Does that make them particular kinds of pop-culture martyrs, dying before their time?
The impact is much stronger because they died young and the public didn’t see them age. I don’t think that aging necessarily diminishes the power of celebrity, but it’s a different response than when someone like Ed McMahon dies who has lived a full life. You write that “celebrity icons arouse the religious passions of followers . . . who find spiritual meaning, personal fulfillment and awe-inspiring motivation in the presence of these idols.” Tell me more. When you look around and see how people invest in these idols—and I’m using a broad understanding of investment—it’s also a spiritual investment. It’s more than just material or financial. People draw from that spiritual connection notions of identity, a sense of the sacred, the potential for transformation, a set of moral values, the sense of possibility of transcendence or overcoming the limitations of life. Whether in traditional religion or pop culture, you find the same kind of motivation, the same kind of meaning-making, throu
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