while very much a television character, put forth a lot of work and time into conservation efforts and education. His promotion of it might have been a bit over-the-top and often trimmed down to catch phrases, but he was a generally good guy and all interviews I’ve seen of him indicated that the exurberant Croc Hunter people saw on television was the same guy as Steve Irwin on the street.
So I grow confused when there is massive public outcry on the front page of the news and emotional upset over a fictional death of a character in a movie trilogy. I’m often held in awe when there are ceremonies and televised “memorial services” for the retirement of a popular series on broadcast television, showing tears shed as cast members wave to crowds and speak outside of character to the public for a rare moment of reality. Honestly, if you think our nation has been “waiting for something to mourn”, let it be about a man that did some good work and allowed himself and his family be aired on television in true form. At least when people blog about him or remark they were saddened over lunch about the death of this person they held emotional attachment to, they’re thoughts aren’t directed at something so fabricated for a change or towards a celebrity that contributed nothing towards the society that elevated them to a wealth and popularity level of excess.
People can say of Steve that “we lost a good person”. So rare in the media and wide reaching world of entertainment is this ever the case.
“If I See One More Blog Entry About Steve Irwin…”
But don’t you see some irony in blogging abou– nah, nevermind.
September 6th, 2006 at 9:47 am
Vince:
Indeed I do, Vince. :)
September 6th, 2006 at 10:31 am
Well, you got me thinking last night about this, not to mention I’m starting to notice there are a lot of interesting tributes and much unneeded demands to see “the video”. Question swirl: “Did he or did he not pull out the barb?” “Was he or was he not tormenting the stingray?” “When will The Discovery Channel/Rotten.com show the video of his death?” “Was the end quick, or did he suffer?” A rumor even circulated through the news, yesterday, that a media crew rushed to find his wife to get her reaction on camera before family could notify her. Sheesh.
I was reminded of a death in 1997 that I quickly tired of after the first hour of breaking news coverage. The days and weeks of public emotions that followed and the media’s constant swarming had me gagging while the morbid interest many showed in the photos and details had me feeling very ill. Even with her many contributions, I still didn’t care about Princess Di’s tragic death and wanted nothing more than the national networks to return to normal. “She’s dead, get over it.” The woman, to me, was nothing more than a constant fixture on the front page of supermarket tabloids and just another bizarre royal family obsession of armchair Hollywood trackers and the elderly. I didn’t get it and, honestly, I still abhor the attention that event gets so many years later.
Yet, a comment from a friend concerning the death of a celebrity in 1990 struck me several days after the news hit: “What’s the big deal? The man did kid’s shows. Who cares?” The event certainly had me depressed even though I had rarely ever seen the actual person, himself, and knew him mostly through his characters. I remember feeling sick to my stomach with emotion during the tribute show that aired, I remember my mother crying. A massive media event quickly unfolded to cover what should have been a family issue but, from what I remember of it, it was tastefully covered. Even so, the private ceremony itself, while dripping with entertainment references would have been difficult to emotionally handle. Were Jim to have passed away in the age of the ‘net, I’m sure blogs would have overflowed with tributes and YouTube clogged with videos by the thousands. We wouldn’t have seen the end of sock puppet music video tributes for many weeks.
Celebrity deaths are weird things.