A photo I was forwarded, and thought it was cute/funny/wrong all at the same time


I've been in a vacuum the past month due to my ATP (Articled Training Program) which I need to complete in order to be admitted at the end of my first year working as an Articled Clerk. As a result, things such as the passing of Michael Jackson (MJ), swept over me like the sea breeze. I didn't really have the chance to "mourn" him by watching all of those Michael Jackson tribute shows etc.

But this morning, since I was able to have an earlish night for a Friday, I was able to get up and watch all the Tributes that were on TV due to my mom diligently taping all MJ stuff. (She did the exact same thing when Princess Diana died). There was A LOT of stuff, and a lot of it was repetitive, just in case you didn't manage to get the point the first time. In the end, after watching commentary that had snippets of his performances and interviews for 2 hours, I lost patience and couldn't be bothered searching for his Farewell Tribute that I initially intended to watch.

But, I did get to watch a snippet of his last performance with his brothers at I think it was MJ's 50th Birthday Concert. It was only then did I start to get that sinking sorrow feeling in my stomach. I didn't know what it was... until they played their last song together when it clicked... I felt pitty.

MJ was a great vocalist, musician and an all round, one of a kind entertainer. He himself was a brand that transcended cross culturally. He could dance, he started trends, his music is so damn catchy that you can't stop your body from bopping or tapping your feet. The pitty hit me when I realised that this talented person, no matter how successful he was when he was younger, never lived to his full potential personally, and possibly within his career, and I attribute this to the whole Fame Game and the Media. That is the Media killed it's own creation.

I say this because, when I saw him performing with his brothers, all of whom look physically healthy, sane and well... all of whom had aged gracefully, MJ really looked strange. MJ sounded the same way he did back when he was in the Jackson 5, he acted the same, danced the same, he was still and I guess will always be, the younger brother no matter what his age. In essence, MJ was the same boy from Jackson 5, its just for some reason this huge kid was stuck in this clowned face with no nose, weird, pale-skinned, skeleton of a body. All that plastic surgery had made this fresh-faced teeny bopper into something strange. He looked fictitious.

It stood out because of all the commentary that I had watched earlier. They showed video clips of MJ when he was younger, happier and well...more natural. He looked like his brothers, he fit in. Then he hit his early 20s and unlike the other Jackson 5 band members, he became a superstar with the release of his album Thriller. It is around this time that MJ apparently started to fall. His face, his antics, his personal life all became questionable and food for the media. At the time, I guess this would have been the first time the media saw such a well-loved American boy scout fall from grace. He had it hard.

Now a days it is the norm for child stars to go crazy. The booze, the sex tapes, the scandalous outfits. I mean from a young age they were told what to do, how to act, what to wear, what to say. They had no freedoms to grow into people, and psychologically they were programmed to be whatever everyone else wanted them to be. But back then when MJ burst onto the scene, it was rare to see a child star go bonkers, (I mean think about it, the squeaky clean Brady Bunch were HUGE back then) and because of that, I guess MJ had it hard. The media ate it up. Look how the media loved Britney Spears. Anything she did was 'scandalous.' Both MJ and Britney were famous from a very young age, and both were continuously scrutinised in the media for whatever reason. But MJ was a superstar at the age of say 8-10 years old. Britney even though she was in the media from around the same age, only hit super stardom at around the age of 16 years. She has had those extra years of a somewhat 'normal' life.

Another factor, is that Britney was an attractive, blonde-haired, cheerleader all American Sweetheart. Whereas MJ was a young, African American male trying to breaking down all those social conventions in the US and paving the way to mainstream. Britney only really had to deal with the media scrutinising on her fashion, her weight, her antics as a party/trash animal. MJ had to deal with all those pressures imposed by the Fame Game and the media plus the fact that he would have to deal with his ethnic differences and trying to fit into the "American Mould" too.

Even myself, being an Australian born asian. Born within a relatively more "open" society, when I was younger, all I wanted to do was to fit in with everyone else. All I wanted was to be accepted. Heck, I didn't even think I had almond-squinty eyes and black hair. I was only reminded of this when I saw photos of myself and my friends... and when I saw how different I was. It was like a cold slap of reality. It somehow made me feel alien-like, and I hated it. I hated the way I looked. I hated that I was different. No one likes being alien. Imagine me feeling the way I did back then, and then add in that I had millions of dollars. Back then, before I was able to accept what I was, I too would probably have gotten surgery to "fix" the squintyness.

But lucky for me, I didn't have squillions of dollars. Lucky for me, I had privacy which was afforded to me by a life of meritocracy and I was able to experiment, and go a little insane as one does when they try to find themselves, within the confines of my small life and not have billions of people judge me for it.

Britney and MJ were unlucky. They didn't have that simple pleasure of privacy and alone time. Lucky for Britney, she is on a come back, and I really do hope she pulls through. I think its probably because of those extra years of 'normalcy' that she is able to pull through this, because she has something to refer back to before she was a superstar. She has those memories of what she was like before having to act, dance and sing like a puppet for the masses. Unlucky for MJ... he... well, never had a chance really. For all he knew was life in the media and life where one is always judged upon. He never had friends who were friends because they had the same interests. In fact, he probably never had the chance to find out what he was interested in. The only people he could ever get close to where people connected to his career, the entertainment business or his family... and when your public life is such a mess, and you don't have an extensive support of both friends and family, I think you would definitely have a few loose screws in the workshop. I think MJ had it rough, and that transcended into his music/reputation/career, and once a Brand's reputation is shot, that product no longer has the credibility it once had, unless the Brand changes. For Britney, she still has room for change and improvement to reinvent herself. MJ, if he didn't make such drastic permanent changes, his image/Brand may have had a chance.