Bad things happen in threes right? According to the Bloody Mary myth, if you spin around a dark bathroom chanting “Bloody Mary” three times, a ghost will appear to take your soul. In "Macbeth," three prophesizing witches led to Mac Beth’s ambition and eventual demise. Not to mention the story of “Goldilocks and the Three Bears” where a little girl almost gets mauled to death for eating porridge. We have been conditioned to group bad things into sets of three. The best example of this is the superstition that celebrities die in threes. Whenever one star dies, society expects a second and third to follow shortly after. But, is this true or is it a societal construction influenced by the media?
History of threes and what the media is telling you.
2009 was the summer that reinforced the idea that celebs die in threes. Ed McMahon sparked the domino effect when he passed away on June 23, 2009. He was a beloved comedian and host who appeared on "The Tonight Show," "Star Search," and other shows. The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, CNN, CBS and many other outlets flooded the news of his death. Two days later, Farrah Fawcett died. Attention shifted to Fawcett just as Michael Jackson was reported dead. The terrible curse of three dead celebrities struck within two days of each other.
More recently, on Jan. 10, David Bowie lost his battle with liver cancer. Many forms of media reported on his death which made the news spread fast and across continents. Four days later, news that Alan Rickman passed away filled the media waves. On Jan. 18, the co-founder and guitarist for The Eagles, Glenn Frey died. The death curse for celebrities seems to have struck again, but there may be an explanation for this.
What the media isn’t telling you.
First off, the definition of celebrity is “a famous person” and “one who is widely known." Your parent’s version of who is famous is very different to your version. With that logic, how is society supposed to agree who is important enough to have their death advertised across the nation? The answer is simple. The media tells us who to mourn by their amount of coverage on a person’s death. You may have only heard of Bowie, Rickman and Frey’s deaths so far in 2016, but there have already been numerous, here is a list to name a few:
Jason Mackenroth, 46
Dan Haggerty, 74
Troy Shondell, 76
Kitty Kaileen, 94
Otis Clay, 73
Angus Scrimm, 89
Jeanne Cordova, 67
Michael Galeota, 31
David Margulies, 78
Lawrence Philips, 40
Brian Bedford, 80
Réné Angelil, 73
Pat Harrington, Jr., 86
Mike "Iron" Sharpe, 64
Why we think in threes.
Whether you recognize the names above or not, they were well known. The explanation for the myth of celebrities dying in threes stems from the media and psychology. The media only gives attention to the most newsworthy and well-known celebrities, which shifts focus off of lesser known famous people. It’s not every day that someone of David Bowie or Michael Jackson’s status dies. When these deaths do occur, our brain takes over and tries to make sense of all the media coverage. According to John Hoopes of University of Kansas, “We’re very uncomfortable dealing with randomness.” He goes on to explain that our brain groups bad things that happen in life together to form patterns, even if there may be no correlation or meaning. This means that the media has helped our brains create a myth of deadly proportions and you don’t have to fear your favorite celeb is in danger.
