Introduction
Although death has always been a part of life, how it is portrayed and handled in society has changed. Death has become a more prevalent cultural theme since the invention of television and social media. The media is rife with depictions of death, from news accounts of natural disasters and armed wars to fictitious portrayals in films, TV series, and advertisements. The content on death has increased, normalized the topic, and altered how viewers see and engage with death. The way people view death and dying has changed significantly due to this shift in mindset, which raises serious concerns regarding the role of the media in this process.
Tentative Thesis
In this paper, I will argue that the proliferation of death on TV and social media has normalized the subject, changing how audiences process and interact with death.
Terminology
Digital Mourning
Digital mourning refers to how social media platforms are utilized to express sadness and give condolences upon the passing of a person, frequently a celebrity or prominent figure (Kania-Lundholm, 2019). Social media has given people a forum to communicate their thoughts and feelings about the departed, offer their condolences to their family and friends, and participate in virtual memorial activities, increasing the frequency of digital mourning in recent years. Digital mourning raises significant issues regarding the relationship between technologies and grieving, as well as the influence of social media on how death and grief are perceived.
Cybersuicide
Suicide that is live-streamed or aired online is called cybersuicide. It includes a person taking their own life while others witness it live on social media or video-sharing websites (Fratini & Hemer, 2020). A relatively recent problem brought on by the increasing use of social media and the internet is cybersuicide. It poses significant moral and legal issues about the accountability of social media companies, internet service providers, and viewers and sharers of these videos.
Suicide Contagion
Suicide contagion is a phenomenon where an increase in suicide rates in the general population might result from the death by suicide of a well-known person or media coverage of a suicide (Carmichael & Whitley, 2019). This happens when the media sensationalizes the death or divulges specifics about the suicide method, which can encourage imitation in weaker people. Guidelines have been created to assist media workers in reporting suicide in a responsible and non-sensationalized manner, as suicide contagion is a severe public health concern.
Research Plan
I will first examine historical and cultural viewpoints on death depiction and how other civilizations view death. Then, I will explore how death is portrayed in widely consumed media, including films, TV series, advertisements, and social media, as well as the language used to describe it and how people engage with it. In this section, I will also pay particular attention to how the media shapes how we view death, mainly how it affects memorialization, mourning, and grief. Finally, I will focus on how individuals are affected by death portrayal, including how they become desensitized to death-related material and deal with loss.
Anticipated Conclusions
The research is expected to demonstrate that the media has become a substantial source of knowledge about death, that exposure to death-related content has resulted in desensitization to death-related themes, and that it has impacted how individuals mourn and memorialize the deceased. Ultimately, the project will explore the cultural and historical perspectives of death portrayal and how these have altered over time.
References
Carmichael, V., & Whitley, R. (2019). Media coverage of Robin Williams’ suicide in the United States: A contributor to contagion? Plos One, 14(5), e0216543. Web.
Fratini, A., & Hemer, S. R. (2020). Broadcasting your death through livestreaming: Understanding cybersuicide through concepts of performance. Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry, 44(4), 524–543. Web.
Kania-Lundholm, M. (2019). Digital mourning labor: Corporate use of dead celebrities on social media. In T. Holmberg, A. Jonsson, & F. Palm (Eds.), Death matters (pp. 177–197). Springer. Web.