Long, long ago, when you died, it was safely assumed that your career was over. In the modern age, when dead authors like VC Andrews and Robert Ludlum continue to put out books, and Jimi Hendrix and Tupac Shakur continue to release albums, it seems only natural that Elvis Presley, dead for over thirty years, will be putting out an album of Christmas duets with a bevy of country stars, including LeAnn Rimes and Martina McBride.
I'm sure this latest dueting-with-the-dead enterprise will be a smash hit (it worked for Natalie Cole, after all), and I'm sure all involved will ensure the project will be completed with a modicum of good taste, but at what point do we all go off the dead-star deep end?
For example, John Wayne was in a Coors commercial a few years back; why not GG Allin? Imagine GG Allin at a faux-Western bar, serving up a refreshing Coors Light right out of his ass. Or Jenna Jameson "dueting" with John Holmes! Hell, think how gay porn would be revolutionized once you pair up closeted stars like Cary Grant and Rock Hudson! Throw in Tony Randall for a three-way!
What I'm trying to say is obvious: when your talents are still being exploited after you die, you're no longer a performer; you're a tool. You were a tool when you were alive, but at least you were a tool with the right to say yes or no to something. Dead actors are nothing more than Photoshopped puppets; dead singers nothing more than canned voices. It's all in the name of money, of course; what isn't? But for every "Unforgettable," handled with seamless engineering. there's those old Coors ads with famous dead people dumped in for the ogling value. What would Elvis think? Probably very little; he's elsewhere.
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