Constructing Immortality

Of all sources of religion, the supreme and final crisis of life – death – is of the greatest importance. […] Death is the gateway to the other world in more than the literal sense. […] A great deal, if not all, of religious inspiration has been derived from it. […] Death and its denial – immortality – have always formed, as they form today, the most poignant theme of man’s forebodings (Malinowski, 2004: 19).

Celebrity is often described as a secular religion with religious imagery often used when a celebrity dies in order to make him or her immortal, and to emphasise his or her legacy. The construction of immortality works as a positive counter-narrative to the negative and speculative narrative regarding the cause of death examined above. Both Ledger and Jackson left creative legacies, which gained a lot of attention in the press. In Ledger’s case most newspapers went through his filmography, highlighting Brokeback Mountain as his artistic triumph. The Guardian emphasised his skills as a performer:

[Ledger’s] performance [in the Brokeback Mountain] was a surprise: Ledger had not previously really shown evidence of such depth, calm or simplicity. It wasn’t just that he made us believe in a

‘gay’ cowboy: he made us think about Ennis Del Mar, his character with the generally restricted worldview of a Wyoming cowhand. In short, he was playing someone a good deal less educated than Heath Ledger – and there are actors who are not comfortable playing dumb (Thomson, 2009: 12).

Jackson’s long career prompted commentary on several career highlights, emphasising his musical genius. The Times examined his musical legacy:

Michael Jackson is expected to become the first artist to fill each the of top ten slots in the UK singles chart at the same time – and an unreleased album could bring still more posthumous success.

Industry experts were predicting yesterday that a new benchmark would be set for pop music, 27 years on from the commercial peak that Jackson scaled with Thriller. […] The momentum behind Jackson can only build as blanket media coverage of his life and legacy continues (Hoyle and Fletcher, 2009: 8).

Materiality poses a problem for the representations of death, as death always implies an absence. In this sense, the material objects of films and musical recordings became important in establishing the dead stars’ legacy.

Dead celebrities come to be resurrected through the media. ‘In the instance of actual death, the materiality of the signifier, the name attached to the corpse, becomes a more disturbingly contingent than usual. When the name is spoken or written, the dead celebrity lives on a little longer within the mystical power of naming’ (Watkin, 2004: 5). Names are important in celebrity culture, therefore naming is also central in death. Jackson was repeatedly referred to by his well-established nickname ‘Jacko’ as well as by his real name.

Using Jacko instead of Michael Jackson created familiarity but also referred to his ultimately

‘wacky’ life. He had previously been called ‘Wacko Jacko’ due to his strange behaviour, such as allegedly sleeping in an oxygen chamber. The tabloids carried the connotations of ‘Wacko Jacko’ in their reporting of the death, creating an image of a true eccentric, a person unlike any other. It could be said that once the naming stops, the stars are truly dead and buried.

However, the tabloids keep the name alive by repeating it at every opportunity. The release of Ledger’s film The Dark Knight renewed the interest in him, and his name was further kept alive when he won a posthumous Oscar for the film. In 2009, his last film, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, during the filming of which he died, was released, prompting further commemorative commentary in the press. It could be said that the tabloids will keep a name alive until there is nothing more to tell.

Immortality matters culturally because we cannot accept death as a complete annihilation of the person. The idea of the decomposition of the corpse and, more importantly, the visible disappearance of the personality, are the disturbing signifiers that remind people that at some point life will end. These suggestions of fear and horror seem to threaten man at all stages of culture with some idea of annihilation, with some hidden fears and forebodings (Malinowski, 2004: 21).

Immortality in celebrity culture is no longer religious – it is secular, material and mediated.

‘It has been said that the modern man suppresses death because secular society does not

give him mythical or ritual outlets to react to death’ (Fabian, 2004: 59). Therefore, celebrity deaths become spectacular ritualised media events. These deaths give the public an opportunity to reflect on the horror of death and loss, and therefore often create an overtly emotional response to the death of a person that none of the ordinary people have ever met or known. The media event of the death of a star thus creates a reaction that seeks to secure immortality through the commodification of death. Michael Jackson’s albums instantly entered the top of the charts and his fans flocked to the cinemas to see a documentary about the rehearsals for his comeback concerts This is It. Heath Ledger’s posthumously released film The Dark Knight was a success as the hype surrounding his death ensured the blockbuster status of the film.

In a sanitised society the horror of death is generally related to serious illness and slow decline or violent and accidental death. Unexpected death from drug abuse of those who represent the most successful and admired in our society creates anger, astonishment and curiosity. The fascination with death is evident in the way that the media and the public immortalise dead celebrities. ‘As the old religious notions of hell, sin and evil no longer exist, death has become shameful, a failure. Hell, sin and evil are no longer regarded as part of human nature but as social problems that can be eliminated by a good system of punishment’ (Ariès, 2004: 47). Celebrities in general have the power to transgress moral boundaries but rarely face the consequences of their actions. They cannot escape death but in death any past transgressions tend to be downplayed in favour of the canonisation of the star in immortality. When he was alive Michael Jackson had faced several charges of child molestation but he had never been convicted or the accusations proven. The accusations, however, caused a decline in his career. Before his death, he had been on the verge of a comeback, planning his first concerts since the accusations. In death, the past was brushed aside and barely mentioned in the media. Death can thus not only make a star immortal, but also restore his image. The dead Michael Jackson was seen as an innocent and childlike eccentric and his previous strange behaviour was remembered with affection. The tabloid commemorative editions praised his talent and charisma, his dedication to music and his work for charities. Jackson was represented as a victim of his fame. The Sun wrote:

Nobody had any sympathy for [Jackson] before but there was a groundswell of sympathy after his death. […] The public that once judged Jackson negatively are now seeing a fuller picture. […] He was a man who yearned so deeply to do good with his life but was ultimately consumed by indescribable loneliness and pain. […] He was a man who thought attention from fans could be a suitable replacement for love from family. But fame and fortune have never made anyone happy (Jackson, 2009: 4-5).

The Mirror associated Jackson with Elvis:

He was the black Elvis. As glorious and tragic as that. As mesmerising and monumental. As adorable and pitiful. As epic, unforgettable and beautiful. Michael Jackson, dead at 50, had talent to burn, the kind of talent that comes along once in a generation. Yet his private life too often obscured those great gifts.

Like Elvis, he craved fame and was destroyed by it (Parsons, 2009b: 1-12).

In death Jackson was turned into an icon. In iconicity, recognisable images form the basis of a person’s recognition to the extent that the actual reality of the person is almost forgotten.

Jackson was immortalised as inspirational yet eccentric. In life he was one of the most inaccessible stars of our time, but death made him accessible. As an icon he inspires quasi-religious devotion in his fans. Due to Jackson’s secretive existence and unquestionable talent, it was easy for the media to turn him into an icon. As with the death of other icons such as Elvis and Marilyn Monroe, speculation surrounding the cause of death and the final days ensured that Jackson’s death became the item that dominated the news for weeks, even months, as new details emerged. Jackson’s memorial service became a large part of the media story as it was broadcast all over the world. Jackson led a life that seemed to have elements of real madness: the narratives portrayed him as overtly sensitive to the world, unable to shut it out regardless of all his money and fame. He seemed less free to move and act than most ordinary people and, as such, in addition to becoming an immortal icon in the media he was also represented as a victim and a representative of the downside of being a superstar. Jackson’s death allowed the media to celebrate his life through reminiscent repetition and to assess his meaning to the broader culture.