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Which Celebrity Death of 2016 Affected You The Most?

One of the major headlines of 2016 was all the famous people who passed away this year. From singer David Bowie to author Harper Lee to dictator Fidel Castro to actress Carie Fisher, 2016 saw a wide array of influential people die.

The one that definitely moved me the most was the recent death of Carrie Fisher. I grew up watching the original trilogy, and I watched Rogue One the day before she passed away. It was bittersweet to see a recreation of her A New Hope model as the last time before she moved on.

What about you? Which celebrity death of the year had the biggest impact on your life and in what way?
 
Bowie for sure, his is the only death this year that genuinely depressed me. He is really the only celebrity i cared about passing, his last music video for Lazarus is so difficult to watch, i cant get through it without welling up.

He played my first favourite fictional character in Jareth the Goblin King, his presence was a contant throughout my life in both his acting and his music. He was a true artist. I was genuinely distraught when he died.

I dont think i'll be so gutted for a celebrity dying again until we lose Sean Bean and Jennifer Connelly.
 

Dio

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I wouldn't say any had an impact on my life. I didn't know these people personally and whilst some of their deaths were disappointing moments I didn't spend time mourning any of their losses.

The saddest one for me was Alan Rickman. I enjoyed his acting a lot and he seemed like a nice man from his interviews.
 

DARK MASTER

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Perhaps George Michael, but I don't particularly care about celebrates. This might sound cliche, but as one that follows world affairs, I've a tendency to care more for butchered children and elderly in underdeveloped regions.
 

Misty

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People care about celebrity deaths? Like I understand if you knew the person well or they were the voice of a generation like...I dunno like Bob Dylan or someone like him...but your average celebrity like Bowie....nope. I don't tends towards caring about tragic deaths like the ones DM mentions. It feels fake or something to pretend I care.
 
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Beauts

Rock and roll will never die
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Technically he died at the end of 2015 but as his death sort of kicked it all off, I have to say that the death of Lemmy Kilmister, of Motorhead and Hawkwind fame, hit me pretty hard. I grew up on Motorhead. My brother was actually pretty good friends with him too, so there was kind of a family connection.

David Bowie's death equally hit me hard. Harder than I thought it would tbh. Not sure why- he was just a very special man and him passing, idk, seemed like the world had the colour sucked out of it.

P.S. for all the people with the sticks of self-righteousness up their arse, saying how we shouldn't care about celebrity deaths and whatever:

The fact people who have never met them feel grief for their loss isn't evidence that the people grieving are superficial or pop culture victims, it is evidence that those people had a massive impact on the world around them, whether you personally care for them or not. Pop culture, art, music, drama etc are just as important as any other aspect of human life and anybody who says otherwise- it's snobbery, nothing else.
 

Jamie

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People care about celebrity deaths? Like I understand if you knew the person well or they were the voice of a generation like...I dunno like Bob Dylan or someone like him...but your average celebrity like Bowie....nope. I don't tends towards caring about tragic deaths like the ones DM mentions. It feels fake or something to pretend I care.
How is Bowie an average celebrity but Bob Dylan isn't? Bowie had massive influences spanning genres all the way to today. It's hard to imagine Ozzy Osbourne, Marilyn Manson, Alice Cooper and even Lady Gaga would exist if it weren't for David Bowie, especially since he directly injected fame into Iggy Pop. I really don't get how you can call him an average celebrity. He created an entire genre (glam rock) and helped popularize another (punk rock). He is definitely a transcendent musician, and so was Prince who also died this year.

However, celebrity deaths rarely if ever affect me. I find them sad for a moment and I feel bad for their families but celebrities who have a serious effect on my life are few and far between. Jose Fernandez was probably the closest to affecting me since I'm a big sports fan but it would certainly be more impactful if he played basketball which is bigger for me than baseball.
 

Misty

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How is Bowie an average celebrity but Bob Dylan isn't? Bowie had massive influences spanning genres all the way to today. It's hard to imagine Ozzy Osbourne, Marilyn Manson, Alice Cooper and even Lady Gaga would exist if it weren't for David Bowie, especially since he directly injected fame into Iggy Pop. I really don't get how you can call him an average celebrity. He created an entire genre (glam rock) and helped popularize another (punk rock). He is definitely a transcendent musician, and so was Prince who also died this year.

He isn't the voice of a generation. I'm not questioning his super-star status anymore than I question Alan Rickman's influence or Carrie Fisher's. Prince's or anyone else of that era. I like Bowie, I'm a big fan of many of the artists you mention here, but I wouldn't call them the Voice of a Generation. Notice, none of these people you mention are currently holding Nobels and I doubt you'd argue that they defined and personified the views and struggles of their time. They just aren't on that level because almost no one is on that level of importance and articulation. It's such a small list, you'd be hard pressed to name more than one for every few decades. I'm not even sure Michal Jackson is one and he well beats out all the people on your list for star power and musicianship/entertainership and influence. But it takes a really radically unusual and special individual to deserve being dubbed the voice of a generation. Being popular or damn entertaining and talented just doesn't cut the cheese. And if you aren't on that level, I don't see that strangers should be saddened when you go.
 

Pen

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Even though I don't think any of the celebrity deaths last year really affected my life, many of them did make me very sad. The two that made me the most sad were the deaths of the actors Anton Yelchin and Carrie Fisher. They've both portrayed very lovable characters in science fiction films that I'm a big fan of and it's a big shame to see them gone, especially since both of them still had so much left to give. The world seems awfully unfair sometimes.
 

Jamie

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@Misty I'm not sure Michael Jackson beats out Bowie and Prince in terms of musical influence. That's debatable at best. I genuinely don't think Bob Dylan is a cut above those two at all, and his way after the fact Nobel Prize doesn't change that. If you want to talk about 60s important musicians then Dylan pales in comparison to Paul McCartney who in 5 short years changed music forever. If you want to say Dylan was more of a political influence than the other ones then that's certainly true but musically, no.

I think it's a bit much to call Bob Dylan the voice of a generation. When I think of voice of a generation I think of Martin Luther King, not Bob Dylan.
 

Mellow Ezlo

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Celebrity deaths don't usually hit me like, I cry in bed and feel depressed, but they do sometimes sadden me a fair bit. While Bowie's death was sad, his final album was fantastic and his death had real closure with it. I've been a huge David Bowie fan all my life, but his death isn't as sad for me because of that sense of closure that we got with his final album. Prince, on the other hand, was a different story. I admit, I'm not a huge fan of him or his music, but I can appreciate the influence that he's had on the musical world and the achievements he has had, so it's sad for me in that way, knowing that music lost a great artist.

I think the one that really hit me the hardest was, like others, Carrie Fisher's. I think the thing that made it the most upsetting was that everybody said she was stable, and then next thing you know, she's dead, and the day before the anniversary of Lemmy's death no less. To make it worse, her mother, Debbie Reynolds, passed away the very next day. I don't know Carrie Fisher that well outside of Star Wars, but Leia is one of my favourite movie characters. I think Rogue One made her death all the more sad, because the only line Leia says in that film is "hope", as in hope that Carrie will make it out of everything. But then she died. I really feel for her family, losing two very prominent people within two days, and so immediately after Christmas.
 

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