So how much do we own the very famous?
Michael Jackson was one of the few remaining Very Famous left, famous not for his achievements - which mainly happened in the 80s, back when he was mainly known for being talented and only mildly eccentric - but as a personality, as The Person Who Wanted To Own The Elephant's Man's Bones And Was Best Friends With Elizabeth Taylor, as The Guy Who Dangled His Child Off A Hotel Balcony And Was Repeatedly Accused Of Being A Child Molester. Oh, AND THE MAN WHO WENT FROM BEING AN ATTRACTIVE BLACK MAN TO A FREAKY LOOKING BONE-WHITE PERSON OF NONSPECIFIC GENDER.
You know, THAT guy.
I don't think there's a new generation of the Very Famous coming up - Twitter is doing a dandy job of revealing the banal heart at the center of celebrity, as famous people who REALLY should have better things to do treat us to all of their dopey, pedantic, 140 characters or less thoughts. A friend recently found out that a long-time favorite actor is A GREAT BIG GOOF thanks to Twitter - and imagine that with every famous person out there right now, and what happens is a generation of celebrities who will never become more than the briefly interesting, a generation of micro-celebrities. And there's no big shared culture anymore, either, so we're all unlikely to buy the same cd like we did back in 1984. It's not going to happen again.
This is fine with me: how poorly do we think of ourselves that we've elevated some gap-toothed vulgarian like Madonna to the status of a Medici? Before we might have liked celebrities, but now - if all of the mean gossip sites are anything to go by, and I suspect they are - we REALLY hate them, these people with their good looks and their money and their drugged-up, misled lives. And our celebrities are more inherently hateable these days, I think, because what normal person would willingly sign themselves up for what any halfway intelligent person KNOWS comes along with celebrity? So there's pretty much nothing but addled attention junkies and their messed up lives and we're interested in them for 4 minutes until they get too gross and then we're off to the next one.
Joseph Merrick - the Elephant Man, victim of a cruel, deforming disease - was apparently of special significance to Jackson, who saw in him, perhaps, another person totally removed from the sea of normal humanity. Jackson had his publicist spread the story that he wanted to buy Merrick's bones, a story he later regretted, apparently, when it turned out that it would make people think he was really weird. No, REALLY?
But Joseph Merrick really was a victim, a human being who had almost no chance of living a reasonably normal life, victimized by a hideous disease that he had done nothing to deserve. Jackson - with his hits from 25 years ago and his stupid amusement park and his (AT THE LEAST) inappropriate relationship with little boys - has been cast as a victim, too. Was he victimized by his monstrous father? Was he victimized by poorly treated mental illness and easy access to drugs? Or was he victimized by the very celebrity that told him from a very early age that he was special, that he was set apart - was he victimized, in short, by us?
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28 comments:
I got nothing but belly laughter at this, "gap-toothed vulgarian like Madonna". Thanks Beck for the hearty laughter! You;re certainly onto something; celebrity is an affliction of sorts.
I hesitate calling Jackson a victim, lest it be interpreted by others as minimizing his personal culpability for the crimes he perpetuated against young boys.
I'm sick of the media eulogizing Jackson as a pop culture icon and musical genius while glossing over the fact that he harmed many, many children. That latter bit is all that matters -- or at least it would if we (and I include myself in that pronoun) didn't collectively have a hard-on for living vicariously thru the insipid lives of the rich and famous.
Great music, though - can't I laud the musician without condoning the (sort of) man?
I think we expect a lot of those we call "celebrities." And those that shoot up to fame so quickly can really burn out. Like Elvis. Frankly, I think Madonna has dealt with celebrity as well as can be expected for a narcissistic twit.
Weird as it sounds, I think that people who are from famous "clans" do better. Though from what you have said about Gwyneth's newsletter maybe they just get weird.
Have you read Cintra Wilson's A Massive Swelling: Celebrity Reexamined as a Grotesque, Crippling Disease and Other Cultural Revelations?
She's harsh, but funny and often insightful. I think you might enjoy it.
I think the Madonna line is the best line in this post, but the whole thing is interesting and well said. As for me, I never really cared much for MJ. Although I can recognize his talents, I've never been one to worship at the altar of celebrity, and I don't believe in glossing over the (as you said) at the least inappropriate actions someone engaged in while he was alive.
As to the larger point: I agree that we as a culture must envy celebrities to the point of hatred. And who would put themselves and their children through merciless public scrutiny? (cough Jon and Kate cough) I just don't get it at all.
Every time I read something someone has written I remember ANOTHER thing that happened... I had completely forgotten about the Elephant Man bones thing.
It all adds up to something very NOT-GOOD-AT-ALL. And I do believe he was a victim of so many things, but as I said over at another blog... and I feel fairly confident in there being a general sense of agreement about this... at some point a line was crossed and I believe he became a victimizer (which is not really a word but I am leaving it).
And, as I said somewhere else... Ugh.
P.S. I had to giggle at the reference to the Great Big Goof. That he is... that he is.
An entertainment community that will give awards to Roman Polanski will lionize absolutely anyone.
Your last line is perfect.
I find myself feeling so out-of-it with all the MJ hoopla right now. I am a little too young to really have felt the impact of his music, I think, not to mention that I was part of a uber-conservative Christian family on its way to homeschooling in the 80s, so I was basically totally removed from pop culture during his years of accomplishment. The whole intensity at his death seems foreign and mysterious to me.
Roman Polanski!!! I absolutely go cross-eyed at Roman Polanski. I refused to see The Piano and people were thought I was nuts.
Like most children of the 80s I have fond, fond memories of Michael Jackson's Thriller and Beat It and jumping around with my brother trying to imitate the videos we occasionally caught glimpses of while at the homes of the lucky kids with MTV. His music was a huge part of my childhood soundtrack. And yet, I just don't understand the public mourning and all of the lamenting over his death. Yes, it is sad he died. And the sort of out of the blue-ness of it made it slightly shocking . . . for a minute. But I don't get the vigils or the craze. I did not know him. I did not care to know him. I prefer to keep him stuck in time as he was when his image graced the cover of my Trapper Keeper circa 1984. That MJ - the one I loved and adored - died a long time ago.
Oh very well said...
Steph
Oh wow.
I don't care how much money they have, I wouldn't trade my middle-class, sometimes broke, often stressed and extremely - busy because - I - don't - have - a - full-time - nanny - life for theirs.
Normal is good, thanks. :)
No one has yet mentioned that the first child irreparably harmed by "Michael Jackson (TM)" was MJ himself. A child star with no sense of reality and who never grew up. He inflicted (most likely) major harm on others, but he was never playing with a full deck. His talent was mesmerizing. His fame, particularly in the 80s and 90s, was something else entirely. But, boy, he could really, really sing. Electric. It's his own parents who shoudl be the first to face the music (if you will) for the decades of tragedy and freakshow that followed.
The mental illness thing - I think.
Lots of pretty typical people had horrible parents. And didn't go totally bonkers. Plenty also might have poor self-esteem or skin conditions or even lost their childhood for a myriad of reasons.
Something wasn't right with him and it's odd (sad?) that he never got the help he needed.
I just wish the noise about it would die down soon, though we all know it won't.
I agree.
My eldest wants to go on American Idol when he's old enough. We have had many discussions about that. Why would anyone want to give up their privacy and very identity to the world?
Ignoring for a moment his (at the very least) inappropriate relationships with young boys (and yes, I realize that is difficult to do)...
I just can't seem to mourn a man who spent hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to portray - in real life - the character Peter Pan. At some point we all have to grow up... otherwise we are no longer immature or victims, we are just sad, selfish jerks.
Poor Michael Jackson...such a pitiful existence. What does he have to show for it all NOW, standing before the Pearly Gates?? So sad.
I heard someone on the radio say something about people remembering their 'beloved' today, and I nearly puked.
If a man who looked like MJ and wholeheartedly believed it was A-ok to share his bed with random boys came to their neighborhood, people would not call him their beloved.
Death is some strange equalizer I guess.
But when I look at my Jackson 5 Christmas album - one I've adored since I was a little girl - I feel sad for that little boy, the life he will lead.
No one should go to those dark places.
I kind of feel sorry for Farrah Fawcett, whose huge fight with cancer was totally usurped by MJ passing on the same day as her. And MJ's kids. What are THEY going to turn out like?
Michael Jackson never had a chance. Hope his kids now do.
Wow, Beck! Harsh on the "gap-toothed" comment. Poor Madonna, and others apparently unfortunate enough to be gap-toothed - though I always thought of my gap as endearing...until I read this. :( *sigh* Actually, I still kinda like it...it's great for making fountains in pools - very useful when I was growing up for those water fights with my brother! I even had an orthodontist who refused to alter it - said it made me me. :) A lesson MJ could have benefited from. Speaking of whom...
I have to disagree a little further: Jackson WAS and still is famous for his musical genius. No question. He pretty much invented the music video narrative, revolutionised music and dance and, no matter how much we despise him for his alleged abuses and strange body altering obsessions - which perhaps indicate that he hated himself more than any of us ever could - he was a brilliant performer. There's no point denying the guy's talent because we don't like him.
Same goes for today's celebrities. If they can act, sing, dance, juggle, whatever...their talent exists regardless of their moral virtue.
What I find curious is that we expect celebrities to be the paragons of virtue. When was this ever the case?
Hm. Hope it's okay for me to jump in here.
What I find curious is that we expect celebrities to be the paragons of virtue. When was this ever the case?
I don't think we do expect celebrities to be paragons of virtue, unless "not being a pedophile" is the paragon of virtue. And we expect (or ought to expect) that of everyone, famous or not.
It seems to me that what Beck and others might be getting at is not that being a celebrity means one must conform to a higher standard, but rather that being a gifted person doesn't get one a pass on the requirement to be a decent human being. Sure, we can't deny his talent, but his talent doesn't mean we can overlook his deficiencies, eh?
(Incidentally, that's why Potok's My Name is Asher Lev drove me up the wall. Asher is breathtakingly selfish and cruel to his parents, but everybody thinks it's okay because he's compelled to serve his ART. Being a genius doesn't make it okay to be a jerk. Byron = boo, hiss; Wordsworth = yay! And Wordsworth was a better poet anyway.)
It was a rhetorical question. I don't think they ever were either. ;)
What I was trying to allude to was that we kinda want celebrities to uphold a certain image and so we are guilty of perpetuating this mythical celebrity being but hate them when they fail.
Paedophilia is NEVER ok. Not by a celeb or anyone else. But MJ, was acquitted, I thought...
And Byron was a big jerk (understatement) but I still enjoy his poetry and I'm glad he influenced Polidori so that the latter could bring the vampire to English literature. That doesn't mean I like how Byron treated Polidori, or particularly like Byron himself - not that I can even really know the guy...I appreciate the work without crucifying the author.
Eh, I decided I'd just smile and nod. :)
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