Goodbye England’s Daisy
May you ever grow in our hearts
You called out to our country
And you whispered to those in pain
Now you belong to heaven
And the stars spell out your name
And it seems to me you lived your life
Like a candle in the wind
Never fading with the sunset when the rain set in…
In the early morning hours of Mother’s Day, Jade Goody finally lost her battle against cervical cancer leaving her two little boys and a distraught family behind. Bravely, she faced her illness and set the spotlights on the horrific disease that cancer is all the way from diagnosis to the bitter end.
For months now the country has been divided in two fractions; those who felt she was getting too much attention and sympathy where so many others suffer alone in silence, and those who hailed her like a People’s Princess and shared her pain as were it their own.
Personally, I don’t care much for reality TV as the reality it supposedly depicts bears no resemblance to my own. I never saw Jade Goody getting it on in Big Brother and I never saw her going racist on Shilpa Shetty in the subsequent celebrity version of the show. I haven’t followed her battle against cancer on TV and I didn’t tune in to watch her wedding. But, as anyone reading the news, I’ve still seen a whole lot of Jade Goody and all I can say is that the girl had star quality. Or at least reality TV star quality.
To all of you who looked down on her and belittled her star status based on her public performance – back off will ya! It may be true that she wasn’t the brightest pea in the pod and maybe she would never have made it as a “proper” actress, singer or writer. But she did make it in her own medium. And she made it big! As someone who has never watched Big Brother, I don’t know the names of any other contestants than Jade and Shilpa Shetty. And I doubt very much that even the most avid of the BB fans can remember too many of the other contestants that have gone through the house over the years. But we all knew Jade.
She was street smart in a way that most people who are trying to make a name for themselves or their business could learn something from. She excelled within the parameters of her medium. Big Brother’s popularity reminds me of the old Roman devise about bread and entertainment for the people. People tune in to BB to see people behave badly. They love to watch normal people doing things that normal people do in the confinement of their homes and their inner circles. Things they wouldn’t necessarily broadcast on facebook or talk about in staff meetings at work. Without the sex(ual innuendos), the booze, the foulmouthed language, the fights and the (often) hair-raisingly brain-dead dialogues no one would ever bother watching. Who would be interested in following a group of extremely well behaved people pardon, please and excuse each other whilst brotherly sharing the inevitably increasing boredom of a 100 day incarceration?
Jade Goody was, clearly, very good at behaving badly on camera. And people loved her for it! But she also had the sense to stay true to herself. Whether she was a promiscuous racist or not, she kept her head up high and kept doing her thing whilst cashing in on her stardom and maximising her profit. She lived, loved, fought and lost in front of the cameras. Nothing was too private. And in that light it made sense that she would choose to capitalise on her cancer as well. Sure, she made loads of money out of that too, but she also helped giving cervical cancer face and got thousands of young women to have their smear tests done. What’s so wrong about that?
In the grand scheme of things, Jade only did what any other celebrity or business minded person would have done. But because she “only” was a reality TV star people feel they can belittle her and cast judgement upon her choices. I can’t help but feel that it’s symptomatic in a country that loves to kill its darlings. Jade Goody was a child of her time. Where there was an open window she was prepared to climb through it. She was her own product and she had an uncanny knack for product placement. Good on her, I say!
The Bible tells us about how Jesus told the masses that the one who had never sinned should cast the first stone. You don’t have to be Christian to see the logic behind that. If you don’t watch reality TV and stay well clear of all kinds of soul-destroying pop culture, then maybe you can chuck a stone or two at Jade Goody. But, if like most of us, you actively live in a world where you accept that people are commodities and that to sell your products you need to put your name and your face out there then you’d better hold your piece.
She was more of a daisy than a rose, our Jade, but she shone like a star and became the Princess of the common folks. I guess it galls people that cancer got to kill her before media could, but that only goes to show that they are themselves prisoners of their own narrow minds.
The person who risks nothing does nothing, has nothing and is nothing. Jade bravely risked it all. She was our first reality TV star and from the day she walked into that house Big Brother never stopped watching her. She is not the only one who has made good money out of the Jade Goody trademark, and millions of people love the kind of culture she represented. Today she left centre stage for good, but she also left behind two little boys who will grow up without a mum. They will grow up to learn their mum was famous for behaving badly on TV. But, hopefully, they will also grow up to learn that their mum was a much loved public figure who called out to her country and whispered to those in pain.
Yes, it seems to me that she lived her life like a candle in the wind, never fading with the sunset when the rain set in.
Goodbye, England’s Daisy – may you ever grow in our hearts.
