maratcal (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} maratcal) wrote,@ 2009-06-26 08:41:00 |
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celebrity and michael jackson
well, yesterday was certainly not a fortuitous day for stars of the 70s and 80s. first farrah fawcett and then in a moment of getting her death thunder completely stolen, michael jackson.
it's been interesting to watch public reaction to mj's death. but how do you honor a celebrity who was so f'ed up for the last 20+ years of his life? vh-1 and mtv are showing all of his videos and i happened to catch a little gem of a video for a song he did for free willy 2. and dude was weird then. heck, i would say even by 1987, he was weird. i did have the total fortune of catching the long version of thriller, though. i remember the first time i saw it-- i was 6 (!) and they showed it to us at rehearsals of the children's nutcracker in davis. sort of makes me laugh because it scared the crap out of me. but that video was awesome-- good dancing, good story, and as many people have commented over the last 24 hours, certainly changed the face of music videos.
but i guess the question is where do you separate the artist from the man? (this actually is eerily related to my still-planned rant on cults, particularly scientology.) there is no denying that mj was an amazing artist and changed music, dance, etc. but there is also no denying that he was completely screwed up (witness bubbles the chimp, neverland, allegations of sexual abuse, his obsession with plastic surgery, etc.). but at the same time, wasn't he screwed up by others (his father, the demands of child stardom, the public)?
so people are falling all over themselves mourning his death. but in some respects, it seems like the real tragedy is how his life was ruined almost before he had any say in asserting control over it.
well, yesterday was certainly not a fortuitous day for stars of the 70s and 80s. first farrah fawcett and then in a moment of getting her death thunder completely stolen, michael jackson.
it's been interesting to watch public reaction to mj's death. but how do you honor a celebrity who was so f'ed up for the last 20+ years of his life? vh-1 and mtv are showing all of his videos and i happened to catch a little gem of a video for a song he did for free willy 2. and dude was weird then. heck, i would say even by 1987, he was weird. i did have the total fortune of catching the long version of thriller, though. i remember the first time i saw it-- i was 6 (!) and they showed it to us at rehearsals of the children's nutcracker in davis. sort of makes me laugh because it scared the crap out of me. but that video was awesome-- good dancing, good story, and as many people have commented over the last 24 hours, certainly changed the face of music videos.
but i guess the question is where do you separate the artist from the man? (this actually is eerily related to my still-planned rant on cults, particularly scientology.) there is no denying that mj was an amazing artist and changed music, dance, etc. but there is also no denying that he was completely screwed up (witness bubbles the chimp, neverland, allegations of sexual abuse, his obsession with plastic surgery, etc.). but at the same time, wasn't he screwed up by others (his father, the demands of child stardom, the public)?
so people are falling all over themselves mourning his death. but in some respects, it seems like the real tragedy is how his life was ruined almost before he had any say in asserting control over it.
