Heath Ledger’s death and the impact he made
January 31st, 2008 by shinzu
This may sound bad of me, but very rarely does a death in Hollywood make me really sad. When I heard of Heath Ledger’s death I was thinking about how great of a contribution he has really made, in terms of my personal life.
Everyone who is involved in the media has a special gift. The gift of influence. As much as we sometimes deny it, who we are and what we like are shaped by what we see in the big screen and television. These people have the ability to sway political and social points to the mainstream, even to the effect of changing society itself.
One of these people was Heath Ledger. Of course as you can tell, I am referring to Brokeback Mountain. Even though the movie brought about endless mockeries about ‘I can’t quit you’, it really helped break the stereotypical image of a gay male. Heath had guts to play this role as a straight male. He would of needed a great deal of empathy to understand and play such a difficult role.
For the gays out there, use Heath Ledger as an example of making a social point. He helped advance the gay cause by help bringing the gay issue to light. In order for society to continue to change, I encourage the gays out there to do the hardest thing you can possible do. Talk openly about gay issues and be out. Being out is probably the biggest single handed thing you can do to break down the gay stereotype by dispelling all the myths of what gay people are supposed to be like.
For those reading this blog who aren’t gay think of this way. Say that you are in the majority group of society for your entire life. All of a sudden, you get cast into being a minority and not understood and even hated.
As for Heath.. God bless his soul for using his power of influence for the better good… rip.