2023-11-05 17:00:00
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In June 2009, Michael Jackson’s death shocked the world. His funeral, held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, attracted thousands of people, and the live broadcast of the event was followed by millions around the world. In 1997, thousands of people gathered to pay tribute to Princess Diana at his funeral and throughout his funeral procession.
This same phenomenon has been repeated with figures such as John Lennon, Nelson Mandela, Elvis Presley and many other celebrities. By performing a brief memory exercise, it is likely that we will remember an occasion in which the death of a famous person has impacted us.
Why do we feel close to famous people?
We may have wondered why we feel so deeply connected to someone we don’t know in person. From a psychological perspective, we can propose several hypotheses to understand this issue.
A first explanation is found in social connection and parasociality. Parasociality refers to the unilateral relationship that a person can establish with a celebrity through the media. In recent decades, the barriers that once separated us from learning more about the lives of our favorite celebrities have diminished.
The use of social networks and the possibility of access “first-hand” information Through their personal accounts on the internet they make us feel closer to these public figures. Even when we see a poorly taken photo by a paparazzi in a private moment or hear about their family problems or divorces, we experience a greater sense of closeness. This leads us to land on the idea that these celebrities are human beings like us.
Furthermore, when many people share this feeling of closeness, the death of a celebrity can trigger an “emotional contagion effect”in which the emotions and emotional states of other people influence ours.
This emotional connection validates the importance this celebrity had in our lives and brings us closer to those who are also experiencing loss. Additionally, this connection is also based on shared cultural connections.
Celebrities often represent values, moments or achievements that are culturally significant. Their influence transcends the personal and becomes part of the collective culture. The loss of a culturally significant figure confronts us with a shared sense of loss and a reminder of mortality in a broader cultural context.
Identification and projection
Not only do we feel a superficial closeness based on firsthand information about these celebrities, but these public figures often they become role modelsas psychologist Albert Bandura would point out.
This perspective suggests that people often identify with these personalities, projecting onto them their own desires, aspirations and emotions. When a celebrity dies, this identification and projection can cause pain that is similar to what we would feel when we lose someone we know, generating a genuine feeling of sadness.
Furthermore, as we recall our own personal memories, we realize that these celebrities They have left a mark on our lives. Our own timeline is intertwined with the moments we share with these public figures, whether through the series they starred in, the concerts we wanted to attend, or the personal events we have associated with them.
Your life becomes a mirror of our own growth, our experiences, the joys and the difficulties we have faced. The death of someone we consider close and a role model confronts us with our own mortality and makes us reflect on the fragility of life.
In this process, cultural and shared connections play an important role. These celebrities are not only individual icons, but also represent a cultural fabric that unites people of different origins and experiences. His works and achievements become part of a shared cultural legacy that unites people around the world.
And why don’t I connect the same with other tragedies?
Why do I feel deep sadness over the loss of this celebrity, but fail to connect in the same way to other tragedies?
It is undeniable that the death of a famous figure can have a significant impact on culture and society in general. However, we are often faced with the dilemma of feeling sad about the loss of a single famous figure while we seem unable to experience the same level of connection with the numerous people who die daily due to conflicts and tragedies around the world.
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This does not necessarily imply that we do not care about these other events or that we are incapable of discerning their importance and relevance in social and historical terms.
The key is that the death of a celebrity to whom we feel close in some way transcends the barriers of distance. This closeness may be because we share cultural connections and shared experiences with that person, which reinforces our identification and empathy towards them. When a famous icon passes away, that feeling of loss can be experienced intensely and sincerely.
In contrast, larger-scale painful events, such as international conflicts and humanitarian tragedies, can seem overwhelming. Emotional avoidance is a natural response to such tragedies, a way to protect ourselves from the overwhelming anguish we would experience if we completely immersed ourselves in them.
The constant exposure through the media to tragic news at the global level can lead to emotional fatigue and to desensitization, which makes it difficult to connect emotionally with all these heartbreaking situations.
Even so, it is essential to highlight those people who find constructive ways to channel your emotions through activism or supporting charities working in areas affected by tragedy.
This gives them the opportunity to take concrete action and feel that they are contributing in some way to addressing these problems, which can help relieve feeling of helplessness that we often experience in the face of these overwhelming realities.
Feeling of helplessness
Helplessness is a common feeling when we face massive tragedies, that frustration and hopelessness that the solution is not in our hands. We feel unable to make a significant differencewhich can lead to emotional disconnection as a coping mechanism.
However, this feeling also originates from our cultural connection shared, where we see ourselves reflected in the limitations of humanity in general.
Therefore, although we are aware of these harsh realities, We usually approach pain from a deep and personal approach.. Without the means to confront these large-scale complexities, we tend to focus on more intimate and meaningful aspects of our lives.
An example of this may be the departure of Matthew Perry, an actor who played Chandler Bing for many years, one of the protagonists of the popular series. Friends. This character, with whom we share laughter and from whom We extract valuable lessons about love and friendshipreminds us these days of the proximity of our own mortality.
Monica Pachón-BasalloDoctor in education and psychology, university of Navarra
This article was originally published in The Conversation. read the original.
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