It is one thing to search, in vain, for reactions to Heath Ledger's death that do not include some form of misplaced cynicism, some desire to tear down traditional media, some skewed vision of a life lost or some indications beyond the bare-boned facts of the matter: that Ledger was found dead, naked and surrounded by pills.  But in warily approaching my computer this morning for a heart-felt angle of resonance, I found a couple.

Paul Fischer's personal recollections at Dark Horizons were beneficial, but ultimately they serve to emboss a point made by David Carr today that is, quite possibly, the most honest reaction to the Hollywood machine in times of crisis and disorder I have come across.

Carr was charged with call-fielding duties following yesterday's revelation.  That is, he was given the task of soliciting comments from sources in the industry, but his heart sank when he came face to face with the unending management of it all and, ultimately, the vacancy of raw and tangible feeling.  It is, after all, the journalist's job to make sense of the world through the perspective of others.  But without that perspective, the world is black and white -- and cold.

I'll just let his words tell the story:

...hardly anyone would come to the phone and point out that the dead man was an incredibly gifted actor and a decent human being.

It was a reminder to the Bagger that, for everybody in the Magic Kingdom, it’s always about them. A guy dies and they need publicists to fend off reporters because they are in their trailers coping or because they might say the wrong thing. The whole publicity apparatus kicked in as if this were an event to manage.

The Bagger made more than 20 calls, and in every case the response was some version of “tut-tut, much too raw, there-will-be-statements-in-the-future.” Maybe other reporters had better luck, but the firm no’s the Bagger got told him plenty. This young man of 28, had one shot at a textured story about his humanity and his gifts. As it is, he will show up in the papers as a guy in bed with pills strewn about. Going forward, the stories will all be ghoulish forensics.

Read the rest.