Quote Originally Posted by I'm my own MILF View Post
On the other hand, if Iain Banks died I'd be pretty sad, because even though I didn't know him personally I did know his writing and it wasn't just a bit of fun, it's actually very important to me. Much the same can be said about various artists in various fields. You get to feel like you know someone famous through what they do, even if it's false. So feeling sad when they die is a logical consequence.
Yeah, I actually cried when I heard about Kurt Vonnegut's death. Did I know him, was he a friend, was I ever even in the same room as him? Nope. But his work changed the way I look at life. And to me, the passing of someone who I considered to be a genius was very very sad. But virtually no one around me gave a damn when news broke of his death. But I get it. Different people care about different things. I cried over Kurt Vonnegut but not Heath Ledger, and there are some people who will cry over Heath Ledger but not Britney Spears, and then there are people who HAVE cried over Britney Spears.

It's silly to think that one can only be sad about death if it strikes someone close to us. I was never a huge fan of Heath. But his performance in Brokeback Mountain was one of the most astonishing performances I have ever seen on film. EVER. It was captivating and startling. It was a work of art. And I have no doubt in my mind, that through that one performance, Ledger must have influenced dozens, hundreds, thousands of lives for the better. The loss of such a talent is a shame, no matter what.