Popular Culture and Images of Death

Western society is normally described as a deathdenying culture; death is seldom discussed in an open, forthright manner. Rather, euphemisms for death and dying are employed, and the topic has been characterized as taboo or even pornographic by some observers. People also attach fearful meanings to death and dying. However, citizens simultaneously seem to have an almost fanatical attraction to death-related phenomena. Since people are generally insulated from personal experience with death and dying, they regularly seek information on these phenomena. For instance, images of death, dying, and the dead occupy a prominent place in popular culture and regularly appear in various entertainment and information media. Popular culture, which is a core part of collective existence, both reflects and influences death-related attitudes. Although thanatological themes have historically occupied an important place in Western popular culture, with the advent of new technologies such as the Internet and satellite television, cultural space is even more saturated with these death-related images.

Print Media

Thanatological themes play a major role in the printed media; books about war, crime, and mysteries have been exceptionally popular. However, with the advent of photojournalism, graphic images of death and dying are especially prominent in the print media. Stories about these topics, frequently accompanied by attention-grabbing headlines, often appear in newspapers. Yet, newspapers usually only portray particularly catastrophic, ghastly, and spectacular causes of death. One notable exception is the obituary, which often includes a photograph of the deceased individual.

Death-related images are also prominently featured in many popular news magazines such as Time, Newsweek, and U.S. News & World Report. Such publications often contain color photographs of the terrible devastation of events such as the September 11th attacks and Hurricane Katrina, as well as gruesome pictures of the victims of war and genocide. Perhaps the most extreme example of this phenomenon is the supermarket tabloids. These publications, with an estimated weekly readership of 50 million people, include articles about accidents, murders, and life-threatening celebrity health scares, as well as features about near-death experiences, ghosts, body disposition, and reincarnation.

Cinema and Television

Death and dying are also a very important part of many genres of cinema. Examples include movies about war, westerns, and dramas. Others include films about accidents, disasters, terrorism, and extinction level events (e.g., a meteor striking Earth). There have also been comedies featuring these topics, such as Weekend at Bernie's and Dead Man on Campus. Horror films have traditionally been, and continue to be, wildly popular with a significant segment of the population. These include movies about killers, monsters, and zombies, as well as thrillers. The “slasher films” of the 1980s such as Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street, and Friday the 13th were exceptionally popular. The horror movie is experiencing a resurgence in recent years, as evidenced by the success of ultraviolent films such as Saw and Hostel.

Television viewing is an important aspect of the recreation and leisure activities of the masses. Death, dying, and the dead are prominent motifs in much of contemporary television. These are the central themes of many of the most highly rated prime-time television programs, including crime dramas (e.g., CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and Law & Order) and medical dramas (e.g., House, [Page 812]Grey's Anatomy, and ER). These topics are also featured in a variety of other types of television programs. Examples include soap operas, mysteries, documentaries, children's cartoons, and reality shows. These topics are even a mainstay in religious television programming.

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