Ledger TributeHastily arranged big-box store tributes to the career of Heath Ledger peddling discs of The Patriot and Knight’s Tale make me sick, even if they are - available on DVD or Blu-ray.

I’m old enough to remember the death of Kurt Cobain, when CD was still how music was traded. It took no time for the local hep-cat record store to break out colored magic markers and draw a cute likeness of the freshly deceased grunge rock star and place it atop a modest shelf peddling sale-price copies of Bleach and Nevermind.

I wasn’t alone in my disdain for the display and it wasn’t long before it was taken down. Detroit in the 90s had no shortage of competition for trendy record stores and this one stood to lose customers over what was widely considered an affront to decency.

We humans always had a taboo about dining upon the flesh of the deceased’s notoriety. Or has that changed?

I’m not a Heath Ledger fan but by the looks of the Dark Knight trailer he might be the best Joker ever. It is a tragedy, I’m certain he was a talent taken before his time. But I honestly don’t remember him in most of the movies I’ve heard he was in and I’ve never seen Brokeback Mountain, really.

To me, movie cowboys should wield a Colt .45 and if they’re the sensitive type - okay, maybe a Schofield.

Last week I saw a display at a local big-box retailer, much like the one in the picture. Only this time customers seemed oblivious to the display’s inherent ghoulery. People were milling about the display as if it were a friend suggesting the unrated and uncensored copy of Lords of Dogtown was a great idea for an evening’s entertainment.

Has society changed so much in 14 years? Is it okay that humans now posses all the conscious of a Google-bot? I write these words knowing a similar engine will pull keywords from this story to sell you Heath Ledger DVDs.

But I hold people to higher standards than a line of code. Okay, now you can pass me the Schofield and glass of bourbon, I’m done.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, January 31st, 2008 at 5:32 pm and is filed under Culture, Media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.