Sunday, February 11, 2007

I guess we all love a train-wreck

Until well into the 19th century public hangings were much the vogue as entertainments in Great Britain and other western countries. Legions are those today who love to go to demolition derbies and other vehicle competitions, because they cherish the wrecks. They don’t ‘really’ want to see anybody get killed or maimed, but they’re not averse to the idea that such things happen.

Yes, it’s human to like our ‘train wrecks’, and we take mute fascination in the consequences of bad choices.

Hence our uncalled-for fascination with the egregious, short and pathetic life of such a person as Anna Nicole Smith. A newspaper columnist on the weekend wrote that Fox News granted more airtime to the utterly inconsequential death of Ms. Smith than it did to the recent demise of Gerald Ford.

But, we knew that Anna Nicole was a “train wreck” and we just couldn’t wait to see how it played out. Every time she slurred more nonsense and drivel in that voyeuristic bit of excess on her so-called reality show a while back, people wondered just how darn long she was going to last, as her weight went up and down and the booze and drugs were consumed.

Yet, the show was popular, and it really doesn’t speak all that well of us that it was. I’ll wager there were those that were disappointed, in similar context, when Courtney Love cleaned up her act and didn’t stagger off the planet prematurely like poor ol’ Anna Nicole.

And now that she has gone, the gawkers will have to content themselves with the antics of such wastes of human space and potential as repellant Paris and Britney. Maybe there is hope for Lindsay (who actually has a modicum of talent), but not too many more chances, my dear, so smarten up for chrissake!

Of course hyperbole has run rampant since Anna Nicole’s tired body decided to call it a day about three decades before it should have. There have been the obvious comparisons made with Marilyn Monroe of whom, it is said, AN idolized. Well, a few points of consideration here. Marilyn never made a public spectacle of herself; Marilyn’s substance problems were not apparent until after her own untimely demise; Marilyn did like the boys, no doubt, but even the Kennedy crap wasn’t really known until later; and finally, Marilyn was talented, extremely talented, despite her dysfunction. Watch her in The Seven Year Itch or Some Like it Hot, and see one of the better comic actresses of not just her time, but any time. And finally, and not to be unkind, but Marilyn had it in a country mile over Anna Nicole in the looks department.

So, it really is too bad in a way about Anna Nicole. Any human life is a sad thing to squander in such a way. But, it really is of no consequence other than the train wreck connection. We all have more significant things to fret about.

10 Comments:

Blogger heiresschild said...

wow ian, sounds like you have no heart. true, there are a lot of important issues in this world, but anna nicole smith was still a human being, plus she was someone's mother and someone's daughter. she leaves behind a daughter who will grow up never knowing her mother.

i know she had a lot of issues in her life, but i try to understand what's behind people's behaviors. she was exploited by men early on. i think it's a lot more here than meets the eye. personally, i think she was murdered, but she was still a human being, and that should count for something.

1:07 PM  
Blogger Ian Lidster said...

On the contrary, I think I have a very big and compassionate heart, and I think ANS's death was just a tragic waste.
My point was, why should we care about an individual whom none of us knows and whose claim-to-fame is dubious at best? She was famous for being famous, and her lifestyle foretold an early demise. Sad? Surely it is. But there are sadder stories about people who have no choices in life. Those are the tales that truly sadden me.

Ian

4:14 PM  
Blogger djn said...

She had a reality show?

Ian, I'm with you on this one. I have no idea why ANS was famous, other than the fact that she was a train wreck -- oh, and that she married a billionaire. I still speculate that her intentions there were not exactly honorable.

Anyhow, may God bless her little girl. There's the true tragedy.

5:01 PM  
Blogger heiresschild said...

that's kind of like someone saying, "your problem is nothing compared to mine." everybody's problems are real to them, and the fact that anna nicole was famous didn't diminish her problems.

i guess i care because she was still a person, who had feelings and problems with family and those who exploited her. the public saw pretty much only one side, but she was still a mother who lost a son, a mother whose daughter will now never know her, and a daughter who leaves behind a grieving mother, regardless of the problems they had.

yes, her death is a tragic waste, and i do care because she was a PERSON, A HUMAN BEING, regardless of what people thought or think.

as for her intentions being honorable or not when she married that billionaire, only God knows the truth behind that.

10:52 PM  
Blogger Jazz said...

I've re-written this comment several times, but I think you say it best Ian in your comment to heiresschild.

There are much more important issues.

6:34 AM  
Blogger Christina_the_wench said...

There's a lot of human beings that die every minute.

God be with her child now.

8:50 AM  
Blogger Janice Thomson said...

I would have to agree with you Ian...it is a sad state of affairs when mankind's attention is caught up in a celebrity's life. The woman next door on welfare fighting drug abuse while raising 3 kids receives no attention yet a woman in perhaps just as bad a predicament but who happens to be rich captures everyones attention...what's wrong with this picture?? Anna Nichole had the means to change her lifestyle easily if she wished...the woman next door is not as fortunate and very much needs a helping hand and most of our attention.

11:14 AM  
Blogger Leesa said...

I feel sorry for her child - to lose a brother and a mother in five months.

11:55 AM  
Blogger heiresschild said...

for some of you to be saying there are a lot more important issues, you sure do spend time reading about, and making comments about anna nicole yourself. i'm not looking for anyone to side with me. these are my opinions and i stick by them, regardless of who's in agreement with me or not. this is ian's blog and he can write whatever he wants, but since it's open for comments, i've made mine.


sylvia

2:26 PM  
Blogger Belizegial said...

Ian,

I guess the real story behind Anna Nicole's instant celebrity fame and subsequent sudden death will be fully revealed to all of us in due time.

May her immortal soul find peace in the ever after and my prayer is for her immediate family to find the strength, courage and faith to lovingly care for her innocent infant daughter.

Saludos
~Enid

8:22 PM  

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