Musings inspired by the Alan Rickman Diaries and Selena Gomez’s new documentary
“At the end, after such tangible silence and laughter that came from the whole house … 2000 people stood and clapped loud and long. Total, uncluttered acclaim for something that had reached them very directly.”
This quote is from the book Madly, Deeply, a compilation of the diaries of late actor Alan Rickman. Rickman has been celebrated for his roles in films such as Die Hard, Sense and Sensibility, and, most famously, as Serverus Snape in Harry Potter. After a year-long battle with pancreatic cancer, Rickman passed away in 2016 at the age of 69. Seven years after his death, the reserved actor’s innermost thoughts were revealed with the publication of Madly, Deeply.
The response to the release of Rickman’s entries was sweeping and immediate. #AlanRickman was trending on Twitter in October with countless sites reporting on the late actor’s thoughts, particularly concerning his Harry Potter co-stars Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson. Across the internet, people were participating in a commentary on his private opinions and memories.
This was not unlike the response to My Mind & Me, a documentary released this past month detailing singer Selena Gomez’s mental health journey. The film catalogues Gomez’s ‘behind closed doors’ reactions to pivotal moments over the last six years, including the cancellation of her tour, the end of a toxic relationship, her kidney transplant, and pursuit of entrepreneurial projects. Upon release, a substantive number of public reactions focused on the singer’s breakdowns. Many headlines extrapolated a lot from the details of Selena’s relationships with other public figures.
These responses reveal a deep societal interest in the personal feelings and relationships of celebrities off-screen. We want to know the personal aspects of our favourite stars even if they don’t bring us any closer to the people themselves. The documentary Framing Britney Spears states, “with the rise of Instagram, it’s no longer the tabloids who choose how the world sees Britney… [she] can show us parts of her life that she wants us to see.” While social media can show us a celebrity’s live location and viewpoint, there is an element of curation in what celebrities choose to exhibit to the public.
However, as UofT Professor Jennifer Harris from the Department for the Study of Religion explains, this absence of personal connection is exactly what we as a society “fill … with our own hopes and dreams.” Our desire to know the insider details of celebrity life stems from wanting a “connection that transcends our own social [circles].” Our 2015 obsession with Taylor Swift’s “squad” emerged from our own internal goals. It was a projection of personal desires about what a ‘dream’ life and ‘friend group’ should look like.
Celebrity culture can also be a powerful bonding tool. In the aftermath of My Mind & Me, social media platforms flooded with edits of Selena Gomez, emphasising her strength. Created by self-identified ‘Selenators’ from numerous nations, these posts were liked, commented on, and shared. Fandom culture that idolises celebrities and celebrates their personal and professional lives helps us relate to one another. In a viral TikTok last month, a lecture hall of students at Brown University were seen reacting to Taylor Swift’s new album released at midnight together. Shared rituals over celebrity culture create overarching cohesion.
We care about celebrity culture because it gives us meaning. In some ways, watching celebrity life unfold is not very different from watching films; they “[reach us] very directly,” and our dissection of their lives provides us with sadness and joy, or “silence and laughter.”
