I feel genuinely sorry for Britney Spears. She is often referred to as ‘tragic’ not as a term of sympathy, but as one of condemnation. She’s like a car crash. We all drive passed having a prolonged stare – rubber necking – and thinking ourselves lucky we weren’t involved. Are we waiting for her to die? Then we can lament her loss and search for a new celebrity drama.
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Well, Heath Ledger IS dead. Heath Ledger died naked and with a cornucopia of prescription drugs in his body. He was allegedly suffering from depression, pneumonia, anxiety, insomnia, and most likely addicted to drugs as a result of his condition. He was alone and left alone, despite the incessant gaze of the paparazzi. Heath’s death was a posthumous call for help. He was a sad Australian male who stopped breathing.
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Does
Or, is it the paparazzi that pressure, persevere, and pester its victims to the point of being poisoned?
Or, is it us, the viewers, that shamelessly consume the fame?
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At the end of 2007, Heath Ledger participated in several interviews where he openly talked about his own death. He spoke about how much he would miss his daughter, Matilda, and how disappointed he would be not to witness her ‘firsts’. And in the same turn of phrase, he stated that he did not fear his own death because he had created life in his daughter. There is no doubting that having children is life affirming, and I too no longer fear my own death because I have given someone else the gift of life.
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But what of the likes of Heath Ledger, and even Britney Spears? Heath had a child. Britney has children. Heath despised the media. Britney despises the media. Heath suffered from depression. Britney is obviously suffering from depression. Heath’s relationships publicly failed. Britney’s relationships publicly fail. One is past and one is present. One is dead and one is alive.
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Sadly, and only recently (20/7/08), Britney has agreed to end the fight for custody of her two sons, after a legal battle that lasted a year and a half. Spears has agreed to pay $20,609(!) a month in child support and will continue to see her sons twice a week with one overnight visit at her Los Angeles home supervised by a court appointed monitor. The Hearld Sun newspaper is even holding an online vote: should Britney Spears be able to see her children? When will this 26-year-old woman be left alone?
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I know to some people that it is an oxymoron to even place Heath Ledger and Britney Spears in the same sentence, but they share/d so much in common. Let us, as the audience to their affairs, not aid and abet another death – celebrity or not. Least of all, let us not cast judgement on those we barely know.
RIP HEATH LEDGER
2 comments:
'May he who has never made a mistake cast the first stone'.
I adopt this philosophy in regards to the public ridicule of Britney's life and Heath's death.
Well written Shan, I could not agree more.
Jo
I do, very strongly, agree that the media is able to represent something in any way, shape or form that they see fit. It simply depends on which angle they take and how much money it'll make them back. I refuse to read (or even browse as I await my turn at the supermarket check-out) those Who and New Idea magazines, as they are the demand that causes the supply. Do we even know Britney or Heath? Can the tacky media sources that have shared with us this "news" (or infotainment) be trusted to be even a teensy bit honest with us?
I think not.
Sorry it's taken me so long Shan, but I have been thinking about it - this is my view.
Alison
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