"This is the end...beautiful friend"
At the close of 2016.....these words, written down by Jim Morrison for the song 'The End' (The Doors), come to mind. Jim Morrison belongs to the 'club of 27' : a group of musicians who have in common that they all died at the age of 27 (Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain). If you ask people what they remember thinking back on the year 2016....a lot of them will surely refer to the names of the legends of pop music who died this year (never mind the war in Syria) : David Bowie, Prince, Leonard Cohen, George Michael. They would even remember the movie star that died at the close of 2016 : Carrie Fisher (Prinses Leia in Star Wars). All these deaths flooded Facebook and Twitter with comments. Why do people seem to talk more about these 'famous deaths' than for instance the massive loss of lives in Syria ?
Humans are not only animal-like beings....they also have a symbolic dimension. Our consciousness evolved into a higher self consciousness. This was a blessing of course. It placed us on top of the food chain. But it also holds a curse. Since we are, until science proves otherwise, the only living creatures who in good health know that someday everything will end.
We will eventually die and the world will continue. This is a crushing insight that confronts us with the question of the meaning of existence and its possible lack of meaning. According to the research of Ernest Becker and, as a follow up, Sheldon Solomon, Jeff Greenberg and Tom Pyszczynski we try to cope with this crushing insight through culture and its symbols. Culture is the net we create to find meaning. We use it to find or found something with immortal value. Cause in the end, like Nietzsche said, all lust wants eternity. What is the connection with fame and, 'when the music's over', with the death of icons of pop music ?
Fame is, like making babies, a way to stick around after your death. It is a way of becoming immortal. By becoming famous you rise up above humanity. It is a special type of heroïsm (Ernest Becker).
The pop star or movie star becomes 'larger than life'. A status that we mortals all envy. This is why we want to get up close to the music or movie icon. We want to be a part of his or her immortality. If we can share in eternal fame, then maybe some of it will rub off on us. We want to share their immortality....participate in it. So....'when the music's over' and it is curtain time for the star (his or her death).....the shock is complete. We get frustrated in our illusions of being close to immortality. Wouldn't he or she be around 'forever' ? Apparently they are mortal....just like us. This explains the social frenzy and the collective mourning......poured out all over the social media. It also explains in part why we made a 'club of 27'. Bathing in the fame of the stars....we could temporarily manage our own death anxiety. The loss of the 'semi-god' unmasks the illusion for what it was. A veil to give us comfort in the face of a crushing insight that forms the cost of our elaborate self consciousness. And in sharing on social media...we try to stich up the tear in the veil. If we keep on sharing on social media.....then we keep the icon alive. He's gone....but he's still here. Where ? On the internet, in the fleeting sounds of his music.....nowhere and everywhere at the same time. Like God......a 'god' is born. Watch the rituals for these new gods take place....
