Two weekends ago, my mom and I watched a special on the late Princess Diana. I remember when I was younger, my mom loved watching specials and news stories on her. And I think for some reason she didn't like Prince Charles because he was a cheating douchebag. Basically, my mom had Lady Di's back. And I also think she looked up to her because she was a humanitarian along with being a mother. I guess my mom relates to the whole hard-working mom aspect of distinguished women in the media considering I was quite the handful. I like Lady Di too. I even had that special edition Beanie Baby created just for her. It's still in a plastic cube-like case for protection.
After the special on Lady Di, there was a re-run of the Royal Wedding. I didn't watch the live version of Price William and Kate Middleton's nuptials so I thought we'd watch it. I was in awe by the amount of people crowding London streets to catch a glimpse of the parade of wedding festivities going on. Complete awe. People even flew into London simply to stand on sidewalks to watch this! The wedding was being covered by countless entertainment channels, and there was even a viewing party in the middle of Times Square. Fucking Times Square. Unless I'm invited to a wedding, I won't go but that's just me.
Granted it was lovely to watch, I didn't watch the whole thing.*
*I saw that Taxicab Confessions was on so I opted for trash TV instead :)
Buuut I was fascinated to see how many people, millions actually, were interested in main-stream media of this nature. This wasn't a special on the migration of geese or a news story on the latest hoodlum robbing people of their personal things. It wasn't even a sex scandal/sex tape/OMG-he's-gay-but-married-to-a-woman-with-kids moment. It was a wedding between a popular royal figure and his love interest who came from a humble background. Aww so coot. And I guess the fact that she wasn't royalty herself was a #BIGDEAL.
So, if people get this excited over wedding nuptials between famous faces, how do funerals of famous dead people add up?
According to Nielsen ratings, an estimated 22.7 million Americans (out of the U.S. population of 310 million) watched the royal wedding on eleven major U.S. television networks. So 7.3% of the American population was interested enough to watch live coverage of the royal wedding despite the five hour time difference.
However, back in September 2007 when Lady Di passed away in a car crash, 33.2 million Americans watched live coverage of her funeral. According to the Population Reference Bureau (PRB), the U.S. population mid-2007 was 302.2 million. Almost 11% of the U.S. population in 2007 was interested enough to watch live coverage of Lady Di's funeral. Was Lady Di's death more interesting than her son's nuptials? Was she more impacting on the population of the time? If she were alive would she still have the same impact on American media?
However, these are only American statistics. Since both events occurred in England, it may be neccessary to include British statistics. But until the Queen herself invites me to one of these shin-digs, shortbread cookies included, I'm highly optimistic that you can find out these statistics for yourself. Obviously this depends on your interest level and I'm sure it's not that high.
On a global scale, an estimated 2.5 billion people worldwide watched Lady Di's funeral versus the estimated 2 billion people around the world who watched the royal wedding in spring 2011.
Are people more influential when they're dead than when they're alive? How many people even listened to the Beastie Boys LONG BEFORE Adam Yaunch's recent death? I know I didn't. And "Intergalactic" does NOT count! I'm getting ahead of myself.
All in all, rest in peace, Adam <3 And Lady Di <3 You both made an important impact on media and society in both of your different yet accomplished fields. You both were and will be truly influential people. As for that royal couple, congrats and Mazeltov. Oh, and Kate's sister's name is #boss. Pippa. Yes.
And for some comic relief here are some statistics on Kim Karcrashian & Kris Humpbackwhalefries's "unforgettable" nuptials...
Viewership: 10.5 million*
*Since the event was covered on two nights, half of these could be repeat viewers. Unique viewers could be an estimated 4.4 million (based on the first night's viewership). I agree with the LA Times article above - how does that equal 10.5?
Network coverage: 1 (E! Entertainment)
Length of courtship: 72 days
Influence on me: -14.75698%
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