Selfies with the widow Maria DeFilippi they are nothing more than evidence of the lack of empathy we are increasingly delving into. The stolen photos should push you aside shot trophy To keep it in their smartphone and get it, some people have even overcome the shameful inconvenience of asking a grieving woman for a photo.
Nothing is less private than the funeral of a public figure, not even the pained faces of those who loved and knew him. The faces are photographed, looking for a behavior to point the finger at, such as not suffering or not crying enough. Not only does journalism do its dirty job of providing information, from reporting facts to describing feelings hidden behind dark glasses, the public also wants its share.
There technology it also made the grief social. In fact, it no longer surprises us to read the “rest in peace” messages under the news from public figures or even from deceased Facebook friends. The last one fell, say the IT experts Taboo Digital. After sex, illness and love there too Death Enter the daily life of the network, comments and shared photos.
I am very the bursts of painstolen from those present at the funeral of Maurizio Costanzo that bring the virtual squares to discussion. It seems clear to many that asking Maria De Filippi to take a selfie in front of her husband’s coffin is not right. But if it isn’t right, socially accepted, and actually labeled by the vast majority as distasteful and disrespectful behavior, then why did it happen? One might wonder what made people ask for a selfie at this moment of public mourning. let it be just one shot trophy add to your gallery at any cost?
Funeral selfie: a historical but changing phenomenon
THE funeral selfies I’m not a digital novice. In fact, the relationship between photography and the burial environment is not new and indeed has a centuries-old tradition. For example, it is very common Post mortem photographythe one for the deceased, present in cemeteries and at funerals, which developed from the 19th century.
Not everyone could afford to photograph the deceased loved one as photography was not widely used and for this reason other systems such as paintings were often used to immortalize the image of the deceased. With the spread of photography in society, it has lost its direct relationship with death and is beginning to represent death more and more I remember of a lived moment, i.e. “alive”.
Unlike in the past, in the The photo was an object for private usetoday, selfies are a gesture characterized by split. Even within funerary contexts, their purpose is share an experience, one moment. It is clear that part of the relationship between selfies and sharing has inevitably been via live broadcasts commemorating public figures, state funerals or other funeral moments of sharing.
It was her again duplication of technology of smartphones in the hands of those present to make official live broadcasts on television more and more an individual moment.
Taking a selfie: between selfishness and sharing
So why take a selfie with a relative at a public event, as in the case of Maria De Filippi at the funeral of her husband Maurizio Costanzo? Criticism of these gestures, described as extreme, was unleashed on social networks disrespect.
They arouse different feelings: from outrage to accusations of a lack of empathy – alexithymiathe opposite of empathy, which doesn’t allow you to understand a state of mind in context – up to a pain voyeurism Other. One does not exclude the other and perhaps it is the sum of these feelings and behaviors that leads people to search for one shot trophywhich is nothing more than a violent intrusion into the life of the public figure in a private moment, even if it is public like the funeral of Maurizio Costanzo.
It may therefore seem an individualistic act, also due to the origin of the word “selfie”, similar to selfish, so “selfish”, but the purpose of the selfie is not to stay in a private gallery, but to be published , shared. It’s that rush to share that prompted people to ask Maria De Filippi for a selfie in a place they knew they could find.
Rite photo: the symbol of a lack of education on technology
Celebrities, actors and actresses, athletes or VIPs in general are considered exceptional people, that is, they are out of the ordinary and cannot be reached by “normal” people. This makes any link to them, like a photo or an autograph, a icon object a certain status. In addition to the fetish that confirms to others the memory of the meeting that took place, we must add the phenomenon of window dressing and sharing.
Death is the last of the taboos that have fallen with social media, but there is still a lot of resistance and this is evident from the criticism directed in these hours to those who asked Maria De Filippi for a selfie . This did not hold back and like other public figures – the case of the autograph of Gerry Scotti during her mother’s funeral – she remained composed in her public role.
The paradox of the selfies with Maria De Filippi at the vigil for Maurizio Costanzo is an example of the intersection of events and theirs Shrinkage within a rectangle. The edges, i.e. the context, are cut off and only what is visible on the backlit screen remains. They are the consequences of one lack of privacy educationEmpathy and respect for others who fail especially in situations that are visible through the lens of the camera or in this case the smartphone.