Michael Jackson Essay -- essays research papers fc

Michael Jackson: Man In The Mirror   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Michael Jackson is arguably the most well know celebrity figure in the world today. Michael Joseph Jackson was born in August 1958, in Gary, Indiana. Jackson has spent almost his entire life as a public performer. He was a member of the Jackson Five at the age of four, soon becoming the group's lead vocalist and front man. Onstage, he modeled his dance moves and vocal styling on James Brown, and portrayed an absolute self-confidence on stage that belied his shy, private personality. Throughout his life the media has dissected his personality and projected his image on a worldwide screen. The progression of his image has been a fascinating phenomenon, and his current taboo image is still looked at through the eyes of the media microscope. Jason Cowley says, â€Å"his face is no longer a face but a canvas on which is etched an image of endlessly elusive self-perfection.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  One of the most notable characteristics of Michael Jackson is his appearance. It seems, as his appearance changes, so too does his image. Being one of the most photographed and news worthy celebrities has a great impact on his image and his chameleon-like appearance. After Jackson emerged, in the Seventies, from the largely successful pop group The Jackson Five, he became a talented solo superstar. His first solo album, Off The Wall was a complete success. Then he was a young, handsome fresh-face with an Afro. He was a sex symbol to the ladies and perhaps the best dancer in the world of pop music at that time. The warning signs of a fast changing image and appearance were slowly emerging through the smoke. Jackson began speaking in various interviews about his admiration for the beauty of singing sensation and diva Diana Ross. He reportedly desired to look like her (Brown, 54). When he re-emerged in the Eighties with the smash album Thriller, the most successful i n pop history, his appearance had changed significantly. His nose was more sculpted, his cheekbones were higher and his lips thinner. No one could deny the fact that Michael had plastic surgery after the release of the video for the number one single â€Å"Billy Jean.† He looked more attractive, and there was a new, strutting sexual energy about him. He would never look so good again (Saunders, 3).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Michael Jackson’s ima... ...rtist. Lusted said, â€Å"The sexual and racial ambiguity of his image can be seen as pointing to a range of questions about images of sex and race in popular culture and popular music. If we regard his face, not as the manifestation of personality traits but as a surface of artistic and social inscription, the ambiguities of Jackson’s image call into question received ideas about what black male performers in popular music should look like.† There is one thing we know for certain about the real Michael Jackson, he is an extraordinarily talented man with a gift for creating music that people all over the world. He has a love for helping children, and is involved in many charities. His musical talent, more than anything though, accounts for more than his twenty years of stardom.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Works Cited Goldberg, M. Michael Jackson: The Making of the â€Å"King Of Pop†, Rolling Stone, 1/9/92 Issue 621, p.32. Lusted, D. The Glut of the Personality, Stardom: Industry of Desire. Routledge: New York, 1991 Johnson, R. â€Å"The Michael Jackson Nobody Knows,† Ebony, December 1984 Saunders, F. â€Å"The Man In The Mirror,† New Statesman, 1/29/2001, Volume 130 Issue 4522.