1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Illuminating, May 2, 2006
First of all a warning - this is not a book about Princess Diana, her life or death and only partially about the cult of her celebrity. Much more interestingly, it is a book that analyses the gap between the media coverage of the mood of the UK at the time of her death, and the responses of everyday people, recorded at the time
This was fascinating for me; I largely missed the hysteria surrounding the death as I was living in Singapore at the time. Tied up with work, I hadn't watched TV or listened to the radio for several days so it came as a surprise when a relative called me and in the course of conversation asked if I was going to watch the funeral on TV - who's funeral I wanted to know? Certainly my Singaporean colleagues knew about the incident, but didn't seem to think it worth discussing.
An entirely normal reaction you might think - I'd feel much the same about the death of the Singaporean Prime Minister - but one quite at odds to the hysterical reaction in the UK and elsewhere reported in the media. For those who have forgotten, Thomas gives a wonderful synopsis of the media spin - that the nation felt Diana's death personally, as one would the death of a close friend or relative. Imagine the whole nation losing a mother or sister simultaneously, and you have the mass media view of the country's mood. And shame on those who either didn't feel it, or failed to show it.
But as Thomas argues, can this really have been the case? Clearly the vast majority of people did not sign condolence books, did not lay wreathes, did not line the route of the funeral procession or in any way display any grief. Might not the media view have been slightly distorted, to say the least?
By using the diaries of everyday people recording their thoughts on the events of the day through their involvement in ongoing Mass Observation studies, Thomas shows the real mood to be somewhat different. Yes, some people were upset, but the vast majority either mildly curious about, wholly indifferent to or actively alienated by events. All rejected any suggestion that they should feel personally affected by the death, and interestingly many were aware of and firmly rejected what they saw as media attempts to manipulate their emotions.
Thomas has written an excellent book, heartening in its depiction of the basic common sense of most people and even more heartening in how many people are able to see through media hype. If I have given it 4 stars rather than 5, it is because of the sometimes dry narrative and over repetition of the same facts. But a book I highly recommend to anyone interested in popular culture and the media
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