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Fri Jun 26,2009,
16:34 GMT
The King of Peep
Posted by Hal
He went the way he lived, veiled in bizarre secrecy even as the entire world wanted to know everything. Michael Jackson, king of pop, who thrilled me and my teenage cohorts with the audacious creation of a half-million dollar 14 minute music video complete with choreographed zombie dancing, is dead at 50.
He will be remembered as much for Billie Jean and ABC as for dangling his infant son over a balcony for the benefit of reporters and a clamoring public. The image of his moon walk (a move I’ve attempted and failed repeatedly over the last 20 years) competes with the legend of the bizarre ranch/amusement park he built and maintained, a playground so expensive he had to borrow hundreds of millions of dollars to keep it going. And just what went on in the popmeister’s Pee Wee’s playhouse? Interest in Wacko Jacko has never diminished. Jackson fed the fire of our fascination with the private lives of celebrities by being at once completely and utterly exposed as a freak, and completely and utterly absent from the public view.
The legacy of Michael Jackson will be more peep than pop. His music will be remembered, but his effect on the culture has been nothing short of seismic. By living the way he did, he actually reshaped how mass media reported on the private lives of people in the spotlight. He was one of the first — if not the first — to get caught in the trap of peep culture. His life itself became spectacle and entertainment. Whether he liked it or not, his every move proved wildly entertaining. Jackson shaped peep culture like no one else. His personal travails showed, beyond anything else, just how entertaining and marketable other people’s lives could be.
Since Jackson, a long line of entertainers and regular people – from OJ Simpson to Britney Spears to Susan Boyle – have been submitted to the Jackson treatment. But it was Michael Jackson, whose every plastic surgery, rumored child fondling and real estate deal, spawned headlines across the world. It was Jackson who inspired the formula we now know and live with: paparazzi stake outs, tabloid celebrity “entertainment” shows focussed on peeping the lives of celebrities, 24 hour news cycles ever attuned to the doings of pop stars — these things were, literally, brought into being by our worldwide fascination with the doings of Michael Jackson.
In 2002, the BBC ran an online poll on their site for teens: “Is Michael Jackson a complete nutter or just misunderstood?” This crass, anything-goes way of using other people’s lives to entertain ourselves, that’s Jackson’s true legacy.
Rest in peace, Michael Jackson, king of peep.
There are -5- Comments: , Add yours…
1:54
Thanks Andriana for the links. Maybe you were thinking I meant literally his face from the way I wrote my blog. I’m sorry if i seemed less than respectful.
I’m thinking in particular of one of his early costumes. The “too” short slacks, the make up, the glove. White Vaudeville performers did this type of think when they performed in black face.
Michael Jackson turned all that ridiculing type of humor on its head. He blew it out of history I bet.
I really am sad that he isn’t here to give the planned concets. From the little bit I saw on the news he was into an original choreography and type of music that was very entertaining but also very thoughtful and interesting.
I saw a clip on CNNI of Cooper Andersen “reporting” that the first clip available didn’t show dancing. I would like to see Cooper Andersen move with the since of timing Michael Jackson had.
I have the impression that this concert was going to be a great Protest concert really touching the pulse of the majority of listeners around the world.
I think I’m going to start crying. Yikes. Don’t believe it, must go.
The Bloggist
Hey, I’m Hal Niedzviecki. I’m a writer/thinker who lives in Toronto, Ontario, Canada with my wife and daughter. Up till now I’ve always considered myself a private person. But at the same time I’m fascinated by people who effortlessly open themselves up to the whole world. So I’ve… more...
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15:17
Hal, I heard an interview somewhere on NPR last year and a very intelligent woman made the observation. Something like Michael Jackson knows what he’s doing and has turned himself into a kind of caricature of what people think of him. Not a jester but something quite clever like a vaudeville performer: a black man in white face. Most of us don’t relax enough from making assumptions and passing judgment on others to THINK about the twists and turns that really make life interesting and worth living.
He was truly a genius. None of our lives would be the same without his influence.
The idea that allegations made but not proven can darken the image we have of a great talent makes me very sad.