The ‘religious’ response: experience of celebrity death among fans of John Lennon and Johnny Cash

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article provides context for the experience of fans with the death of John Lennon and Johnny Cash, framing this response, in some cases, as “religious modes of acting and thinking” (Laderman 2009). This response is more than simply meaningful, as it shares similarity in form and experience with religion. In some cases, fans react ‘religiously’ because they search within the celebrity ways to recognize and define themselves, similar to the process fan studies scholar Cornel Sandvoss (2005) describes as the “extension of the self”. Based on a qualitative study, involving participant observation at memorial events of Lennon and Cash as well as interviews with fans, this article builds the case that popular culture is an important source of data for modern religious experience. Understanding fans as responding ‘religiously’ adds to the conversation on fandom and religion as it questions similarities between the two. I argue that these similarities reveal important characteristics of celebrity fandom and help to address contemporary religiosity.