Death, in the Oscars

source: http://gnnaz.com/2013/02/18/jims-2013-oscar-predictions/

Watching the Oscars this time around got me thinking about Western values surrounding death and practices that we now hold closest to us. As they celebrated the lives of those influential individuals in the film industry who had passed within the year, they represented the values and ways of dealing with death that are frequently seen today. It is interesting to see how celebrities are treated and remembered in death - is it any different than the average ‘Western’ citizen?

Relating to ideas learned from research on the Jewish cemetery, and to the 20th/21st century movement towards ‘cyber’, intangible material, I found this theme to be pretty prominent at the Oscars, particularly during the ‘in memoriam’ section of the evening. An entire portion of the night was dedicated to those who had recently passed. Each person had at least one photo displayed, and some had a comment or quote - probably relating to their perceived importance within the community.

How is it that I felt a personal connection to these people? I hadn’t even heard of half of them. But nostalgic music, quotations from when they were alive, sweet pictures in their memory...makes you want to cry! (There is, of course, the possibility that I am just an unnecessarily emotional individual).

It seems to symbolize Western culture to me in at least one major way. The (for lack of a better word), ‘meaningfulness’ of this representation connects to more people than just the close friends and family of each individual, as the representation makes the viewer almost feel as if they knew them. The remembrance of individuals in death seems to have become much more designed to stay in memory, rather than as a remaining physical remnant of each individual. It seems to coincide with the increased occurrence of cremation in Western society - the spreading of ashes in meaningful places is designed to last in memories.

I enjoyed this section in the Oscars, and wasn’t ashamed to be a part of this movement that treats death as best remembered through memory (not to everyone in the ‘West’, of course!). I think it’s rather fitting - after all, how else do individuals stay in the minds of the living? I think valuable memories may be a pretty good way - at least a way that I enjoy and would be more than happy with prior to my own death.