Article

OMEGA—Journal of Death and

R.I.P. Kutner: Parasocial Dying

0(0) 1–18
! The Author(s) 2015
Grief Following the Reprints and permissions:
sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav
Death of a Television DOI: 10.1177/0030222815600450
ome.sagepub.com
Character

Jocelyn M. DeGroot1 and Alex P. Leith2

Abstract
In 2009, Lawrence Kutner, a character on television’s House, M.D., unexpectedly
committed suicide. A Facebook memorial group was created shortly thereafter in
memory of the fictional character. A thematic analysis of fan postings on Kutner’s
Facebook memorial page revealed evidence of people experiencing parasocial grief as
they displayed emotional expressions of grief, reminisced, and advocated for Kutner.
Through thematic analysis, we discovered that elements of parasocial relationships,
particularly parasocial breakups, were apparent as the members posted evidence of
their grief over the loss of a television character. Moreover, this parasocial grief is
likely to be disenfranchised, as the death of a television character is typically not
recognized by others as a legitimate loss. This study also highlighted the role of social
media as an outlet for grief as well as revealed confusion between fiction and reality
resulting from social media.

Keywords
parasocial, death, grief, television, Facebook

On April 6, 2009, 18 months after being introduced to Dr. Lawrence Kutner, we

entered his apartment with two of his colleagues and found him shot in the
right temple, bleeding on his bedroom floor. After trying to find his pulse,

1
Department of Applied Communication Studies, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, IL, USA
2
Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA
Corresponding Author:
Jocelyn M. DeGroot, Department of Applied Communication Studies, Southern Illinois University
Edwardsville, Box 1772, Edwardsville, IL 62026, USA.
Email: jocbrow@siue.edu
2 OMEGA—Journal of Death and Dying 0(0)

Dr. Remy Hadley exclaimed, “He’s Cold. Eric!” With sirens blaring in the back-
ground, 13.29 million U.S. viewers just discovered that Dr. Kutner took his own
life (Seidman, 2009).
Dr. Lawrence Kutner is the name of Kal Penn’s character on FOX’s televi-
sion show House, M.D. (or House). Penn left House to serve as an associate
director in the White House Office of Public Liaison (Ausiello, 2009). Despite
Penn still being alive, his character’s suicide ended the relationship between
viewers and Dr. Kutner. At the end of the episode, FOX provided a link to a
website memorializing Kutner: fox.com/kutner. The webpage also linked visitors
to a Facebook memorial page for Kutner (Hinckley, 2009) where numerous
people visited and left grief-laden messages.
It is natural to grieve following the loss of a person that was close to us
(Bowlby, 1980). Individuals may also grieve the loss of people they have never
actually met if they have formed a parasocial relationship (PSR) with him or her
(Sanderson & Cheong, 2010). People become “close” to others who they do not
actually know, such as television characters (Perse & Rubin, 1988; Rubin &
McHugh, 1987), news anchors (Levy, 1979), or celebrities (Horton & Wohl,
1956) by forming PSRs. When the object of a PSR leaves a television show,
or when he or she dies in real life, people can experience what is known as a
“parasocial breakup” (Meyrowitz, 1994) and grieve the loss of that character by
engaging in mourning behaviors, indicative of parasocial grief.
Previous literature has focused on creating and maintaining PSRs (Horton &
Wohl, 1956; Rubin & McHugh, 1987). Sanderson and Cheong (2010), Eyal and
Cohen (2006), and Cohen (2003, 2004) examined the termination of those con-
nections, identifying that parasocial breakups and parasocial grief do exist and
cause an emotional reaction. The current research begins focusing on the grief
that can result from that termination.
In this study, we analyzed the Facebook memorial page for Lawrence Kutner,
a character on the television show, House (Attansio, 2009). Facebook memorial
groups are often created as a space for people to remember their deceased loved
ones and write messages on the “wall,” or public message board (DeGroot,
2012). Similar to how people write messages in response to a friend’s death on
a Facebook memorial page’s wall, people posted on Kutner’s Facebook memor-
ial page to indicate their sadness at Kutner’s death and departure from the show.
Using thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006), we examined the messages left
on Kutner’s memorial page wall, focusing on evidence of PSRs and parasocial
breakups. People developed PSRs with Kutner by watching House, and they
took these relationships online to mourn the loss of that character. It appeared
that the memorial extended people’s television-based PSRs with Kutner and
provided a venue for their feelings related to their parasocial breakup with
him. We analyzed comments on the Facebook memorial page in order to explore
the intersection of PSRs, social networking sites (SNS), and grief.
DeGroot and Leith 3

PSRs and the Death of a Television Character

Unlike traditional relationships (e.g., with friends or colleagues), a PSR occurs
between a media user (e.g., television viewer) and a media figure (e.g., television
character or celebrity). Specifically, a PSR is a relationship that mimics the
intimacy of a face-to-face relationship but without the two parties knowing
each other on a personal level (Horton & Wohl, 1956). Through continued
exposure, such as watching television and reading magazines, media users
become intimately acquainted with the media figure (Rubin & McHugh,
1987). Kassing and Sanderson (2009) also found that the Internet aids in
creating and maintaining PSRs with celebrities. Sanderson and Cheong (2010)
examined social media’s role in parasocial grief. They found that social media
facilitated fans’ grief, encouraged community building and support, enabled
meaningful grief, and allowed for the performance of grief-related rituals.
Klastrup (2014) agreed, arguing,

Strangers’ participation in public or in semipublic mourning of a deceased

person could be the expression of a perceived parasocial relationship to the
person, caused by the intense media coverage of the death, and thereby also the
life of this person. (p. 6)

Media users that develop PSRs bear a similarity to traditional relationships in

that they become emotionally invested in the well-being and success of the media
figure (Fournier, 1998; Russell, Norma, & Heckler, 2004). It follows then, that
these media users feel emotionally distressed when the media figure dies.

Parasocial Breakups and Grief

When a PSR dissolves because of an actor’s death or a character being written
off of a television show, a “parasocial breakup” occurs (Cohen, 2003).
Meyrowitz (1994) originally documented the phenomenon of a parasocial
breakup when examining fans’ social reaction to the deaths of famous celebri-
ties. For example, fans often hold vigils in the streets or construct makeshift
memorials as a way to honor their deceased “media friend” (p. 63). Sanderson
and Cheong (2010) identified this as parasocial grieving, or, “mourning for the
loss of a celebrity with whom [people] had parasocial interaction” (p. 328).
Many scholars, including Bowlby (1980), indicate that mourning involves a
withdrawal of an “emotional investment in the lost person” (p. 25). That is,
when the attachment figure (such as a television character) is no longer
accessible, grief ensues.
To validate his measure of parasocial breakups, Cohen (2003) examined view-
ers’ responses to a situation in which their favorite television character or
4 OMEGA—Journal of Death and Dying 0(0)

personality went off the air. Cohen’s study demonstrated that PSRs follow pat-
terns similar to the dissolution of a real-life relationship. Cohen (2004) argued
that because PSRs with television characters fulfilled certain attachment needs, it
follows that their breakup will likely cause the fans distress. Cole and Leets
(1999) found that people who exhibit an anxious attachment are most intensely
involved in their PSR, and these people are also most concerned about the
breakup of the relationship. Eyal and Cohen’s (2006) research was consistent
with Cole and Leets’ findings. They discovered that the strongest predictor of
breakup distress was the intensity of the PSR with the television character.
Essentially, researchers found that parasocial breakups can cause genuine feel-
ings of grief.
Previous researchers have comprehensively discussed grief in terms of phases,
stages, or tasks that one endures while grieving (Bowlby, 1980; Shuchter &
Zisook, 1993; Weiss, 1993). Generally, the research indicates three main
phases of grief or mourning including shock, emotional and cognitive acknow-
ledgment of the death, and reconstruction of worldviews (Bowlby, 1980;
Shuchter & Zisook, 1993; Weiss, 1993). Scholarship has also highlighted the
communicative functions of grieving online, examining how people grieve the
loss of a loved one in blogs (DeGroot & Carmack, 2012), through online
message boards (Hastings, 2000; Hoover, Hastings, & Musambira, 2009), or
on SNS, such as Facebook (DeGroot, 2012; Williams & Merten, 2009).
In some instances of loss, the grief is disenfranchised. Doka (1989) defined
this grief as one that people experience when “they incur a loss that is not or
cannot be openly acknowledged, publicly mourned, or socially supported”
(p. 4). Disenfranchised grief occurs when society fails to recognize the relation-
ship (e.g., the death of an extramarital affair partner), loss (e.g., a miscarriage),
or griever (e.g., children or mentally challenged people). Doka (2002) also indi-
cated that how an individual chooses to grieve is also significant. Societal con-
structs generally include appropriate methods for grieving, and when one is
perceived as grieving inappropriately, his or her grief might not be
acknowledged.
Traditional grieving norms do not generally account for the grief that one
feels after the loss of a parasocial “friend,” such as a celebrity or fictional char-
acter (Hall & Reid, 2009). In the case of mourning a PSR after a celebrity death
or fictional character’s death, the relationship is not recognized or the loss is not
recognized, respectively. Davis (2001) and O’Hear (1998) argued that people
would grieve the loss of someone with whom they have identified, even though
he or she might not necessarily know the deceased on a personal level.
For example, the deaths of John F. Kennedy, Jr. and Princess Diana resulted
in outpourings of grief from strangers, as people genuinely grieved the loss of
figures they had never met. Similarly, Sanderson and Cheong (2010) examined
social media postings of grief following Michael Jackson’s death, and Radford
and Bloch (2012)’s research focused on online message board postings after the
DeGroot and Leith 5

death of race car driver Dale Earnhardt, Sr. Sanderson’s (2009) analysis of fans’
posts in Ledger’s and Heston’s online forums revealed that people expressed
grief-related emotions (e.g., sadness, missing the deceased), reminisced, and
advocated for the deceased. Sanderson’s findings indicate that the coping mech-
anisms people used for managing their grief after the death of a celebrity are
similar to how people cope with the death of a loved one. That is, after the loss
of a loved one, people utilized emotional expressions, reminisced, mentioned
heaven or the afterlife, and discussed the deceased’s positive characteristics
(DeGroot, 2012; Krysinka & Andriessen, 2015; Williams & Merten, 2009).
Meyrowitz (1994) claimed that grieving a media friend is difficult because fans
often cannot engage in traditional rituals (e.g., attending funerals) to help relieve
grief, so the bereaved find other venues in which they can express their grief.
Many turn to online forums (Sanderson, 2009), message boards (Radford &
Bloch, 2012), or social media (Sanderson & Cheong, 2010). Jackson and
Usher (2015) explained, “it might be that people engage in the sorry rituals
available to them” (p. 93). Although fans did not create Kutner’s memorial
page, as was the case with previously mentioned Facebook memorials, the
fans in the corporately created Kutner group responded in a similar fashion.

Research Objectives
We initially aimed to describe the parasocial grief-related characteristics of mes-
sages posted on a Facebook memorial page that was created for a fictional
character. We sought to determine how aspects of PSRs are portrayed in the
process of grieving a fictional character’s death as well as the Internet’s role in
coping with the end of PSRs. In essence, we examined fans’ parasocial grieving
behaviors as they mourned a television character after the character’s death.
To study this relationship and subsequent communication of grief, we used
thematic analysis to analyze wall postings on a now-deceased television charac-
ter’s Facebook memorial page.

Methodology
Context
House, M.D. was a popular medical drama on Fox that recently ended after
eight seasons. The title character, Dr. Gregory House, worked with a team of
doctors who helped him diagnose various medical mysteries (“House, M.D.,”
n.d.), and Dr. Lawrence Kutner had been a member of this team of diagnostic
experts since Season 4. At the beginning of the April 6, 2009, episode (in the mid-
dle of Season 5), Kutner committed suicide (Dick & Yaitanes, 2009). The same
day, the Facebook memorial page, “In Loving Memory of Lawrence Kutner on
House,” was created.
6 OMEGA—Journal of Death and Dying 0(0)

In this project, we utilized a case study approach, as described by Stake

(2000), to examine posts on Kutner’s Facebook memorial page. We employed
an instrumental case study in which a specific case is examined in depth to
understand its uniqueness as well as provide insight into a specific phenomenon
(Stake, 2000). The Kutner memorial, our specific case, is an example of a
Facebook memorial page created for a television character. Facebook memor-
ials are often created for real people who have died (DeGroot, 2012; Williams &
Merten, 2009), but they are not generally created for television characters that
died on their respective television shows. Because there are few other memorials
for television characters (if any), we argue that Kutner’s memorial page is
unique, and we use the page as a specific case to provide us insight of PSRs
and parasocial breakups as well as the use of social media sites as a public
mourning forum.

Data Collection and Analysis

To analyze the postings collected from the Facebook memorial page, we used
thematic analysis, as it aids in organizing, descripting, and interpreting the data
(Braun & Clarke, 2006). At the time of analysis, all wall posts on the Facebook
memorial page were archived in a 225-page PDF file (3,600 posts) to maintain
a fixed body of posts to analyze. This served as the data corpus (Braun & Clarke,
2006). The posts began April 6, 2009, when the page was created, and new
messages were posted weekly until the page was ultimately deleted in
February 2011. Because we wanted to specifically focus on parasocial grief,
we considered any post that referred to a grief-related behavior a part of our
data set, which is defined by Braun and Clarke (2006) as “all the data from the
corpus that are being used for a particular analysis” (p. 79). We utilized a the-
oretical thematic analysis, relying on Sanderson’s (2009) description of means of
coping with the death of a parasocial partner as our theoretical categories.
These methods of coping included Traditional Grief Expressions (i.e., crying,
heaven narratives, and reminiscing), Memorializing, and Advocacy.
To begin, both authors read through the data set several times and began
generating initial codes related to Sanderson’s (2009) description of parasocial
grief. Using open coding (Glaser & Strauss, 1967), we independently coded each
post in the data set. We analyzed these posts in reverse chronological order as
they are presented on Facebook. Each post was considered a separate entity, and
we did not identify repeat participants or their ongoing “conversations” on the
page’s wall. By comparing the units of data with each other, we engaged in a
constant-comparative method of analysis to examine the data (as described by
Glaser & Strauss, 1967). Each part of the wall post that represented one topic or
thought was considered a “unit” (Stromer-Galley, 2007) and was coded.
We wrote descriptive notes or labels for each post in the document’s margin
and then compared our analyses. This process continued until theoretical
DeGroot and Leith 7

saturation (the point at which no new data or relationships between themes

emerge; Glaser & Strauss, 1967) was met. This occurred at 232 posts, with
one coder continuing to 720 posts to verify saturation and determine if a
difference existed between the first 100 posts and the newest posts (there was
no difference). We used triangulation, as advocated by Stake (2000), and com-
pared our individually coded results. Although we focused on categorizing posts
in the data set into themes identified by Sanderson (2009), we were cognizant to
recognize additional themes of posts.
After the initial coding was completed, we independently engaged in axial
coding to search for themes and make connections between the initial themes
developed (Strauss & Corbin, 1990). Using axial coding, we identified and cre-
ated associations among themes. At this point, we again compared the themes
for triangulation purposes. In cases of inconsistency, the coding results were
scrutinized to distinguish the extent of the differences. While we sometimes
used different terms to label themes, the overall description of the theme was
the same. We then revisited the data set and used additional posts to review and
define the themes that were specifically focused on parasocial breakups.

Analysis: Parasocial Breakup

Postings in the Facebook memorial page revealed ample evidence of parasocial
breakups and parasocial grief. Many comments indicated thoughts or feelings
associated with a parasocial breakup, as identified by Sanderson (2009).
This included posts revealing emotional expressions of grief, reminiscing or dis-
cussing memories of the deceased character, memorializing Kutner, and advo-
cating on behalf of Kutner. We provide exemplar comments from the memorial
page to illustrate these themes. All quotations are presented in original form,
preserving spelling, syntax, and punctuation.

Emotional Expressions of Grief

Many Facebook users used the memorial page as a forum in which they could
express their emotions concerning the death of Kutner. The most consistent
emotional expressions, varying in intensity, were sadness, shock, longing, and
love. Some also displayed confusion as to what happened and who died.
These emotional expressions were not mutually exclusive; posts often expressed
a combination of them. This type of reaction was expected and mirrored com-
ments made in Facebook memorial groups for non-television characters as well.

Sadness. The most consistently presented emotion was sadness. Most comments
expressing sadness were short. Examples include, “Lawrence Kutner you will be
sadly missed,” “I am a sooooo sad thats he’s gone,” or stating the single word:
“sadness.” Other posters had more elaborate statements. One Facebook user
8 OMEGA—Journal of Death and Dying 0(0)

wrote, “It is a sad day when a talented medical professional such as Dr Lawrence
Kutner passes away. Even if he is only a fictional charector on television.” The
sadness expressed by Facebook users also varied in intensity. They ranged from
comments such as, “how sad. i had no idea,” to, “I have just watched this
episode! I can’t stop crying!” Some Facebook users even elaborated as to why
they were so sad that they cried. An example of this was a post stating, “You
never made me cry before. I relyed on you to be funny, and sweet, and lovable.”

Shock. Individual users also expressed their shock on the suicide of Kutner.
Shock was an emotion that generally accompanied sadness. Statements such
as, “I was too shocked by his death, how sad,” and, “Shocked and saddened
is all I can say” were common throughout the Facebook memorial page. Shock
and disbelief were often linked to expressing how much Kutner will be missed
through statements such as, “I will miss Dr. Kutner on House. I can’t believe
that he’s gone . . . G-dspeed, Dr. Kutner.” This message of sorrow was repeated
throughout many of the posts.

Longing. Another aspect of grief presented within the posts included Facebook
users expressing how much they miss Kutner. The phrase, “I miss you,” was
common within most comments. This was true whether it was the sole content of
the message or accompanied other ideas. Users made statements such as,
“Lawrence Kutner you will be sadly missed R.I.P,” “I had grown to like
Kutner, his honesty and his risk taking and his superstitions were adorable.
I will sorely miss him,” and, “my heart is broken . . . you will be missed.”
A different user elaborated on the lack of closure: “was it ever explained why
exactly kutner commited suicide (i know that kal had signed for working with
the white house), but i need closure on why kutner wleaving princeton
plainsboro).” Expressions of longing Kutner were generally mixed with other
emotions. An example of mixing missing with another emotion, such as shock,
reads, “Y THE HELL DID HE HAVE TO DIE?????????? I MISS U . . .”
Another multiemotional comment revealed, “I’m really going to miss him . . . I
still can’t believe that they killed him off!!!!!”

Love. Love was included as an emotional expression of grief. One user stated,
“we loved Kutner, he made me laugh!! You will so be missed Kutner!! So sad to
see you go.” A connection between the television show and its viewers was
apparent when emotional expression was coupled with television commentary.
One user wrote, “We loved Kutner and cant believe they ended his character in
such a way. Is there not some way they can like make it a dream or something.”
Numerous fans posted a similar sentiment.

Confusion. A final emotional expression, not identified by Sanderson (2009), was

that of confusion. Many people were confused as to who actually died: the actor
DeGroot and Leith 9

or the character. While most posters knew that Kal Penn, the actor, left for the
White House and Lawrence Kutner, the character, committed suicide, there was
a consistent feed of Facebook users who were not aware that it was Kutner
who died, not Kal Penn. One user wrote, “I’m feeling like he really died. I am so
confused. Did he?” Many others had this same misunderstanding. Some users
were quick to correct these ideas, however, by commenting on the wall posts.
For example, one user posted, “Kal Penn is ALIVE. Kutner committed suicide,”
in response to someone mistakenly commenting that Kal Penn died.

Reminiscing
Some posters on Kutner’s Facebook memorial page discussed particular mem-
ories they had of Kutner. Users quoted and referred to previous episodes in their
posts. References were generally about comical mishaps involving Kutner.
One user wrote, “I’ll always think of you when I see a patient on fire . . . ,”
and others discussed when Kutner “peed on Houses chair and let the cat take the
blame.” Other users quoted dialog directly from the show. Many posts in this
theme revealed positive or funny memories involving the character.

Memorializing
Participation in the Facebook memorial itself is a memorializing act. In add-
ition, the memorial page was replete with comments mentioning positive char-
acteristics about Kutner, much like a tribute to the character. Many of the
comments made were about how great of an individual he was. Posts included:
“Kutner was a legend. R.I.P lad. live on kutty boy;” “Dr. Kutner was my
favorite doc I’ll miss him;” and, “Besides House himself, Kutner was my favour-
ite new doc, he had a kind and witty way about him, his death on the show came
so suddenly.”
Although many people participated in the Facebook memorial group sin-
cerely, others objected to the Facebook memorial because it was created for a
fictional character. One user asked, “Does anyone else think it awfully odd that
there is an obituary written and a facebook page constructed in honor of the
death of a character?” Some users were more opinionated about the existence of
the page. One such Facebook user wrote, “this page/the site is probably the most
morbid thing i’ve ever seen.”

Advocating
Some people were strong advocates of Kutner, many of them arguing that
someone else should have died instead of him. A large number of show-related
comments on the Kutner memorial page were proposals as to what should have
happened on the show. Posters discussed who should have died and how
10 OMEGA—Journal of Death and Dying 0(0)

Kutner’s departure should have been handled. Many commenters believed that
if any character should have died, it should have been a different doctor.
Users said, “[Remy] is gonna die anyway [from Huntington’s Disease],” and,
“Why did they have to kill Kutner . . . they could have easily killed
Taub . . . nobody like him anyways, lol.”
Another consistent piece of commentary regarding the television show was
how Kal Penn’s departure should have been handled in terms of his character
and the show. One post stated, “Anyway he could move to other hospital . . . so
he could come back after those works at White House!! They killed em’ so its
hopeless!!! he can never come back!!!!” The posts in this theme defended Kutner
and showed support for his character.

Discussion
Our case study analysis explored the posts present on a Facebook memorial
page for a fictional television character. Although this investigation only
looked at one SNS’s memorial for a television character, it does offer many
interesting findings and implications. Through our analysis, we discovered
that elements of PSRs, particularly parasocial breakups, were apparent as the
members posted evidence of their grief over the loss of a television character.
The analysis also revealed that the memorial group for Kutner resembles trad-
itional Facebook memorials and the communication on those walls. Important
implications of our study include a link between parasocial breakups and dis-
enfranchised grief, the role of SNS as an outlet for grief, and confusion between
fiction and reality resulting from SNS.

Parasocial Breakups and Disenfranchised Grief

In their posts on Kutner’s Facebook memorial group wall, people revealed char-
acteristics of parasocial breakups (defined and discussed by Meyrowitz, 1994;
Sanderson, 2009). The loss of a mutual favorite television character, or parasocial
breakup, caused many members on the Facebook memorial page to be emotion-
ally upset, indicative of viewers having developed meaningful relationships with
the characters (Cohen, 2003, 2004). Cohen (2003, 2004) argued that the end of a
PSR is likely a painful experience that produces feelings similar to those that
follow the death of a friend. The current study also found this to be true, as
Facebook users posted messages of grief over the loss of a favorite television
character. Posters demonstrated expressions of sadness, shock, missing, and
love, which are emotions commonly described in memorial pages for friends
and acquaintances who passed away (DeGroot, 2012; Krysinka & Andriessen,
2015; Williams & Merten, 2009). Our study also reveals that people grieve the
death of a fictional character just as they grieve the death of a celebrity (Radford
DeGroot and Leith 11

& Bloch, 2012), a character that left a television show (Cohen, 2004), or characters
on a television show that has ended (Eyal & Cohen, 2006).
In addition to extending a PSR with a character, Facebook also appeared to
provide an outlet for those grieving the loss of a beloved fictional character,
echoing Sanderson and Cheong’s (2010) findings. Fans posting on Kutner’s
memorial page displayed the characteristic signs of grief as described by
Bowlby (1980), Shuchter and Zisook (1993), and Weiss (1993). The emotional
expressions of grief present on the page indicated that PSRs were formed, and
viewers were emotionally invested in the well-being of the character (Fournier,
1998; Russell et al., 2004). Fans went online to share their grief as an apparent
attempt to talk with others and ease their discomfort with the parasocial
breakup, much like as people did following the deaths of Heath Ledger,
Charlton Heston, and Michael Jackson (Sanderson, 2009; Sanderson &
Cheong, 2010). People often turn to writing as a means to immortalize the
deceased or to help others who also identify with the bereaved’s loss (Lattanzi
& Hae, 1984–1985), creating a “community in dialogue with itself” (Brennan,
2008, p. 7). Although the origin of the memorials is different and the types of
people (i.e., a “real person” vs. a fictional character) varied, the fan behavior
within those memorials was similar. People in both types of memorials expressed
their grief, reminisced, and provided positive characteristics of the deceased,
which are features of Sanderson’s (2009) description of a parasocial breakup.
On the basis of Doka’s (1989, 2002) description of disenfranchised grief
explained earlier, we argue that the grief following the loss of a parasocial
friend is likely to be disenfranchised. Again, disenfranchised grief occurs when
the relationship, the loss, or the griever is not socially recognized (Doka, 1989).
When a parasocial friend “dies,” society does not recognize the loss of a fictional
character as a “real” loss, and they do not provide social support for the
bereaved, much like traditional disenfranchised grief (Doka, 1989, 2002). The
death of a popular television character is not necessarily a loss that society views
as one worthy of legitimate grief (Doka, 1989; Hall & Reid, 2009). Although
Sanderson and Cheong (2010) identified social media as “a valuable outlet for
grieving for a parasocial loss” (p. 337), grieving social media is not without some
negativity. One comment in the Kutner memorial group: “Wat the hell . . . he is
not real ppl . . . get over it!!!!” represents the majority of these “disenfranchising”
statements. Other negative statements in the memorializing theme also indicate a
lack of support for the bereaved. While not a perfect solution devoid of detrac-
tors, the Facebook memorial page did impart a venue in which fans could
express their grief of losing a beloved television character and allowed them to
discuss their loss with other like-minded people, something not typically socially
acceptable in general conversation. We know that a major component of helping
people work through their grief is by providing closure regarding the death itself
to cognitively and emotionally acknowledge the death (Bowlby, 1980), but
12 OMEGA—Journal of Death and Dying 0(0)

Kutner’s fans did not receive that closure from the television show. As such,
their grief has the potential of becoming even more disenfranchised.
Kutner’s death is not the first character death to trigger an intense fan reac-
tion. For example, the death of Colonel Blake on M.A.S.H. is listed as one of
TV’s most shocking deaths (Crow, 2013). Fans viscerally objected to the death
of Blake’s character, as people were both saddened by the loss of the character
and angry at the show’s producers (Colman, 2000). More recently, the abrupt
death of Matthew Crawley on Downton Abbey also caused fan uproar (Carter,
2013). Future research could investigate additional (on and offline) fan reactions
to the deaths of popular television characters. Relatedly, research should also
explore fan reactions when an actor dies, yet the television show continues.
Examples of these deaths include David Strickland from Suddenly Susan,
John Ritter from 8 Simple Rules for Dating my Teenage Daughter, and Cory
Monteith from Glee. Examining responses to the deaths in both of these situ-
ations could result in further insight of and comparisons between fan reactions
to character deaths and actor deaths.
In the television shows mentioned above, the fans were provided with some
explanation as to how or why the death occurred. In Kutner’s case, House did
not present any foreshadowing to ready the fans for his death, nor did it give an
explanation after his death. Lattanzi and Hale (1984–1985) argued, “The more
central the relationship and the more untimely the death, the greater the need for
expression of emotion and immortalization of the deceased or of the relationship
with the deceased” (p. 49). In their analysis of online memorials, Roberts and
Vidal (1999–2000) reported that survivors seek to identify a cause of
death—especially following a sudden death, as they attempt to understand
those deaths more so than following an anticipated death. The Facebook
memorial group appeared to afford a space in which the fans could communi-
cate and collectively consider the “why” behind Kutner’s death, which is an
important allowance for bereaved fans.

Similarities to Traditional Facebook Memorials

While our research did not set out to compare a Facebook memorial page for a
fictional character to Facebook memorial pages for nonfictional people, simila-
rities between the two were obvious and are important to note. Compared with
typical Facebook memorials that memorialized people’s friends and family mem-
bers, the Facebook memorial page for Kutner’s television character revealed
remarkable similarities in terms of topics discussed, temporal issues, and the
types of people who posted. This might indicate the “realness” of grief-related
emotions that people felt following Kutner’s death. That is, fans reacted to the
character’s death as if he was a real person with whom the fans were friends.
Many of the comments made on Kutner’s memorial page were comparable to
those made on the Facebook walls of memorial groups for friends who passed
DeGroot and Leith 13

away (DeGroot, 2012; Williams & Merten, 2009). People appeared to grieve the
loss of a fictional person in the same manner as people grieving the loss of a
loved one. This indicates that PSRs might be more important and more “real” to
us than previously recognized. The temporal patterns of posting also paralleled
grief-related posts for friends and family members; the number of comments
peaked in the few days following the death and then quickly declined (Brubaker
& Hayes, 2011). Likewise, people posting on Kutner’s memorial page ranged
from true fans who were obviously upset at the character’s departure to people
who did not watch the television show but felt the need to comment on the page.
This was similar to people posting in traditional Facebook memorials who
ranged from intimately knowing the deceased to emotional rubberneckers
(people who did not know the deceased at all; DeGroot, 2014). Fans responded
to Kutner’s death by posting emotional expressions of grief, reminiscing about
the deceased, sharing memories of the deceased, and advocating or showing
positive support for the deceased.

Implications of Parasocial Grief on an SNS

Posts indicating confusion between who actually died (Kutner or Penn) reveal
cause for concern. Some people were genuinely confused about the Facebook
page and who died. Facebook memorial groups and pages are historically
reserved for real people who have died, which could have caused the confusion
with Kutner. This is disconcerting, as the fictional world blended seamlessly with
reality due to an SNS.
As evident, SNS confound our understanding of the parasocial breakup pro-
cess. When a memorial for a television character is available on an SNS, it is
possible for the fan to continue visiting the online memorial, never truly moving
on from the loss of a character. Instead, the fan might repeatedly return to the
online memorial to mourn the departure of a favorite character or to see others’
reactions on the website, as is often the case with fans following celebrity deaths
(Radford & Bloch, 2012). While we did not look for evidence that fans returned
to the memorial page, the lasting nature of a Facebook memorial wall does
allow for a new depth of nostalgia and melancholy not previously observable
publicly. That is, a fan of a television show is likely to rewatch old episodes of
the television show in which the character was still alive (Cohen, 2003). These
episodes can spark memories of the character’s death, which may lead viewers to
revisit the online memorial to read through some of the things that others have
written about the character, resulting in unhealthy grief. The concept of
bereaved fans repeatedly returning to a memorial page to grieve their loss has
yet to be explored further.
As SNS continue to be used in conjunction with television shows, researchers
must investigate how that combination of media affects fans and their PSRs with
the characters in a particular television show or movie. Future research should
14 OMEGA—Journal of Death and Dying 0(0)

examine the role SNS play in extending one’s exposure to celebrities and char-
acters, thus intensifying PSRs with them. Researchers should also examine the
effect that perceived communication directed toward celebrities (e.g., via
Facebook wall posts or Twitter replies) has on the PSR.
Additionally, we must question the purpose or motivation behind creating the
Kutner memorial page. Because the page was initially linked from the television
show’s official website, it is assumed that someone formally affiliated with the
television show created the page. The ambiguous purpose for the memorial
makes it unclear whether the memorial was created to open a discussion on
suicide, to increase interest in the show, or to extend the episode into a new
medium. It is important to note that at some point after the completion of our
analysis, the Facebook memorial page was deleted. This act further complicates
our understanding of the reasons behind the memorial page’s creation. Because
the Kutner memorial page was likely a marketing strategy, it might be useful to
examine the effects of this ploy in terms of its usefulness for continuing PSRs
with other characters on the television show.
In summary, this case study provides a starting point for investigating the
effects of a character’s death on viewers’ PSRs with that character—specifically
how viewers manage the parasocial breakup with that character. The findings
add another layer to our understanding of PSRs: the end of them. Although it is
not likely that fans grieving a parasocial death experience emotions as intensely
as they might following the death of an intimate other, this study does reveal
that similar behaviors are enacted. Additionally, parallels with previously iden-
tified aspects of parasocial breakups create a foundation for future research
involving PSRs, parasocial breakups, and SNS. Parasocial grief is often thought
of as the mourning that occurs after the death of a media friend (Meyrowitz,
1994; Sanderson & Cheong, 2010), and our work begins to extend that definition
by adding aspects of disenfranchised grief. We also argue that this research
serves as a first step toward identifying parasocial grief as it now exists at the
intersection of social media and television.

Author Note
A version of this manuscript was presented at the Annual Convention of the National
Communication Association, November, 2011, in New Orleans, LA.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research,
authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publica-
tion of this article.
DeGroot and Leith 15

References
Attansio, P. (Producer) (2009). House, M.D. [Television series]. Los Angeles, CA: Fox
Network.
Ausiello, M. (2009, April 7). “House” exclusive: The shocking story behind last night’s
big death. Entertainment Weekly Online. Retrieved from http://insidetv.ew.com/2009/
04/07/house-exclusive/
Bowlby, J. (1980). Attachment and loss, Vol. 3: Loss, sadness and depression. New York,
NY: Basic Books.
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative
Research in Psychology, 3, 77–101. doi:10.1191/1478088706qp063oa
Brennan, M. (2008). Mourning and loss: Finding meaning in the mourning for
Hillsborough. Mortality, 13(1), 1–23. doi:10.1080/13576270701783082
Brubaker, J. R., & Hayes, G. R. (2011). “We will never forget you [online]”: An empirical
investigation of post-mortem MySpace comments. Proceedings of the 14th Conference
on Computer Supported Cooperative Work. Hangzhou, China, 123–132.
Carter, B. (2013, February 18). Kill these characters at your own risk. New York Times.
Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/18/arts/television/killing-off-tv-
characters-carries-risk.html
Cohen, J. (2003). Parasocial breakups: Measuring individual differences in responses to
the dissolution of parasocial relationships. Mass Communication and Society, 6,
191–202. doi:10.1207/S15327825MCS0602_5
Cohen, J. (2004). Parasocial break-up from favorite television characters: The role of
attachment styles and relationship intensity. Journal of Social and Personal
Relationships, 21, 187–202. doi:10.1177/0265407504041374
Cole, T., & Leets, L. (1999). Attachment styles and intimate television viewing: Insecurely
forming relationships in a parasocial way. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships,
16, 495–511. doi:10.1177/0265407599164005
Colman, H. (2000, August 22). Interview with Gene Reynolds, producer of M*A*S*H.
Archive of American Television. Retrieved from http://www.emmytvlegends.org/inter-
views/people/gene-reynolds
Crow, D. (2013, September 21). The 25 best (or worst) TV deaths. Den of Geek!
Retrieved from http://www.denofgeek.us/tv/tv-deaths/128261/the-25-best-or-worst-
tv-deaths
Davis, C. G. (2001). The tormented and the transformed: Understanding responses to
loss and trauma. In R. A. Neimeyer (Ed.), Meaning reconstruction & the experience of
loss (pp. 137–155). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
DeGroot, J. M. (2012). Maintaining relational continuity with the deceased on Facebook.
Omega: Journal of Death and Dying, 65(3), 195–212. doi:10.2190/OM.65.3.c
DeGroot, J. M. (2014). “For whom the bell tolls”: Emotional rubbernecking in Facebook
memorial groups. Death Studies, 38(2), 79–84. doi:10.1080/07481187.2012.725450
DeGroot, J. M., & Carmack, H. J. (2012). Blogging as a means of grieving. In T. Dumova
& R. Fiordo (Eds), Blogging in the global society (pp. 161–177). Hershey, PA:
Information Science Reference. doi:10.4018/978-1-60960-744-9
Dick, L. (Writer), & Yaitanes, G. (Director) (2009, April 6). Simple explanation
[Television series episode]. In P. Attanasio (Producer). House, M.D. Los Angeles,
CA: Fox Network.
16 OMEGA—Journal of Death and Dying 0(0)

Doka, K. J. (1989). Disenfranchised grief. In K. J. Doka (Ed.), Disenfranchised grief:

Recognizing hidden sorrow (pp. 3–11). Lexington, MA: Lexington Books.
Doka, K. J. (2002). Introduction. In K. J. Doka (Ed.), Disenfranchised grief: New direc-
tions, challenges, and strategies for practice (pp. 5–22). Champaign, IL: Research Press.
Eyal, K., & Cohen, J. (2006). When good Friends say goodbye: A parasocial breakup
study. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 50(3), 502–523. doi:10.1207/
s15506878jobem5003_9
Fournier, S. (1998). Consumers and their brands: Developing relationship theory in con-
sumer research. Journal of Consumer Research, 24, 343–373.
Glaser, B., & Strauss, A. (1967). The discovery of grounded theory. Chicago, IL: Aldine.
Hall, C. W., & Reid, R. A. (2009). Adolescent bereavement over the deaths of celebrities.
In D. Balk & C. A. Corr (Eds), Adolescent encounters with death, bereavement, and
coping (pp. 237–252). New York, NY: Springer Publishing.
Hastings, S. O. (2000). Self-disclosure and identity management by bereaved parents.
Communication Studies, 51(4), 352–371.
Hinckley, D. (2009, April 7). Actor Kal Penn’s death as “House” character Dr. Lawrence
Kutner shocks fans. New York Daily News. Retrieved from http://articles.nydaily-
news.com/2009-04-07/entertainment/17920618_1_actor-kal-penn-dr-lawrence-kutner-
white-house
Hoover, J. D., Hastings, S. O., & Musambira, G. W. (2009). “Opening a gap” in culture:
Women’s uses of the Compassionate Friends website. Women and Language, 32(1),
82–90.
Horton, D., & Wohl, R. R. (1956). Mass communication and para-social interaction.
Psychiatry, 19, 215–229.
House, M. D. (n.d.). Internet Movie Database. Retrieved from http://www.imdb.com/
title/tt0412142/
Jackson, D., & Usher, K. (2015). Understanding expressions of public grief: ‘Mourning
sickness’, ‘grief-lite’, or something more? International Journal of Mental Health
Nursing, 24, 93–94. doi:10.1111/inm.12127
Kassing, J. W., & Sanderson, J. (2009). “You’re the kind of guy that we all want for a
drinking buddy”: Expressions of parasocial interaction on Floydlandis.com. Western
Journal of Communication, 73(2), 182–203. doi:10.1080/10570310902856063
Klastrup, L. (2014). “I didn’t know her, but . . .”: Parasocial mourning of mediated deaths
on Facebook RIP pages. New Review of Hypermedia and Multimedia. Advance online
publication. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13614568.2014.983564
Krysinka, K., & Andriessen, K. (2015). Online memorialization and grief after suicide:
An analysis of suicide memorials on the Internet. Omega: Journal of Death and Dying.
Advance online publication. doi:10.1177/0030222814568276
Lattanzi, M., & Hale, M. E. (1984–1985). Giving grief words: Writing during bereave-
ment. Omega: Journal of Death and Dying, 15, 45–52. doi:10.2190/TT15-WAPL-
LLMT-X2WD
Levy, M. R. (1979). Watching TV news as parasocial interaction. Journal of Broadcasting,
23, 69–80.
Meyrowitz, J. (1994). The life and death of media friends: New genres of intimacy and
mourning. In R. Cathcart & S. Drucker (Eds), American heroes in a media age
(pp. 62–81). Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.
DeGroot and Leith 17

O’Hear, A. (1998). Diana, queen of hearts: Sentimentality personified and canonised.

In D. Anderson & P. Mullen (Eds), Faking it: The sentimentalisation of modern society
(pp. 117–136). Suffolk, England: St. Edmundsbury Press Ltd.
Perse, E., & Rubin, A. (1988). Audience activity and satisfaction with favorite television
soap opera. Journalism Quarterly, 68, 368–75.
Radford, S. K., & Bloch, P. H. (2012). Grief, commiserations, and consumption follow-
ing the death of a celebrity. Journal of Consumer Culture, 12(2), 137–155. doi:10.1177/
1469540512446879
Roberts, P., & Vidal, L. A. (1999–2000). Perpetual care in cyberspace: A portrait of
memorials on the web. Omega: Journal of Death and Dying, 40, 521–545.
doi:10.2190/3BPT-UYJR-192R-U969
Rubin, R. B., & McHugh, M. P. (1987). Development of parasocial interaction relation-
ships. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 31(3), 279–292. doi:10.1080/
08838158709386664
Russell, C. A., Norma, A. T., & Heckler, S. E. (2004). The consumption of television
programming: Development and validation of the connectedness scale. The Journal of
Consumer Research, 31(1), 150–161.
Sanderson, J. (2009). You don’t have to know a person to care: Coping with parasocial
relationship loss. Paper presented at the National Communication Association Annual
Convention. Chicago, IL. (EBSCOhost Accession Number: 54434773).
Sanderson, J., & Cheong, P. H. (2010). Tweeting prayers and communicating grief over
Michael Jackson online. Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society, 30(5), 328–340.
doi:10.1177/0270467610380010
Seidman, R. (2009, April 14). From American Idol to Harper’s Island, top 20 shows for
week of April 6–12. Retrieved from TVbytheNumbers.com
Shuchter, S. R., & Zisook, S. (1993). The course of normal grief. In M. S. Stroebe,
W. Stroebe & R. O. Hansson (Eds), Handbook of bereavement: Theory, research,
and intervention (pp. 23–43). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
Stake, R. E. (2000). Case studies. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds), Handbook of
qualitative research (2nd ed., pp. 435–454). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Strauss, A., & Corbin, J. (1990). Basics of qualitative research: Grounded theory procedures
and techniques. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Stromer-Galley, J. (2007). Measuring deliberation’s content: A coding scheme. Journal of
Public Deliberation, 3(1), 1–35.
Weiss, R. S. (1993). Loss and recovery. In M. S. Stroebe, W. Stroebe & R. O. Hansson
(Eds), Handbook of bereavement: Theory, research, and intervention (pp. 102–111).
New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
Williams, A. L., & Merten, M. J. (2009). Adolescents’ online social networking following
the death of a peer. Journal of Adolescent Research, 24(1), 67–90. doi:10.1177/
0743558408328440.

Author Biographies
Jocelyn M. DeGroot, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the Department of
Applied Communication Studies at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.
18 OMEGA—Journal of Death and Dying 0(0)

Her research interests include computer-mediated communication and commu-

nicative issues of death and dying.

Alex P. Leith, MA, is a Doctoral Student in the Department of Media and

Information Studies at Michigan State University. His research interests include
online communities, social networks, and digital games.