Yesterday, the front page of The Sun was once again dedicated to Jade Goody, like the front page of most tabloids for the last few months. Now it seems, she is losing her sight while her mother begins a round-the-clock vigil at her bedside - meanwhile Jade is fighting to get home from the hospital, to live out her last few weeks with her sons.
Of course I only know all this because we all know everything regarding her final moments. We've had no-holds-barred coverage on everything she's been going through since the news was delivered her cancer was terminal. Its got me wondering where the media will venture next in their coverage. Perhaps we'll have Jade's final moments in GLORIOUS High-Definition, or get heart-monitor updates on Twitter.
I'm sure most people can understand wanting to cash-in on the media interest to provide a future for her two sons (though I'm unsure if she receives money for every story dedicated to her), but what I find concerning is the increasing coverage of death and where its heading. In December Craig Ewert became the first person to commit (assisted) suicide on TV and it is an alarming precedent. Its true that no one has to watch it and that this was not a case of someone being killed for entertainment - he was terminally ill - but this was still death as entertainment.
And it shouldn't be. The passing of a loved one is a fact of life that we all have to deal with, but something we should deal with in private, and something people should respect as private. Not as a ratings, or readers-earner. Maybe its a little bit scare-mongery but it seems we are getting ever closer to having death on television as a regular occurrence. After all, life is cheap, and the public's sensitivity to shocks is constantly tested as we get relentlessly desensitised to violence. We just have to look at the Saw and Hostel films to give us an idea of what the movie industry feel they have to do to make us gasp. The Exorcist used to be considered one of the most disturbing films of all time, but show it to your average modern 14 year old and they are likely to just shrug and go 'So what?'
When Jade dies it wouldn't surprise me if a national day of mourning is declared. There'll be 20-page spreads in the papers charting her entire life, TV specials - you name it. But then what? Its been turned into a soap opera and once its done, the nation will need another to sustain it.
Towards the end of the fabulous 'The Truman Show', when Ed Harris' Christof is challenged that they cannot kill Truman live on air, he replies: "Why he was born live on air?"
When I saw this film recently it seemed terribly apt for Jade's situation. At 27 she has lived over a quarter of her life in the spotlight. She may not have been born in front of millions, but who she is now - her public persona - was created in front of us all on Big Brother. She's about to die in front of us all.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment