Heath Ledger Ghoul Stands: Tragedy on DVD or Blu-ray

Have you seen the laser-printer memorials to Heath Ledger at the local DVD retailer? Only a week ago I barely knew who Ledger was, but those displays make me sick!

I remember when CDs were still an exciting new technology, just becoming mainstream. It was about the time Kurt Cobain died under tragic circumstances.

In no time, a local hepster record store got out some colored magic markers and drew up a cute likeness of the grunge rocker. The handmade drawing was used in an oh-so-hip sign atop a shelf dealing in bargain-priced copies of Nevermind and In Utero.

The clientele of the store expressed general disdain for the display and it was soon taken down. That was Detroit in the ’90s, which fortunately had no shortage of trendy record stores or (believe it or not) tactful respect for the dead.

We had a taboo against blatantly cashing in on tragedy and dining upon the flesh of a deceased celebrity’s notoriety.

I’m not really a Heath Ledger fan. Of course, I was as impressed as anyone by his rendition of Joker in the Dark Knight trailer. He could go down in history as the best Joker ever - and that’s high praise as his name would be up there with Caesar Romero and Jack Nicholson.

But I really don’t recall Ledger in any of the movies I’ve heard he was in AND –

I’ve never seen Brokeback Mountain.

To me a movie cowboy wields a Colt 45, and if he’s a sensitive cowboy - okay, maybe a Schofield.

But not a day after Ledger’s death, I saw a display of his movies at a local big-box retailer, much like the one in the record store all those years ago. Only this time customers were oblivious to the display’s ghoulery. People gleefully ogled and picked from the stand, as if being seen with a Ledger movie put them in the thick of the breaking story.

Has society changed that much in 14 years? Is it okay for humans to posses the conscience of a search engine?

I know if these words are copied through RSS feeds and appear on certain pages, a Google-bot, Amazon or Shop search engine might pick through it for keywords and display ads based on some word-for-profit algorithm. But I’ve always held people to higher standards than a line of code.

Okay I’m done. Now, pass me a shot of bourbon and the Schofield.