This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Thomas, J. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

From people power to mass hysteria

Media and popular reactions to the death of Princess Diana

Cardiff University, Wales

with revisions by Elizabeth Barry

A B S T R A C T • This article looks at the phenomenon of mass mourning, its manipulation in the media, and its significance in terms of consensus-building and national politics. Did deaths such as Princess Diana's and the unprecedented outpouring of public grief that followed it signal a national 'togetherness' and communal spirit? Or was this apparent national spirit a product of the press, at the cost of a disturbing suppression of dissent? This article asks what recent, highly publicized celebrity deaths and the press reaction to them tell us about the state of our media, their preoccupations and the celebrity culture that they help to create. •

Key Words: celebrity • community • consensus • Diana • grief • integration • Mass Observation • media • mourning • national identity • popular reaction • royalty • unity

International Journal of Cultural Studies, Vol. 11, No. 3, 362-376 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/1367877908092590


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?