Analysis Of John Lennon, John Jackson Do Celebrities Die...

Memorial University - English 1110 October 25, 2017 Anna Clorinda Raselli The Brand of Dead Celebrities The essay â€Å"John Lennon, Michael Jackson: Do Celebrities Die Anymore?† (2011) by Katrina Onstad is informative. It explains the business of dead celebrities and the new possibilities of the current technology brings with it, so that it seems that they are even alive today. Besides the illusive immortality of celebrities, it proves to be a lucrative business. However, Onstad’s writing fails to answer its own thesis and loses its thread throughout the essay. The title of the essay is a rhetorical question and asks, â€Å"do celebrities die anymore?† The essay itself appears to be rather informative and does not support nor contradict the†¦show more content†¦On the other hand, Onstad points out that the use of a dead celebrity’s work (film or music), may also be a critical point and may face the threat of being squandered. As she states the critical point that â€Å"a dead person is vulnerable in ways a living person is not.† Followed by an explanation of an earlier advertisement with a late celebrity that had caused irritation. Whereas it is now more common to fall back on late celebrities. Yet, there appears a stereotypical clichà © towards the end of the essay, as the author blames today’s society to only listen to the media hyped songs. Consequently, the audience is influenced to believe that the modern society only knows most popular celebrities. With that, the essay appears to be rather informal and additionally, the tone of the essay changes towards the last two paragraphs. The following excerpt of the essay shows Onstad making an accusation towards the Consultants to Government and Industries (CGI), a Canadian global information technology firm, which makes the author seem predisposed and with that rather unprofessional. â€Å"To split a dead performer from her context for fun or profit seems like some mad-scientist exercise in CGI onanism. I dont think I want to see †¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Onstad). Overall the transitions of the essay are smooth and comprehensible. The slightly longer sentences support the flow of the text. However, the thesis statement seems to be a