To Mourn A superstar

Last Sunday, everyone woke up to the news of the sudden death of superstar, Sridevi. The grief of millions flooded social media, recalling their favourite movie dialogue, scene and anecdote or photograph. Interestingly most of these fans didn't know her in a personal capacity. Yet, the grief was palpable, begging the question — can you grieve so deeply for a person you haven't met? Behavioural scientist from the University of Cambridge Dr Sanna Balsari-Palsule, explains the reasons behind this inordinate remorse. "As individuals, we tend to experience what scientists have termed 'emotional contagion' i.e. celebrity deaths act as a unifying force between thousands, or in the case of Sridevi, millions of people, as it did with Princess Diana. Individuals may not have anything in common with celebrities, but what they do experience is a kind of collective grief. Another reason is that we often measure our own mortality with that of a celebrity. Death is something very remote on a daily basis. We get so deeply engrossed in our busy, fast-paced lives that the majority of us rarely confront it. The death of a celebrity suddenly catapults us into facing it," says 27-year-old Dr Balsari-Palsule.

In the case of Princess Diana's death, thousands of bouquets were left at the gates of the Buckingham Palace and the Kensington Palace and some of her fans collapsed in the street, crying. In a BBC documentary, Prince William, who was then a 15-year-old boy, admitted that he was taken aback by the public's reaction. "The wailing and the crying and people wanting to touch us... It was like nothing you can really describe, it was very unusual...

They were shouting and literally wailing at us. Throwing flowers, yelling, sobbing, breaking down, people fainted, collapsed," as published in The Telegraph. In the week following the accident, deliberate self-harm rose by 65.1 per cent and there was an increase of 33.7 per cent in suicides among women in England and Wales, as per a report published in the British Journal of Psychiatry (2000).

News related to celebrities' personal lives, relationships and controversies has always found space in the media, which aids and abets a tacit relationship between the public and the celebrity. Reducing this gap further is the immense subscription of paparazzi news, not to mention, celebrity outreach via social media.

"Because of the increasingly pervasive social phenomenon where we now document every day (often mundane) aspects of our lives through pictures, posts and stories, we now have a constantly updated window into our favourite celebrity's habits and routines – they are no longer inaccessible figures, but everyday people like us," says Dr Balsari-Palsule. "Sridevi, for instance , often posted pictures of her daughters on Instagram. One effect of this is that her fans also identified with her as a mother, which made her more relatable. This creates a sense of intimacy that can deepen the relationship between a fan and a celebrity," she adds.

A sudden death creates greater shock waves. It's human tendency to remember emotionally arousing events easily, explains Dr Balsari-Palsule. "This is why many people find that they can recall very minute and mundane details of where they were and what they were doing when they heard the news of the death of a star Michael Jackson or lead singer of Linkin Park, Dead by Sunrise, and Stone Temple Pilots, Chester Bennington." Further solidifying these memories are the circulation and repetition of the celebrity's images in the media, adds Dr Balsari-Palsule. "In the case of Sridevi, she is imprinted in our memories from a film career spanning over 50 years — all we have to do is return to an old movie or song to retrieve those memories."