Sunday, time to think of the immortal soul. Of death, and funerals, and that.
Funerals. We don't really do them well, the funerals of famous folk.
This week I caught a TV glimpse of the funeral of David Kelly, the actor. And then later caught a glimpse of the singer Whitney Houston...both celebrities being sent to their eternal rest.
Neither glimpse was...well...entirely satisfactory really.
Firstly...David Kelly the actor...no-one really turned up at his funeral...and I wondered why?
For godssakes he was in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with Johnny Depp!
Myself and the tv camera looked down the aisle of a sparsely populated church. It was the sort of shot that would've come in handy for any RTE program on the decline of the church. (They'll probably hold it on file just for that purpose). Granted it was a large church. But large the attendance was certainly not.
It was a bit embarassing really, even at the distance from TV land. It was a relief when the producer quickly agreed with this analysis and honed his camera in on Michael Colgan eulogising. Not that much relief, in all honesty, because Michael Colgan is...well...Michael Colgan. But he does have talent, we must grant him that. It takes some theatrical ability to look smug and very pleased with oneself whilst giving such an oration...but Colgan was well up to the task.
So this was pretty embarassing too and the camera fled, and wandered around to seek out well known faces in the crowd. There were some. But not well known in the sense of being...well...current. Just old folks who used be famous. Their expressions realising that no-one was going to turn up for their funerals either.
It's a disconnect, methinks. Between the hype and the reality. Obviously to the arts community and the media generally the likes of David Kelly are incredibly important. Yes of course he was an agreeable sort of cove, a gentleman and a competent actor, and he deserves respect in life and death. But he deserves no more respect in life and death than any of us. And this is the problem. The arts community and the media generally feel that people like Kelly are actually more important than the run of folks.
Because? Because he is one of them and they think that they are more important than the run of folks. And so they hype up the news of the passing of one of their own, tripping over each other to grab microphones and column inches. Unfortunately the run of folks dont share that particular view. And hence the empty churches at the funerals of the famous.
So that's that. But secondly. About Whitney Houston. Well there was no bother with crowds there. They turned up. In their droves. A beautiful woman and a beautiful singer, she struck one as being a nice and a good person. But a person who had led a troubled life and died tragically. But whoever she was she deserved a good send off and she got one.
Little niggle though. Whether she deserved to be compared to Mother Theresa, as she was in a eulogy, well that seems kind of a different question really.
I sort of lost the thread round there.
And doth my lesson endeth here?
Not really.
There was a third funeral this week, that of a young girl shot dead in Dublin. A traveller, she was given a typical and elaborate traveller funeral in London. This was very well covered by the media. Too well covered. Because the coverage did have an air of My Big Fat Gypsy Funeral about it, ie exploitative. One felt the elbows of smartassed tv producers nudging our ribs. And subliminal messages emanating.
Look at these people, they're different than us.
Thing is, they're not.
They live, and celebrate.
And die, and mourn.
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