{"id":1827,"date":"2025-12-17T14:20:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-17T14:20:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogit.utu.fi\/collegia\/?p=1827"},"modified":"2025-12-17T14:20:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-17T14:20:07","slug":"learning-from-loss-when-the-people-you-study-pass-away","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogit.utu.fi\/collegia\/2025\/12\/17\/learning-from-loss-when-the-people-you-study-pass-away\/","title":{"rendered":"Learning from Loss: When the People You Study Pass Away"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">On Monday, I awoke to the news that director, actor, and political activist Rob Reiner and his wife, photographer and producer Michele Singer Reiner, had\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/entertainment-arts\/movies\/story\/2025-12-14\/rob-reiner-dead-when-harry-met-sally-all-in-the-family\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">been killed in their home<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"auto\">.\u00a0Reiner became famous for\u00a0his\u00a0role\u00a0as\u00a0Michael\u00a0Stivic\u00a0on\u00a0television\u2019s\u00a0<\/span><i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">All in the Family<\/span><\/i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0in the 1970s, established himself as one of the most respected directors\u00a0in the 1980s with masterpieces such as\u00a0<\/span><i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">This Is Spinal Tap<\/span><\/i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">,\u00a0<\/span><i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">The Princess Bride<\/span><\/i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">, and\u00a0<\/span><i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Stand by Me<\/span><\/i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">,\u00a0and turned his fame and money into\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/california\/story\/2025-12-14\/rob-reiner-used-his-fame-to-advocate-for-progressive-causes\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">political activism<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0fighting against the tobacco industry, for children\u2019s education, and\u00a0leading the charge for same-sex marriage in California and nationally.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"bluesky-embed\" data-bluesky-uri=\"at:\/\/did:plc:fl7bpvmwoksi3cx6lbox6lzh\/app.bsky.feed.post\/3m7z6b5rd7s25\" data-bluesky-cid=\"bafyreif4uvhghhenb32ew3usgy3ckamy4v3wu3c4u64zebodehfrv4bswi\">\n<p lang=\"en\">Rob Reiner: I&#39;m going to make a coming of age drama, a fantasy adventure story, a romantic comedy, a psychological horror and then a courtroom drama.Us: Across your entire career?Reiner: In a 6 year period. Us: That sounds-Reiner: -Each one will be arguably the best movie in that genre.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; <a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/did:plc:fl7bpvmwoksi3cx6lbox6lzh?ref_src=embed\">Richy Craven (@richycraven.bsky.social)<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/did:plc:fl7bpvmwoksi3cx6lbox6lzh\/post\/3m7z6b5rd7s25?ref_src=embed\">2025-12-15T08:04:08.202Z<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/embed.bsky.app\/static\/embed.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">The tragedy left me with a deeper\u00a0sense of unease\u00a0than I expected. I have spent the\u00a0past decade researching\u00a0the television show on which Reiner made his name\u00a0and the political activism at which Reiner excelled.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">No,\u00a0I\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0lose\u00a0a friend. In fact, I never met Reiner. But I have listened to countless hours of oral histories and interviews with him, read an endless number of articles about his work, and watched and re-watched him on the screen\u00a0more times than I can count.\u00a0So yes,\u00a0I did lose\u00a0somebody.\u00a0You do form some kind of relationship with the people you study \u2013 even if we seldom talk\u00a0enough\u00a0about that connection.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1829\" style=\"width: 650px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1829\" class=\"wp-image-1829 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/blogit.utu.fi\/collegia\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/425\/2025\/12\/Rob_Reiner_LBJ_Library_2016_-_DIG13955_105-1-1024x671.jpg\" alt=\"Rob Reiner at an event in 2016.\" width=\"640\" height=\"419\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogit.utu.fi\/collegia\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/425\/2025\/12\/Rob_Reiner_LBJ_Library_2016_-_DIG13955_105-1-1024x671.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blogit.utu.fi\/collegia\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/425\/2025\/12\/Rob_Reiner_LBJ_Library_2016_-_DIG13955_105-1-300x197.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogit.utu.fi\/collegia\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/425\/2025\/12\/Rob_Reiner_LBJ_Library_2016_-_DIG13955_105-1-768x503.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogit.utu.fi\/collegia\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/425\/2025\/12\/Rob_Reiner_LBJ_Library_2016_-_DIG13955_105-1.jpg 1199w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-1829\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rob Reiner at an event at the LBJ Presidential Library in 2016.<\/p><\/div>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Most historians\u00a0have\u00a0the reassuring knowledge that their\u00a0cast of characters\u00a0are dead and buried long ago.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0easier, in a certain sense, to riffle through somebody&#8217;s private letters or secret diary\u00a0when you know that they are no longer around.\u00a0Sometimes, I can feel a sense of envy towards my colleagues specializing in ancient\u00a0Greece, medieval monasteries, or early modern nobility.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">The ethical considerations are different when you know that the people you study, and their family,\u00a0are\u00a0still among us. The responsibilities are also different.\u00a0The subtitle of Claire Bond Potter and Renee C. Romano\u2019s edited collection on\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ugapress.org\/9780820343020\/doing-recent-history\/\"><i><span data-contrast=\"none\">Doing Recent History<\/span><\/i><\/a><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0begins to\u00a0capture the challenges inherent in the field:\u00a0<\/span><i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">On Privacy, Copyright, Video Games, Institutional Review Boards, Activist Scholarship, and History That Talks Back<\/span><\/i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">.\u00a0There is not, however, a chapter on what happens when a central figure in your research passes away.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">I began thinking about these questions more\u00a0around\u00a0two years ago, when producer Norman Lear passed away\u00a0at age 101. Lear is\u00a0<\/span><i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">the<\/span><\/i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0central figure in\u00a0my\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/uncpress.org\/9781469690902\/archie-bunker-for-president\/\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">first\u00a0monograph<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"auto\">.\u00a0When doing the research,\u00a0I\u00a0met with Lear, interviewed him on two occasions, and received access to his\u00a0private archive.\u00a0I have close friends I have spent less time with than the\u00a0total number of\u00a0hours I used reading\u00a0Lear\u2019s letters, listening to him\u00a0talk about his work and life, reading about him in everything from the\u00a0<\/span><i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">New York Times<\/span><\/i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0to\u00a0<\/span><i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Playboy<\/span><\/i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0(yes, they are digitized and available on Internet Archives), and\u00a0laughing at his stories\u00a0on Johnny Carson,\u00a0David Letterman, and Jimmy Kimmel.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">It\u2019s\u00a0not exactly a parasocial relationship,\u00a0the historian is not a\u00a0fan\u00a0and the archives are not mass mediated.\u00a0But it is often\u00a0a\u00a0one-sided and non-reciprocal\u00a0bond that is formed in the archive.\u00a0Both Lear and Reiner were kind and decent people looking to make people laugh while working to make the world a better place,\u00a0but\u00a0this\u00a0isn\u2019t\u00a0about idolization. I have colleagues who recognize a similar bond\u00a0with the most vile and objectionable figures imaginable.\u00a0I think this\u00a0is about storytelling.\u00a0The people you study are also the characters in your story.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Novelists often talk about their fictional characters as\u00a0real and beloved\u00a0friends\u00a0or even\u00a0as\u00a0their children.\u00a0An article in the\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/magazine\/archive\/1887\/06\/the-relations-between-authors-and-their-characters\/635112\/\"><i><span data-contrast=\"none\">Atlantic<\/span><\/i><\/a><span data-contrast=\"auto\">, from 1887, on the subject notes that \u201c[e]ven\u00a0the elder Dumas, whose stories were made up of adventure and intrigue, with only here and there an attempt at portraiture, would shed tears over the memory of his genial giant, Porthos.\u201d More recently,\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/books\/2020\/apr\/27\/majority-of-authors-hear-their-characters-speak-finds-study\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">a\u00a0study at the Edinburgh international book festival<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0found that over 60% of authors could hear their characters speak\u00a0or\u00a0viewed\u00a0them as capable of acting independently.\u00a0Crime novelist Val McDermid, for example, acknowledged that \u201cwhen I\u2019m working on a novel, I have conversations in my head with them.\u201d<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Academic writing is, of course, different. Scholars cannot form the characters through imaginative conversations. We are limited by the historical record and the ethical and methodological considerations of our disciplines. This also means we have no control over the actions or fates of our characters. <\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Based on the number of messages I received from fellow historians after the tragic news of Reiner\u2019s death, there is a wide recognition of the connection between scholar and the subject of the study even if none of my colleagues could find the right words to describe it. An &#8220;unsettling feeling&#8221; is the closest I have come to a definition. <\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">I recognize, of course, that the tragic death of Reiner is distinct in 1) his celebrity, 2)\u00a0the violent nature of his death, and 3)\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newyorker.com\/news\/the-lede\/donald-trumps-remarks-on-the-death-of-rob-reiner-are-next-level-degradation\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">the cruel reaction by the president of the United States<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"auto\"> to the news. Still, I would welcome further conversations on the general subject of how to cope with the passing of a figure you study and, in particular, I want to hear experiences from scholars in other fields (for example literature, media studies, or sociology) on this sensation.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Archie And Mike&#039;s Patriotic Differences | All In The Family\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/lVIuJ7MeWP0?start=4&#038;feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">It should, perhaps, surprise no one that I turned to the trade of the historian to process my own thinking and feelings \u2013\u00a0going back to the sources (including revisiting some of his oral history interviews\u00a0and re-watching\u00a0Reiner\u00a0in an\u00a0episode of\u00a0<\/span><i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">All in the Family<\/span><\/i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0and\u00a0screening his\u00a0directorial masterpiece\u00a0<\/span><i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">A Few Good Men<\/span><\/i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">),\u00a0talking with colleagues, and writing down my thoughts.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\"> That&#8217;s what historians do.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Monday, I awoke to the news that director, actor, and political activist Rob Reiner and his wife, photographer and producer Michele Singer Reiner, had\u00a0been killed in their home.\u00a0Reiner became famous for\u00a0his\u00a0role\u00a0as\u00a0Michael\u00a0Stivic\u00a0on\u00a0television\u2019s\u00a0All in the Family\u00a0in the 1970s, established himself as &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blogit.utu.fi\/collegia\/2025\/12\/17\/learning-from-loss-when-the-people-you-study-pass-away\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44383,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,20],"tags":[249,253,251,250,252,248],"class_list":["post-1827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-personal-thoughts","category-research","tag-all-in-the-family","tag-loss","tag-memory","tag-norman-lear","tag-parasocial-relationships","tag-rob-reiner"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogit.utu.fi\/collegia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1827","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogit.utu.fi\/collegia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogit.utu.fi\/collegia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogit.utu.fi\/collegia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44383"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogit.utu.fi\/collegia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1827"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogit.utu.fi\/collegia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1827\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1830,"href":"https:\/\/blogit.utu.fi\/collegia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1827\/revisions\/1830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogit.utu.fi\/collegia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogit.utu.fi\/collegia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogit.utu.fi\/collegia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}