On the occasion of an artist's death, it's normal and even good to focus initially on the great things he accomplished. We've all been doing that ("we" = pop culture) in the days since Michael Jackson died. I was not a particular fan of his music, but the man's talent and importance to popular music was undeniable, and I think you'd have to be pretty hard-hearted not to feel sorry for the way his fame ruined his life.
Fine.
But as usual, The Onion speaks the plain truth; headline: "King of Pop Dead at 12." Jackson was a ghoulish figure who, if he did not sexually molest children, at least had an extremely unsavory attitude towards them; who certainly molested and mutilated his face out of self-loathing; who fathered children apparently for the sake of collecting playmates; who was a spendthrift loon; and who, if ABC News' reporting is correct, was blotto on heavy doses of painkillers most of the time for many years. Remember when he dangled his baby over the balcony in Germany? Imagine that he was out of his mind on Oxycontin when he did that.
Artistically, there wasn't much left to Michael Jackson after 1987's "Bad," which, compared to its predecessors "Thriller" and "Off the Wall," was fairly mediocre. But if you've made "Thriller," you've made your mark, and nobody can take that away from you. Though Jackson's failure to do anything artistically significant in over 20 years inevitably meant that his extreme creepiness dominated the public's image of him. It has been good this week to remember why people fell in love with Michael Jackson in the first place. In the Washington Post, Liz Kelly reminds us why in judging a creative legacy, it is important to separate the art from the artist. Excerpt:
And by admitting that we appreciate the art of someone we find morally objectionable, are we selling out our own ethics?Michael Jackson isn't the first person to inspire these questions. Commenting about classical musicians who were openly anti-Semitic or aligned themselves with Germany's Nazi regime, retired music critic Dimitri Drobatschewsky wrote:
"Unfortunately, there are so many 'unsavory characters' in the world of art, science, literature and general culture that if you boycotted their given genius, there would be precious little art left to enjoy."
And therein lies the rub. If one looks closely enough, uncomfortable realities can be found for many of pop culture's venerated artists, big and small: Mel Gibson, who is slowly working his way back into Hollywood's mainstream despite his 2006 anti-Semitic, sexist rant. Woody Allen, who continues to attract A-list talent, critical praise and audiences for his films despite being roundly criticized for romancing and marrying his stepdaughter. Amy Winehouse, who despite an inability to pull herself from the clutches of addiction, still has an undeniably beautiful and original voice.
Does an appreciation of "Billie Jean" or "Rock With You" mean we're giving Jackson a pass for what -- if nothing else -- were inappropriate relationships with minors? No. And here's why:
For many artists -- van Gogh, Kafka, Marilyn Manson -- art is an expression of one's demons. For Michael Jackson, art represented liberation from those demons.
ABC played a quote from a Jackson interview later in his life, in which he said that the only place he felt comfortable was onstage. Wearing the mask. At what point do you suppose Michael Jackson, the real person, died, and "Michael Jackson" came to inhabit his body? I'm serious.
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The second paragraph that follows the word "fine" is what I call garbage-reporting--full of blanket statements coming out of your ***. I'd appreciate it if you can write something worthy for the literati, or at least for an Ivy League alum like myself.
I think that 'Michael Jackson' started inhabiting his body during Thriller when the fame, and the disconnect from the rest of society would have had its strongest impact on him.
Before this stage he had been developing his craft, and had already started to explore a main theme of his work and life which I would say is Metamorphosis. This theme is apparent in many of his films, in particular Thriller, and the obsession is apparent in his own physical transformation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tB0o0WCnt-I
One could look at his determination to remain a boy as a resistance to his own inevitable morphing into a man, and its interesting that at the onset of his own manhood he starts first to deny it, and then to twist it surgically so that we and he never see him as a man, because by the time he gets there he's disfigured it - in more ways than one. God, an obsession with our own ability to transform and control our own image...so Millennium.
To separate the art from the artist is a mistake, I think we can only begin to understand his legacy by studying both, and isn't it interesting that both through his art and through his life that we learn more about ourselves than him, and isn't that what true artists always leave us with whether they're creating or destroying?
Maybe I am naive but I happen to believe that Michael Jackson was innocent of child molestation. I think he felt he could recapture his childhood, what little there was of it by being with children.
I think the real Michael Jackson was already waning but the trial completely killed him.
Logo MJ!!
I used to get my info from mainstream media and believed all these things that you wrote about Michael Jackson. Recently, I have been researching more about the man behind the mask. Why were his humanitarian contributions so easily overlooked? Why were his brilliant lectures not given any exposure? Why were his protests about the music/entertainment industry moguls easily overlooked? Michael is so much more than what the media portrays him. Recently, private videos have shown him as a loving parent, an incredible humanitarian, a genius, a compassionate human being, a fun-loving and playful man.
Mainstream media is so focused on demonizing this man, sensationalism sells. Looking closely, I was so shocked to learn about the magnanimous generosity and love that this man possessed and shared with the world, that was vastly ignored in favor of the BS that's been readily served to the public. It took some digging to find out this information, but isn't that the media's job?
Michael did many things that were not normal, but normal never created anything great. But he was not the distorted, crazed person you make him out to be. It was these cruel accusations that made him retreat behind the mask. I'm glad he did. That way, he probably created the barrier that would have destroyed the vast goodness and love in him.
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