Principles

This is the recap by Frank Robinson, of a presentation by Dr. Carla Sofka, at the September 9th, 2007 CDHS monthly meeting.

Our September speaker was Dr. Carla Sofka, Associate
Professor of Social Work at Siena College, whose talk was about
“Cultural Reincarnation: The Afterlife on Earth of the Rich and
Famous.” This was an aspect of her work in thanatology, the study of
death, grief, and loss. Now, this might not sound like a fun subject.
However, Dr. Sofka provided a highly lively and entertaining talk,
illustrated by a display of piquant cultural artifacts, including
some Elvis edibles which the audience was privileged to enjoy.
             She began by quoting Woody Allen: “I’m not afraid of
dying, I just don’t want to be there when it happens.” But Dr. Sofka
also observed that people have always sought for ways of beating or
cheating death, and she delineated the ways in three categories:
biological, spiritual, and social. The obvious biological or physical
route to immortality is through passing our genes along via our
children; though Dr. Sofka did display a somewhat novel variant on
physical immortality, a comic book printed with ink in which the
ashes of its deceased author had been mixed. As for spiritual or soul-
based immortality, being humanists, we needn’t say another word about that.
           The third category, of social immortality, was the real
focus of her talk. This includes such aspects as fame and
achievements that live on after death. (FR comment: However, Woody
Allen also said “I don’t want to gain immortality through my work. I
want to get it by not dying.”) But Dr. Sofka was mostly concerned
with what she termed “cultural reincarnation” – the word
“reincarnation” implying a “fresh embodiment” or rebirth in new
forms. Her favorites in this line are Elvis, Princess Diana, Marilyn
Monroe, JFK (both the elder & the younger), and Andy Kaufman. Elvis
provided some prime examples of her “fresh embodiment” concept, such as “The First Presleytarian Church of Elvis,” and even images of
Elvis supplanting that other fellow (I forget his name) nailed up on
the cross. A book-length comparison between that guy and Elvis was
also displayed.
             Dr. Sofka adverted to some of her scholarly research
methods: trawling supermarket tabloids, internet chat rooms, and
eBay, and hanging out in the parking lot of Princess Di’s ancestral
home interviewing visitors (she deemed it bad form to do so on the
premises themselves). These investigations have led her to a number
of theories to explain the observed meshugass.
             One is simply that certain figures have had significant
cultural impact. But beyond that, people can make personal emotional
or spiritual connections to icons like Princess Diana. In her case,
many followers vicariously lived her (so-called) fairy tale life,
admired her sterling qualities (FR: no comment), or, importantly,
identified with her personal problems and her openness about them,
that mirrored some common travails. Dr. Sofka also commented,
regarding the public cataclysm that followed Di’s death, “how often
do people have a socially acceptable opportunity to grieve in public?”
             Another element common to many of these instances is a
young, sudden, unexpected death, with overtones of “what might have
been,” and romanticization of the death. All the better if there are
unanswered questions about the death, enlivened by conspiracy
theories, as in the cases of JFK and, again, Princess Di (which may
thus have been the “perfect storm” of the whole phenomenon). In this
regard, Dr. Sofka talked about the comedian Andy Kaufman, who faked so much of his life, so indefatigably, that many people believed he must have been faking his death at 35.
             A final element of “cultural reincarnation” is financial: the opportunity to make money off the memory of the departed, which certainly provides an impetus for some people to “keep the flame alive.” Dr. Sofka presented a compilation of 2006’s top thirteen earners among dead celebrities, garnering $247 million all told.
(This brings a new meaning to the phrase “working stiff.”)
The number one earning corpse for 2006 was: can you guess? Nope,
wrong: it was Kurt Cobain. Who knew? But actually, that was on
account of a one-off deal. The real all-time King, in this category,
is, of course, well, “The King.” (For those who reside on a planet
other than Earth, that means Elvis Presley.)

Mental Illness and the US Military