Wrestling with grief
Fan negotiation of professional/private personas in responses to the Chris Benoit double murder–suicide
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 7707474 |
|---|---|
| Authors | T Phillips (0000-0003-1732-4514, University of East Anglia, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2015 |
| Volume | 6 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 69-84 |
| Publication date | 2015-01-02 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Celebrity Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1939-2397 • E-ISSN: 1939-2400 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/19392397.2015.995470 |
| OpenAlex | W2039346706 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 6 |
| References cited | 35 |
In 2007, professional wrestler Chris Benoit murdered his wife and young son before killing himself. The shocking incident was made even more significant due to Benoit’s then employment with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), the world’s predominant professional wrestling organisation. As a result, WWE ordered a complete censorship of Benoit across its media output, guiding fans to forget him with prejudice. This article presents an examination of how fans contended with the images of Benoit presented to them at the time of the incident – and how this compares with their feelings about him today. With no overriding directive for remembrance, fans have had to negotiate their own memorialisation narratives, which can become contentious among fan communities when individuals attempt to revisit Benoit’s professional output. Through qualitative data conducted via an online survey, this article presents an insight into how relations to professional and private celebrity personas have an impact on contemporary fandom. While the article will not attempt to draw conclusions as to whether Benoit was a ‘monster’ or simply very ill, it will present an image of how fans have had to contend with such images in the formation of their bereavement
Advertising · Art · Art history · Entertainment · Fandom · Grief · Humanities · Literature · Media studies · Monster · Narrative · Performance art · Persona · Political science · Psychoanalysis · Sociology · Visual arts · Wife · Crime, Deviance, and Social Control · Law · Media Influence and Health · Psychology · Sexuality, Behavior, and Technology
Jokes and the Discourse on Disaster
An Empirical Examination of the Stage Theory of Grief
Fandom
Tweeting Prayers and Communicating Grief Over Michael Jackson Online
A Star is Dead
‘I'll Be Here With You'
Understanding Fandom
Some thoughts on celebrity deaths
Breaking kayfabe
The Sir Jimmy Savile scandal
This Is the Night TV Died”
Grief, commiseration, and consumption following the death of a celebrity
Death of the Girl Next Door
Girls Can Wrestle Too”
Beyond the Grave
Actors on the Canvas Stage
The Spectacle of Excess”
The Adoring Audience
The Audience in Everyday Life
Stardom and Celebrity
No Mere Mortal? Re-materialising Michael Jackson in death
The post-mortem star discourse, or, loving Adrienne Shelly
The promotion and presentation of the self
Guess who Tiger is having sex with now? Celebrity sex and the framing of the moral high ground
Jokes and the Discourse on Disaster
| Unique citing works | 6 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,6 |
| Citation span | 2016 - 2026 (11) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 6 |