I named my Guinea pig after Mopper: Preliminary findings in a new empirical study of sharing death on social media
Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper › Research › peer-review
Standard
I named my Guinea pig after Mopper : Preliminary findings in a new empirical study of sharing death on social media. / Sandvik, Kjetil; Christensen, Dorthe Refslund.
2017. Paper presented at 3rd Death Online Research Symposium, Aarhus, Denmark.Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper › Research › peer-review
Harvard
APA
Vancouver
Author
Bibtex
}
RIS
TY - CONF
T1 - I named my Guinea pig after Mopper
T2 - 3rd Death Online Research Symposium
AU - Sandvik, Kjetil
AU - Christensen, Dorthe Refslund
PY - 2017
Y1 - 2017
N2 - On November 21st 2016, Ann Patricia Christiansen passed away at the age of 78 after months of protracted illness. In Denmark, Ann Patricia was known as ’Mopper’, being the oldest generation in the Linse Kessler family in the tv reality show ”Familien på Bryggen” (in English: ”The Family on the Wharf”). A show that has had 10 seasons on TV3 and is soon to initiate it’s 11. Season. In the show, Mopper was known and cherished for her subtle, humurous remarks on her family (Linse, her 48 year old daughter known for her body, refurbished through a large number of cosmetic surgeries (she has the biggest boobs in Scandinavia, for one thing); Mopper’s granddaughter Stephanie, known as ’Gekko’ and her boyfriend, Cengiz and their one year old daughter Alba); her approach to her family and life and the world in general. On November 21st, Linse posted the sad message of Mopper’s death on her Facebook wall, and on the day and the days to follow, more than 9000 of her more than 400.000 followers shared the news and more than 42.000 people payed their condolences under this posting.So, how did these fans pay their condolences? What did they write? Which kinds of personal experiences and intimacies did they share? Which cultural ressources (songs, poetry, hymns, film lines etc) did they quote?In this paper, we’ll present some preliminary findings in an analysis of the spontaneous grief community of fans on Linse’s Facebook wall. These condolences is an example of how the death of a celebrity cues spontaneous online communities, that both involves the sharing of grief for a cherished media friend, but moreover, the sharing of intimate emotions and thoughts on life and death between strangers. It is our point of departure that these spontaneous grief communities constitute sociocultural platforms of resilience strategies for coping with – not as much the death of a TV persona but, more importantly, for coping with life itself.
AB - On November 21st 2016, Ann Patricia Christiansen passed away at the age of 78 after months of protracted illness. In Denmark, Ann Patricia was known as ’Mopper’, being the oldest generation in the Linse Kessler family in the tv reality show ”Familien på Bryggen” (in English: ”The Family on the Wharf”). A show that has had 10 seasons on TV3 and is soon to initiate it’s 11. Season. In the show, Mopper was known and cherished for her subtle, humurous remarks on her family (Linse, her 48 year old daughter known for her body, refurbished through a large number of cosmetic surgeries (she has the biggest boobs in Scandinavia, for one thing); Mopper’s granddaughter Stephanie, known as ’Gekko’ and her boyfriend, Cengiz and their one year old daughter Alba); her approach to her family and life and the world in general. On November 21st, Linse posted the sad message of Mopper’s death on her Facebook wall, and on the day and the days to follow, more than 9000 of her more than 400.000 followers shared the news and more than 42.000 people payed their condolences under this posting.So, how did these fans pay their condolences? What did they write? Which kinds of personal experiences and intimacies did they share? Which cultural ressources (songs, poetry, hymns, film lines etc) did they quote?In this paper, we’ll present some preliminary findings in an analysis of the spontaneous grief community of fans on Linse’s Facebook wall. These condolences is an example of how the death of a celebrity cues spontaneous online communities, that both involves the sharing of grief for a cherished media friend, but moreover, the sharing of intimate emotions and thoughts on life and death between strangers. It is our point of departure that these spontaneous grief communities constitute sociocultural platforms of resilience strategies for coping with – not as much the death of a TV persona but, more importantly, for coping with life itself.
KW - Faculty of Humanities
KW - death and social media
KW - grief and social media
KW - online grief
M3 - Paper
Y2 - 6 March 2017 through 8 March 2017
ER -
ID: 186091344