Looking in the Mirror Michael Jackson Holds Up to Us
Paul writes – I’ve followed very little of the written media that has been coalescing around Michael Jackson over the last week or so, however, I was struck by the observations (though frustrated by the misspelling of “Michael”) of Pat Kane in his evocatively titled article The Man in Our Mirror: Michael Jackson. Thanks to Michael Radcliffe, a member of MOOT.
Here's some excerpts from Kane's article:
“…What was it like to be Michael Jackson, from the beginning to the end? To "give up your life" – from that very tenderest of moments where his self was beginning to form, till the end of his complex, wracked adulthood – "for the medium"? Once we grant the power of his music, we can look at the spectacle of Jackson, and indulge quietly in that familiar, hubristic pleasure at his massive fall - from overpowering celebrity, to sexual pariah, to spindly, sheet-covered corpse. We think we can box him away in our lifestyles as another showbiz calendar date – "where were you when", etc, etc. But he's closer to us than that: indeed, much too close for comfort.
Let's begin with how Michael Jackson died – a cardiac arrest in the midst of a punishing project-schedule, driven by massive debt and the need to restore public reputation and status. Sound familiar to anyone out there, de-stressing slowly on their precious Sunday?
As Neal Lawson wrote last week, if we agree to live in a hyper-consumerised, hyper-advertised culture – one which depends on our subjective insecurity to keep us purchasing, a compensation which keeps the mills of production rolling – we must take the consequences. If we "give up our lives" to the media of money, stuff and image, there will be a dark side.
And who epitomises what lack, neediness and the corrosion of character does to the human spirit (and corpus) more than Michael Jackson? It shouldn't be necessary to say that any disdain for his pharaoh-like profligacy reflects badly on us, the accusers: a consumtariat who eagerly used up every commercial offering of fictional credit presented to us over the last three decades…”
You can read the whole article here. Kane is the author of The Play Ethic: A Manifesto for a Different Way of Living (2004). John and Olive Drane also offer a brief reflection on Jackson here. John's little book Celebrity Culture (pub 2005 / pp. 93 / Chapter 1 A Brief history of fame / Chapter 2 From fame to celebrity / Chapter 3 God and the cult of celebrity is well worth a read.
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