I am sure we all heard the news about Whitney Houston Saturday night. Nobody deserves to die that young. It is also tragic that celebrities get that short of a shelf life in this world. I am not a fan of Houston's music, I never was into R&B tinged pop-- in fact, I am not a big pop music fan either. I have more of a punk/metal/alternative/classic rock background. Thus, I'm more into 3 to 4 chords on the guitar and that's it for me. I am also not a big fan of the Hollywood motif; the "live fast, die young" mantra of celebrity life. That's probably the reason why I never liked the mainstream when it comes to music and other facets of pop culture. When an overbloated celebrity falls on his/her ass; I jump on the opportunity to joke about someone's downfall or make fun of the situation. But when it comes to death of a celebrity, I generally follow the "too soon" rule. If the celebrity just happens to die-- I really don't say anything until I have some information about what happened. I also do this out of respect for some friends who are probably fans of a certain celebrity. I think the "Too Soon" clause goes back to 9/11 when pretty much couldn't joke about ANYTHING, but after a few months everything went "back to normal".
However, after only a half hour of Houston's death, the jokes came out. Most of the jokes were centered around the line from Apollo 13 "Houston, we have a problem". I'm not saying I didn't laugh at the jokes, they were quite amusing. I thought that they were poking fun of the mainstream rather than Houston. I could have posted the jokes on my Facebook page but out of respect for some of my friends who are Houston fans, that and it's "too soon".
The way this is going, this is turning into another Michael Jackson. When Michael Jackson died, the media bandwagon began. All the speculation and gossip began right when Jackson died. Also, the comparisons followed in which Jackson's death was compared to Elvis' death. As I was watching CNN this morning, Houston is already being compared to Judy Garland as far as the drugs and the alcohol is concerned. In fact, the whole thing reminds me of Billie Holiday who had similar struggles with drugs along with Houston and Garland 40 some years earlier. But in 2012 America, nobody knows anything about Judy Garland nor Billie Holiday since both died in the 1960's and 1950's respectively. So the only equivalent would be Michael Jackson's death since it happened only two and a half years earlier.
Michael Jackson, on the other hand, had more of a fair share of critics than Houston and his death served as cannon fodder for those who wanted to crucify him in the first place. Therefore, the backlash of jokes after Michael Jackson's death was pretty immediate but not after a half an hour.
The question is when is it "too soon"? I mean if anything; my opinion, really; the media pretty much is the blame since Houston's life and subsequent death is documented in reality shows as well as TMZ, and various shows on E! and VH1.When it comes to the press coverage and the celebrities being steamrolled, it only shows that the wolves eat their young in Hollywood! And what is really creepy is that everybody is "surprised". I seen this last night on Piers Morgan on CNN and this morning on NBC. Has anyone seen Whitney Houston's recent photos? She looks emaciated and her skin looked ashen, a far cry from the Whitney Houston of 1986! And who can forget her "Crack is whack" statement!? Is anybody REALLY "surprised"? Then again is it "too soon" to interject our opinions whether we are fans, information seekers, or interviewers on network shows? Now we are hearing reports that Houston was allegedly found in the bathtub, which sounds vaguely familiar to Elvis' death since Elvis supposedly died sitting on the toilet. Thus, the analyzing begins on the "how" and "why" of celebrity death. Yet when at the age of ten when Elvis died, whether he died on the crapper or not was irrevelant, the fact that Elvis DIED was central! 1977 America was more patient, once the mourning ended a month after Elvis dying, the speculation regarding Elvis' death then began; toilet, 19 year old girlfriend, "Dr. Nick" and all! Here's another example, remember the 1986 Challenger explosion? I remember the jokes like the "Need Another Seven Astronauts" and the distasteful "Head and Shoulders" cracks happened at least a few months after the first Space Shuttle disaster. Then again, the Challenger tragedy and 9/11 are cases when "too soon" should never even happen in the first place since the mockery of innocent people dying is in outright bad taste after all!
So are celebrities "innocent", and should not be mocked? The question is who are we mocking-- the monster that Dr. Mediastein created or Dr. Mediastein himself? Are we then the villagers chasing the monster with our torches, but are we doing this to protect ourselves or is it just for the glory to be judge, jury, and executioner? We will never know the answers to those said questions, neither we will know when it's "too soon" or even not even at all. I hope the best for Whitney Houston's family, paricularly her teenage daughter. For those who are fans, I guess the best thing to do is remember her music. For those who aren't fans such as myself, the best thing to do is when to say when if at all, not make fun of her directly (since Houston's tragic life was an end result of a reckless media), and pretty much forgetting about it and go on to the next forseeable celebrity death.
However, after only a half hour of Houston's death, the jokes came out. Most of the jokes were centered around the line from Apollo 13 "Houston, we have a problem". I'm not saying I didn't laugh at the jokes, they were quite amusing. I thought that they were poking fun of the mainstream rather than Houston. I could have posted the jokes on my Facebook page but out of respect for some of my friends who are Houston fans, that and it's "too soon".
The way this is going, this is turning into another Michael Jackson. When Michael Jackson died, the media bandwagon began. All the speculation and gossip began right when Jackson died. Also, the comparisons followed in which Jackson's death was compared to Elvis' death. As I was watching CNN this morning, Houston is already being compared to Judy Garland as far as the drugs and the alcohol is concerned. In fact, the whole thing reminds me of Billie Holiday who had similar struggles with drugs along with Houston and Garland 40 some years earlier. But in 2012 America, nobody knows anything about Judy Garland nor Billie Holiday since both died in the 1960's and 1950's respectively. So the only equivalent would be Michael Jackson's death since it happened only two and a half years earlier.
Michael Jackson, on the other hand, had more of a fair share of critics than Houston and his death served as cannon fodder for those who wanted to crucify him in the first place. Therefore, the backlash of jokes after Michael Jackson's death was pretty immediate but not after a half an hour.
The question is when is it "too soon"? I mean if anything; my opinion, really; the media pretty much is the blame since Houston's life and subsequent death is documented in reality shows as well as TMZ, and various shows on E! and VH1.When it comes to the press coverage and the celebrities being steamrolled, it only shows that the wolves eat their young in Hollywood! And what is really creepy is that everybody is "surprised". I seen this last night on Piers Morgan on CNN and this morning on NBC. Has anyone seen Whitney Houston's recent photos? She looks emaciated and her skin looked ashen, a far cry from the Whitney Houston of 1986! And who can forget her "Crack is whack" statement!? Is anybody REALLY "surprised"? Then again is it "too soon" to interject our opinions whether we are fans, information seekers, or interviewers on network shows? Now we are hearing reports that Houston was allegedly found in the bathtub, which sounds vaguely familiar to Elvis' death since Elvis supposedly died sitting on the toilet. Thus, the analyzing begins on the "how" and "why" of celebrity death. Yet when at the age of ten when Elvis died, whether he died on the crapper or not was irrevelant, the fact that Elvis DIED was central! 1977 America was more patient, once the mourning ended a month after Elvis dying, the speculation regarding Elvis' death then began; toilet, 19 year old girlfriend, "Dr. Nick" and all! Here's another example, remember the 1986 Challenger explosion? I remember the jokes like the "Need Another Seven Astronauts" and the distasteful "Head and Shoulders" cracks happened at least a few months after the first Space Shuttle disaster. Then again, the Challenger tragedy and 9/11 are cases when "too soon" should never even happen in the first place since the mockery of innocent people dying is in outright bad taste after all!
So are celebrities "innocent", and should not be mocked? The question is who are we mocking-- the monster that Dr. Mediastein created or Dr. Mediastein himself? Are we then the villagers chasing the monster with our torches, but are we doing this to protect ourselves or is it just for the glory to be judge, jury, and executioner? We will never know the answers to those said questions, neither we will know when it's "too soon" or even not even at all. I hope the best for Whitney Houston's family, paricularly her teenage daughter. For those who are fans, I guess the best thing to do is remember her music. For those who aren't fans such as myself, the best thing to do is when to say when if at all, not make fun of her directly (since Houston's tragic life was an end result of a reckless media), and pretty much forgetting about it and go on to the next forseeable celebrity death.
