there's all that shit about dying young, living on forever as an icon blah blah blah.
so i just assumed that would be the case forever.

but i was reading rupert everett's book, and he wrote about how certain movies that meant something when they were released are now meaningless. or how stuff that was ignored can resurface later and find an audience.
or how something can represent something different years later. he gives the example of doris day and rock hudson movies representing something different now than they did in their time.

then he asks why james dean lived on for years only to suddenly die. his museum just closed down recently due to lack of interest.

so do you think he's really less popular now than he was ten or fifteen years ago?

do you think maybe after the 50th anniversary of his death (2005) people just figured enough is enough and got stingy with their worship?

like how i bought the first three sheryl crow cd's, but then got exhausted. it's not that i liked the music any less. more like i got to thinking "am i committing myself to buying every album this bitch releases for what may be years and years to come? no, i'd rather not and now's as good a time to stop as it ever will be."

I agree with the idea Everett is trying to express but I think James Dean was more popular 15 years ago because the slacker image was fashionable. Maybe they'll come a time when it will die out and people will just show no more interest but it was Elvis' 30th anniversary yesterday and people are still obsessed so maybe James Dean was suffer the same fate.

I think alot of icons will go. Just give it a few more generations that will give that, "James who?" look.

well people still remember Oscar Wilde lol. Like every single saying is somehow attributed to him and I'm sure more are being made each day.

maybe it just took them 50 years to realise he was a shitty actor

His fame diminishes all the time, but I doubt he'll be truly forgotten. But there are massive stars of "yesteryear" who are now completely forgotten. James' ghost won't be complaining too much.

__________________
Time is the distance that you can't return by miles.

I escaped somehow. Let's go

actualy [sic] I have quite a blessed life if I'm honest. I have many people to love, hate few and have few money problem's [sic].... What more does a person need? Oh yeah and I have some kind of humbleness unlike you of course ^_^ ~ CarefulCarpenter

a little less popular. He's still amazing though.

Who else died tragically in the mid 50s? How popular are they? I must go check, because I bet they aren't on a par with Jimmy.

__________________
Time is the distance that you can't return by miles.

I escaped somehow. Let's go

actualy [sic] I have quite a blessed life if I'm honest. I have many people to love, hate few and have few money problem's [sic].... What more does a person need? Oh yeah and I have some kind of humbleness unlike you of course ^_^ ~ CarefulCarpenter

Totally. Blame Luke Perry.

Just because a museum for him closed down doesn't really mean anything. I really don't think that he is the kind of star that can have a museum all about him. He will always be remembered for what he represented during a certain time in film.

Definitely do not blame James Franco though. What a twat.

__________________
Time is the distance that you can't return by miles.

I escaped somehow. Let's go

actualy [sic] I have quite a blessed life if I'm honest. I have many people to love, hate few and have few money problem's [sic].... What more does a person need? Oh yeah and I have some kind of humbleness unlike you of course ^_^ ~ CarefulCarpenter

Maybe a lot of the people that were marketing the image got old and died

Something the precious angel will never do. WEEPZ.

__________________
Time is the distance that you can't return by miles.

I escaped somehow. Let's go

actualy [sic] I have quite a blessed life if I'm honest. I have many people to love, hate few and have few money problem's [sic].... What more does a person need? Oh yeah and I have some kind of humbleness unlike you of course ^_^ ~ CarefulCarpenter

He is very popular with Morrissey. And me.

he's overrated.

a museum closing really has nothing to do with declining popularity. it has to do with the fact that it was in the-middle-of-nowhere, Fairmont, Indiana. Its 5 hours away from Chicago, and 1 1/2 from indianapolis in a small farming town. who's really gonna go there?

i dont think the museum closed anyway. they just moved it to a different location. at least i saw it when i went in december of '06.

I went to the gallery a year ago and was the only one there ... I walked around for 10 minutes and left, and it cost me $15. I used to sometimes go to his grave site and just sit there smoking cigarettes. People leave plastic flowers and toy cars and lipstick kiss marks on the headstone but there's nothing particularly special about it ... it's just a normal grave amongst dozens of others and I like that. I haven't been there in a while ... I think I might go back soon, just chill with Jimmy.

I'm surprised (and relieved) that emos haven't iconised him.

Amen! I think because I'm from Indiana, and he's one of few options we have ... I love him, proud he came from my beloved state. Michael Jackson ... not so much.