tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3819588144214105150.post4740533186819721018..comments2024-03-29T19:13:49.652+11:00Comments on The Other Side Of Funerals: Does the American Funeral Exist?Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3819588144214105150.post-58999085829671188862013-06-11T09:50:17.765+10:002013-06-11T09:50:17.765+10:00It is funny the difference between TV and reality ...It is funny the difference between TV and reality when it comes to funerals. The whole TV image of a cloudy day, standing around an open grave in black and with a line of black cars in the distance. Then we go to a funeral and find it inside, sunny day, with lots of people not in black and an oddly shaped coffin.<br /><br />Actually, it was this difference between TV and reality which lead me to think about the way the Australian funeral industry described the American funeral concept. I realised that the Australian industry was not dissimilar to the TV shows in that it was constructing the American funeral, which didn't really exist. This construction of the American funeral says a lot about the Australian industry, at least for me. What is expected, what desired or idolised, even what is feared or disliked.<br /><br />~<br />AHandyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07059944815009553371noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3819588144214105150.post-61164816391896695492013-06-05T11:58:15.141+10:002013-06-05T11:58:15.141+10:00My mother passed away a few weeks go, not unexpect...My mother passed away a few weeks go, not unexpectedly. I took care of may of the arrangments through a well-known Perth funeral director. In the background of course my wife had to prepare our children (15-y-o girl, 11-y-o boy) for the funeral. In discussing the upcoming event with our son, it transpired his image of a funeral had been formed by American TV shows! My wife had to explain in detail that, for example, we won't be seated around a lawn gravesite with a dome-top coffin suspended above a hole in the ground, but indoors, in a church with the coffin on a trolley at the front, with readings, a eulogy and the like. This is when it dawned on me how for children and young people who have never attended a funeral before, their expectations may be altogether different from reality.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com