Selfies at Funerals
October 29, 2013 12:20 PM   Subscribe

Selfies at Funerals.

Some reading as a semi-counterpoint:
My Selfie, Myself (NYT)
The Young-Girl and the Selfie (warning: theory)
posted by naju (30 comments total)

This post was deleted for the following reason: No dig at your intentions, naju, but the tumblr does feel a little point-and-laugh in execution and I'm not sure leading with it is a great idea for a post even if the other links are potentially post-worthy as a discussion of a social phenomenon. -- cortex



 
Soon this will lead to planking on your dead relatives' graves/coffins.
posted by Kitteh at 12:24 PM on October 29, 2013 [2 favorites]


Love my hair today. Hate why I'm dressed up.

Sorry grandma had to put you out by dying like that.

Now get off my lawn!*

*And by lawn I mean the grass over my grave.
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 12:26 PM on October 29, 2013 [4 favorites]


Nobody planks better than the guy in the coffin.
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 12:28 PM on October 29, 2013 [4 favorites]


LOL MY NAN DIED BRB TAKIN SELFIE
posted by Kitteh at 12:28 PM on October 29, 2013


#sadday #rip
posted by naju at 12:28 PM on October 29, 2013


Funerals are also probably not a good place for mamming, owling, planking, twerking, jerking, or doing the Harlem Shake.
posted by jquinby at 12:29 PM on October 29, 2013


#sorrynotsorry #likesforlikes #picoftheday
posted by unixrat at 12:30 PM on October 29, 2013


#YOLO
posted by Kitteh at 12:31 PM on October 29, 2013 [2 favorites]


How about photobombing? Is that still ok?
posted by Greg_Ace at 12:32 PM on October 29, 2013


Next up: "UR DOING IT WRONG" as a tombstone epitaph
posted by not_on_display at 12:33 PM on October 29, 2013 [1 favorite]


We need another Vietnam to thin out their ranks a little.
posted by ND¢ at 12:33 PM on October 29, 2013 [3 favorites]


DREGS, ALL OF THEM, GOD
posted by Stonestock Relentless at 12:34 PM on October 29, 2013


Flagged. This blog is mean spirited, the original posts are depressing, and posting this here just amplifies negative shit.
posted by latkes at 12:35 PM on October 29, 2013


I don't know a Harlem Shake funeral might be kinda fun.
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 12:35 PM on October 29, 2013


I found the tumblr profoundly, unexpectedly life-affirming - in the face of death, a celebration of those who are living, young, vain, vibrant. I am still alive, the mourner says. My heart is still beating. I look fresh as hell. Like for like.
posted by naju at 12:35 PM on October 29, 2013 [7 favorites]


Mean spirit? I would be too if those were my grandkids.
posted by Taft at 12:37 PM on October 29, 2013


This blog is mean spirited

Yeah I agree. People have been joking in the hallway of almost every funeral I have ever been to. Glad some blogger wasn't there judging me laughing with my dad's friends about his foibles.
posted by shothotbot at 12:39 PM on October 29, 2013 [3 favorites]


(warning: theory)

Can we get this added to college course catalogs? I think it would be really helpful.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 12:40 PM on October 29, 2013 [2 favorites]


When I was a lad we used a chain like bethgrahamm's boyfriend wears around his neck to flush the outside loo. Get off my Lavvy!
posted by biffa at 12:41 PM on October 29, 2013


There are a couple of posts going around tumblr to the effect that throughout history the selfie was limited to the upper classes (mostly men) who could afford both the time and the expense of having their portraits painted. No one appears to have mocked them for their desire to have their image captured for future generations, no matter how many portraits they had painted or how unrealistic the scene was or how forgiving of physical flaws the outcomes were.

So yeah, I do not have a lot of patience for people who mock young girls for doing a thing that was once primarily done by the privileged male classes.
posted by elizardbits at 12:41 PM on October 29, 2013 [2 favorites]


I'm not sure joking about the exploits of the deceased is quite as disrespectful as taking pictures of how great you look in your funeral attire. At least you are remembering the person that you're supposed to be there remembering.
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 12:41 PM on October 29, 2013 [1 favorite]


Next up: "UR DOING IT WRONG" as a tombstone epitaph

How about: "BRB"
posted by Kabanos at 12:42 PM on October 29, 2013 [1 favorite]


There are several bros doing the duck face there -- it's not just young girls.
posted by potsmokinghippieoverlord at 12:42 PM on October 29, 2013


I thought this one where the kid is trying to imagine the face his gran would be pulling at the funeral was pretty sweet actually.
posted by merocet at 12:44 PM on October 29, 2013 [2 favorites]


Nobody is judging you laughing with your dad's friends in a hallway.

These are people who chose to publicly post photos of themselves, and in many cases, they are hashtagged #funeral. These are people who were looking to have their photos found when you looked for photos of people at funerals.

There is nothing mean-spirited, I don't think, about gathering without comment photos that people have publicly posted -- in other words sent out into the universe on purpose -- of themselves. I'm the first person to tell people to back off with the "look at these badly dressed people I surreptitiously photographed in the supermarket" stuff, but this is really, really not that. And it's not young girls. There are a whole bunch of dudes. They took photos of themselves, they made them public. This isn't intrusive; it's documenting something people are apparently now in the habit of doing and calling attention to, themselves, on purpose.
posted by Linda_Holmes at 12:45 PM on October 29, 2013


I'm with naju. There's something really uplifting about this blog.

Maybe I'm giving the kids too much credit, but not all funerals are dour, sober events. You see relatives you haven't seen in a while, you share wonderful memories, you find yourself smiling and laughing and hugging people. It seems right that, eventually, in that environment, somone would break out the camera phone.

You can only cry for so long, and if the deceased loved you, he or she wouldn't want you sobbing forever anyway.

I dunno. I like it. It sort of reminds me of my own mother's wake, which could've been a hell of a party if we'd only thought to have a live band or a DJ.
posted by magstheaxe at 12:45 PM on October 29, 2013 [1 favorite]


Funeral selfies are a grave error of taste.
posted by MuffinMan at 12:46 PM on October 29, 2013


I'm not sure joking about the exploits of the deceased is quite as disrespectful as taking pictures of how great you look in your funeral attire

Maybe. But its just as easy for me to see this as young people being not entirely sure how to act around death. Maybe trying to normalize it? Maybe it was a long expected death or someone they only met once or twice. It seems well down on the list of signs that the next generation is morally bankrupt.
posted by shothotbot at 12:46 PM on October 29, 2013


My first reaction to this, as echoed by others above, was, "Man, I feel old." I think it's because it's the most charitable feeling I can have towards this behavior. I'm not trying to police how you should or should not feel or respond to the death of someone you know. But the particular act of taking a selfie?

I dunno. I was going to posit that my typical behavior in this scenario of reserved, quiet introspection and distractedness seems more natural to me. But maybe that's just as inherently selfish as snapping photos of yourself. I mean, at a funeral I'm generally more focused on my loss, rather than the person lost, if I'm honest about it.

I don't know how to feel about this.
posted by Brak at 12:46 PM on October 29, 2013 [2 favorites]


No popped collars?
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 12:46 PM on October 29, 2013


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