It was clearly naïve of me to think the Michael Jackson furor would have given way by now, to a fresh entertainment story for me to sink my little fangs into. Considering a parade of Asian elephants just yesterday walked through the streets of Los Angeles, and Cory Feldman donned a Michael Jackson costume and attended the 20,000+ memorial ceremony as … Michael Jackson … the madness clearly isn’t going anywhere.
And so now I’m torn. I’m in a conundrum. Do I dissect the memorial which will be like a babushka doll of weirdness – everything I find weird and dig deeper into will invariably present a whole new set of weirdness and I will end up with a thesis of weird on my hands, as represented by the zenith of weird, Michael Jackson. I just don’t know if I want to go there. It’s a can of worms far, far too full for a simple column (and my own capacity to comprehend).
So, do I attempt to make something out of Peter Andre’s potential replacement of Jordan (with a former Paris Hilton impersonator/former Big Brother contestant)? I mean, it’s not surprising, considering said former Paris Hilton impersonator is managed by the same person Peter is but, try as I might to muster enthusiasm for the continuing war-of-magazine-columns between Britain’s beloved Plastics … I keep coming back to Michael Jackson’s three children standing, unmasked, on stage, in front of a crowd of thousands and a viewership of millions, to pay tribute to their father who took extreme measures to keep them out of the public eye. And then I can’t help but start feeling a touch cynical, because I think of little Blanket holding a Michael Jackson doll and looking like he has absolutely no idea where he is or why he’s there – and I can’t help but wonder whether the children are there to genuinely farewell their father, or for other, less pure reasons.
Alternatively, looking around for other entertainment stories to give some thought to, I could express my relief at Rupert Grint’s recovery from the swine flu, in time for him to put in an appearance at the Harry Potter premiere. The fact that Rupert Grint got swine flu is sort of newsworthy, right? And then it rained at the Harry Potter premiere and Daniel Radcliffe got soaked and Emma Watson looked beautiful, even when he accidentally flashed her underpants (and yes it was accidental, it was windy and she’s not Lindsay Lohan) … but then I close my eyes and I see Michael Jackson’s gold coffin beneath a spotlight on a stage in the middle of an arena that is full of thousands of people who have bought tickets to a funeral/memorial. Is this normal? Or is it setting a new precedent? Where do we go from here the next time a big celebrity dies (because there are plenty of them)? And suddenly I’m walking down the path of rhetoric. Is it us, voraciously consuming, or them, feverishly supplying. Who is worse here? Those who perpetuate and exaggerate, or those that won’t let go of the teat?
It seems I’m not the only one struggling to find entertainment news that doesn’t involve a family of damaged entertainers, three children who have hitherto worn masks in public suddenly unmasked in the most public of fashions and a will that everyone is as well versed in as they are Barack Obama’s family background. Trash stalwart The Daily Mail has run an in-depth piece on How Cheryl Cole Has Turned Herself Into The Human Barbie, a somewhat fitting exploration given seemingly half the world is mourning the death of the poster boy of transformation.
And then I start thinking, yeah, what about Michael Jackson’s transformation from a black man to a white man. What does that mean for the African American community, embracing a black man who despised his black features so much that his eventual Peter Pan nose was all but a pair of nostrils, who bleached his skin snow white and had a white couple biologically produce his children? What does it mean when, at the memorial, he was all but lauded as a civil rights pioneer, as a man who paved the way for Barack Obama? And then …
… you know what? I gave up. I gave up trying to find anything new and fresh to say on, not just Michael Jackson’s passing, but how the global reaction has defined a way of thinking and a standard of media we are accustomed to and expectant of – and I truly do believe that is one of the most interesting parts of this entire story, the feeding frenzy we have all played a part in. So, I gave up and watched this video, and I think both make excellent points. I just wish it could have gone for longer.
Wow – that video is both interesting and infuriating. I think the guest comes off badly more because he starts to get so manic than because of any argument he made. It’s actually an interesting case study in what O’Reilly does well – remains calm while enforcing an opinion so strongly the other person is automatically on the defensive. It’s also the most rational I have seen O’Reilly seem, serviced largely by the the repitition and increasing volume of the guest.
Which is obviously not why you chose the video… just an aside.
To the arguments, I struggle to talk on the racial politics of America as I have no first hand knowledge of the real life implications/history. I can only observe as an outsider that the rhetoric bandied about seems very pre-Obama. A lot of the hype about about Obama was that he transcended the pre-existing grudges, and offered the idea of a fresh start – obviously easier in theory than practice. This argument seems to imply that the old template of the black american grudge and the white american irritation at still being made to feel guilty remains alive and well.
On the Jackson memorial/concert (when did those two words become inter-changeable?), I thought the most authentic moments came largely from Brooke Shields, who was white and didn’t seem to care what colour she or Michael were.
I don’t know when memorial and concert became synonymous – and I have to say, I was really unable to get past the fact his body was in that coffin beneath a spotlight in front of millions of mourners. It was all so macabre.
The black vs white debate, I absolutely agree with you, and Michael Jackson has become the sort of new vehicle for the discussion (now that Barack is busy in the white house). I think the template will remain for a long time still, particularly in cases where a celebrity has visibly renounced his racial heritage – the angles for discussion are endless.
I love the title of this article to death!
Haha it was the best way I could try and get across the NATURE of this whole thing. You can’t start dissecting, you’ll just never stop.