Jade Goody ‘mourned’ by British OK magazine. Except she isn’t dead yet.

Ugh. I’ve resisted posting on this subject for weeks now even though many readers have asked me to. It’s a bit like the Natasha Richardson story….I find it so upsetting that I try not to think about it or read about it (let alone write about it). But at the same time I am compelled to keep visiting a UK news website to see the latest. It’s like driving past a bad car accident. You want to look until you actually see something and then you wish you’d never looked….

I think it’s such a complex issue. As far as the Jade Goody story itself goes, all I can take from it is GO GET A PAPP SMEAR. Do not put it off endlessly because it is unpleasant. Dying is worse.
But as far as the media obsession with her death and the way it’s all happening so publicly?
I’m keen to hear what you think because I’m so conflicted and churned with different thoughts that I’m finding it hard for any coherent point to float to the surface. Except the one about getting papp smears.
And that it’s unspeakably tragic and CONFRONTING.

Just when I’ve been trying to work all these things out in my head, I read a really interesting view by Michelle Cazzulino in the Daily Tele today. In an opinion piece titled “Death porn: our fatal attraction”, Michelle looks at the death of Natasha Richardson and the impending death of Jade Goody (IMPENDING, OK Magazine…get that?) and what they mean in a time of media saturation and unprecedented public interest. Of Jade Goody, she writes:

Much of the early coverage, it must be said, was generated with her
consent, but in recent days, as her life has slowly ebbed away, the
details have bordered on excruciating – even if, as reported, Goody has
been the one providing them.

What else do you call the fact that her final wish, that her wake
should not be used as an excuse for a “booze-up”, has already become a
matter of public record?

Elsewhere, the story angles have seemingly been never-ending: her
funeral is set to be broadcast on giant screens, her autobiography will
be published posthumously, her daily diet now consists largely of
Coca-Cola.

Not even the contents of her future coffin have escaped scrutiny: as
well as her body, it will hold a photograph of Goody and her children
that was taken on holiday in Spain two months ago. The image can be
viewed online.

The most curious part about Goody’s protracted illness is that it
has seen her elevated to the status of near-martyr – a title normally
conferred on the likes of Princess Diana and Heath Ledger, whose
careers and fan bases were well-established before their sudden deaths.

But many of those currently obsessed with Goody’s condition never saw her on Big Brother and would struggle to name a single one of her accomplishments.

Such is the nature of death porn: tragedy is titillating and sadness
is sport regardless of subject, although in Goody’s case we now seem to
be in extra time.

Following predictions that she wouldn’t survive last weekend, the
public has been drawn into a waiting game with the media, which has
been forced to reach for its thesaurus to keep selling its story.

A sweep of the headlines in the past week reveals that Goody has
been “close to death”, “hours from death”, “verging on death” and “on
the brink of death”.

On Tuesday, the UK-based OK! magazine took an ill-advised
gamble by releasing a “tribute edition” bearing the banner “Jade Goody
1981-2009” and including the phrase “in loving memory” on its front
page.

Its attempt to play God was too much for even the most hardened
griefarazzi, with online readers deriding it as “revolting”,
“appalling” and “sick”.

That said, many of the objections were raised by contributors to the
magazine’s website, leading one to wonder whether the gamble hadn’t
paid off after all.

Meanwhile, Goody struggles on, feeding the addictions of those who haven’t quite had their fill of her suffering.

It’s almost enough to see you wishing death upon her – maybe then she will finally rest in peace.

I don’t wish death upon her. She has two little boys. What do you think about this?