We have discovered that in England, people love their obituaries. Obits have long been large sources of traffic and readership for English newspapers. In contrast to the American style, obits originating in England can be saucy and/or sarcastic, depending on the author’s mood. The tone does not always have to be totally sympathetic or even kind, and the principles of detailed storytelling are usually prioritized higher than simply stating the facts and important events of a person’s life. Take for example the beginning of this obituary of Gavin Hodge, a celebrity hair dresser:
Gavin Hodge, who has died aged 65, was one of the first celebrity hairdressers, and became known as much for his sexual conquests as for his skills with the scissors; his era was the 1960s and 1970s, when the crimper emerged from the shadows of the salon to become a sought-after man about town.
Also, here is an excerpt from the an obit written for British Manjor-General Ken Perkins:
There were some who thought that Perkins might have climbed higher were it not for his uncompromising nature: he was never afraid to go out on a limb or to ruffle feathers by questioning the official line.
Is this more honest style of obit reporting beneficial?
ED: Also take a look at Ming’s fine post on world obituaries, which includes a section about those in Britain.
As our group works on designing and fleshing out ideas for an improved Legacy.com, we continue to discuss ways to supplement the standard obit with fabulous supporting content. Some thoughts involve using videos and audios when necessary, especially for instances when multimedia was an important part of the deceased person’s life.
For example, Vic Mizzy recently died. You might not recognize his name, but you certainly recognize two TV theme songs he wrote earlier in his life. Sure, The Addams Family and Green Acres stopped airing new episodes ages ago, but it’d be nice to be able to listen to those timeless jingles while reading Mizzy’s obituary. In our beginning prototypes, a legacy.com user would be able to accomplish this with a simple click of a mouse.
Also, why not have other professionals, besides journalists, written about a person’s life? Wouldn’t it be insightful to read a doctor’s point of view about a deceased pioneer in the medical profession?
(ED: Yes.)
In two interviews I conducted with men in their mid-20s, both subjects emphatically answered “DEATH” when asked what comes to mind when thinking of obituaries. One of them, a particularly well-educated PHD student at THE Northwestern University, even went as far as saying that perhaps our research team should think about changing the name of these life stories to something not quite as synonymous with morbidity. He suggested to play off of the term ‘legacy,’ which isn’t as somber vocabulary and relates more to the life of a person as opposed to the death.
Is it possible that such drastic changes are needed to entice America’s young generation to pay closer attention to today’s obituary culture? As a mid-20s male myself, I sometimes find it hard to pick up a newspaper or visit a Web site and spend a lot of time perusing the obituaries section. At my age, I don’t always want to think about the end, especially before the middle or even the beginning have truly commenced.
Maybe changing the actual term is taking it a little too far, but it seems as though altering the stigma could mean gains in young adult readership. The first logical step is to continue to transform the obituary, and even the death notice, into more of a story as opposed to an announcement.
Hello loyal and faithful readers of this blog – I know you’re out there somewhere. The first major phase of our research is in full swing as we conduct a nationwide survey of people’s habits regarding obituary consumption and online memorial participation. We’d love for you all to take this survey and become a part of this process.
One of the major goals is to learn more about a potential audience for online obits and memorials, and to find out what they think is interesting and important in the world of Internet mourning.
Don’t worry – it’ll only take a few minutes and it will help us with our examination of today’s obituary culture. And, as an added bonus, you could win an iPod Touch or a Kindle.