I named my Guinea pig after Mopper: Preliminary findings in a new empirical study of sharing death on social media

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 -