Within the academic field of Celebrity Studies, many scholars believe that the success of a celebrity image lies in the representation of authenticity and sincerity, which can result in a strong emotional affinity from fans towards celebrity heroes: the celebrity even becomes a role model for one's own creation of identity. When a loved celebrity passes away, the experience of identity disruption results in a great feeling of mourning. The media, controlling the representation of death as a phenomenon, is able to guide the individual in their expression of grief. Same goes for the tributing events that appear after the death of a celebrity: they are offering a way to 'properly' express feelings of grief. However, regardless of the emotional affection that is involved, the celebrity here functions as a human brand as well: by relying on the popularity of a celebrity's name and image, honoring events are produced and promoted while responding to the emotions of the mourning fans. In this research paper, it is the totality of these theories that will be used to analyze the case of Dutch artist and musician Ramses Shaffy, who passed away in 2009.

Autorentext

Anne van Zantwijk (1991) is an Amsterdam based theatre fanatic and photographer with a Masters degree in Television & Cross-Media Culture. With this piece about Ramses Shaffy, who she believes to be one of her country's greatest performers of all time, she graduated from The University of Amsterdam in 2014.