When I was younger and far more cynical, I enjoyed an unnecessarily snarky book called “Generation Ecch”, which disassembled nearly all the pop culture of the 80s and 90s with a single harsh thesis: Everything is dumb and all you people are idiots. One of the things the book actually tried to defend was the idea that John Belushi’s youthful death was somehow better than Dan Aykroyd growing old, gaining weight and making movies that weren’t as good. It was a pretty horrific opinion, not just from the perspective of celebrating loss of life in the name of a better filmography, but from the perspective that aging is somehow itself an unforgivable sin. 20 years ago, it made me uncomfortable, but today it makes me wonder what happened to the young hipsters who wrote that book (and perhaps, on a tiny vicious level, hope they got really fat, ’cause I may be more mature, but I’m still prone to human failings.) Still, as absurd as their assertion is and was, it does raise today’s immortal query…
The MS-QOTD (pronounced, as always, “misquoted”) gets weirdly existential about the fate of John Belushi, since I always appreciated his humorous intentions, asking: In your opinion, is it a better fate to burn out or to fade away?
2 Comments
Fade away. At least if you fade away, there is a chance to make a triumphant return.
Absolutely. At least I plan to be the coolest senior citizen around in like 25 years or so. Its never too late until it truly is too late.