Special Dead Celebrity Edition « NotionsCapitalSpecial Dead Celebrity Edition
By Mike Licht
Really now. Are people just ghouls?
Well, some clearly are.
But was Farrah Fawcett – or Michael Jackson — really Princess Diana?
Come to think of it, was Princess Diana really Princess Diana?
Certainly the choreographers, arrangers, composers, studio musicians, costume designers, tailors, sound engineers, video directors, technicians, hairdressers, and cosmetic surgeons who created the work enacted by Michael Jackson have reason to mourn the talented performer. They lost a major vehicle for their work, not to mention a paycheck.
Ticket holders for Mr. Jackson’s July concerts in London probably haven’t decided whether to demand refunds or have their tickets framed as holy relics. Rights holders in the recorded Jackson corpus (and their lawyers) are undoubtedly working 24/7; media archivists and tabloids are sleeplessly All-Jackson-All-the-Time. But others are obviously mourning their lost youth through the music of the era, or simply feigning mourning à la mode.
The most interesting biographical comparisons are with other unexpected celebrity deaths. Film star Rudolph Valentino dead at age 35, James Dean at 24, Marilyn Monroe at 36. Former teen singer Elvis, on the other hand, died at 46, and child star Michael Jackson at 50; both started early, had weight problems (MJ’s was anorexia), and bore the added strain of drug abuse.
The end of any human life is sad; the demise of artists in their creative prime compounds this sense. But even in an age where hype has displaced hagiography, the frenzy of Jackson idolatry is clearly absurd, given the team effort behind pop showbiz and unsavory indications about the decedent’s private life.
Michael Jackson idolatry, odd in the West, is even stranger in the Middle East. Mr. Jackson sought refuge from public scrutiny (and creditors) in the Persian Gulf state of Bahrain. His hosts were the royal family, believers in a strict concept of monotheism. While the country has become somewhat more tolerant of those who recognize Muslim saints, surely there are limits.
Then again, maybe not …
