So, there’s bad news today. Bruce Willis’s family announced to the press his retirement from acting, after a diagnosis of aphasia; who knows how bad his health is but, at 67, his career is over. In our strange age, the news came as an Instagram post by his daughter. I suppose the press is just as dead as Hollywood, so it makes sense to go to social media, but in the context, it’s one more baffling thing for the millions of fans, learning about life, the body, and mortality in the ghost world of the internet.

We are stuck with all these contradictions: It’s there in a personal post, but it’s spreading all over the world—it’s going to be recorded forever by computer memory, but it’s likely to be forgotten instantly by most people who glance at this bit of news. So, there is an end to all that — not even fame has any power over us anymore.

Willis is the last actor to have something of the combination of manly charm, comic talent, a few famous roles, working with remarkable directors and writers, and the luck that makes a star. The best we can do with an actor we admire is to enjoy his work and learn from his portrayals of character and enactments of story. If we learn about our society from the movies, we are likelier to remember and be grateful.