Info: January 24, 2008 Posted by: Leon 11 comments

heathledger.jpgI know what you’re thinking. Not another blog post about Heath Ledger’s death. I agree with ya. Just about every other blog I’ve read today has a post dedicated towards his passing. I was gonna wait a little until the flood of Heath Ledger posts passed, but some bastard called me out. (Just kidding Gordon). I even heard some girls on campus talking about it. As I passed, I heard them saying something like, “he’s the Joker in the new Batman movie, so you’ll see him again.” He must’ve been special, as those vapid girls don’t talk about much more than sex and sessions.

Ledger appeared in films such as Monster’s Ball, 10 Things I Hate About You, A Knight’s Tale, The Patriot and many other acclaimed movies. But personally, I didn’t know about him until that movie. You know the one. Bareback…I mean Brokeback Mountain. We Jamaicans never took to that movie, for obvious reasons. I remember one time when I was in a study group when a member of the group started talking about how she watched Brokeback Mountain. We simultaneously got up and went our separate ways. Back then I was perplexed as to why he chose such a controversial role. Now I know why. Such roles are memorable, and that film is what I think, began his meteoric rise in the Hollywood ranks.

After Brokeback, I never held him in high regard. But after seeing his performance in The Dark Knight as the Joker, he instantly became one of my favourite actors. He played a dark, whacked out Joker, exactly the kind of Joker I wanted to see. To hell with whether or not his face is bleached. I want a murderous nutcase hellbent on creating havoc! As to the circumstances of his death, well, only God knows. Signs point to either a accidental overdose or suicide, despite there being no note. I think it’s suicide, despite the family saying it was an accident. I mean, which family would want their child remembered that way. I don’t know what could’ve motivated him to do that. He had a good life, and aside from being separated from his wife, wasn’t going through any crises. But he had been turning down roles lately and in the following interview, saying that he felt “good about dying” since he could live on through his child.

Still far too much emphasis is being placed on Heath’s death. I don’t want to devalue his life or anything, but there are much more pressing issues for the media to cover. Thousands of people are dying daily, victims of atrocities across the world, and I don’t think that they should ignored for the sake of a deceased Hollywood heartthrob. R.I.P. Heath. It’ll be hard, but we’ll have to learn how to quit you.

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