Being a big Michael Jackson fan, I always appreciate any literature on his stardom and so I certainly enjoyed Mercer's piece in analyzing and deconstructing the King of Pop, in this case his image. Much like how Dyer explains that Robeson "crossed-over," later Michael Jackson would follow in the same footsteps attracting fans from all races and genders. The transformation of Jackson's image carries and exposes many of the contradictions that Dyer has discussed throughout this course. Mercer points out a few to mention, "He may sing as sweet as Al Green, dance as hard as James Brown, but he looks more like Diana Ross than any other black male soul artist" (Mercer 300). Essentially by maintaining an image with both racial ambiguity and androgyny, Jackson cultivates a certain contradiction to go along with his sensual movements and noises. Despite being all over the board in terms of his image, his fandom never faltered. And so, there is much to be gained by decoding this image as Mercer says, "Neither child nor man, not clearly either black or white and with an androgynous image that is neither masculine nor feminine, Jackson's star image is a 'social hieroglyph'" (302).
Controversial celebrities have always seemed to generate the most interest and dialogue in popular culture, and Jackson's thriller video is an excellent example of the exploding public discourse on "strangeness." The video plays upon the audiences anxieties, giving them a "thrill of tension, anxiety, and fear associated with the pleasure of the horror genre" (306). The transformation of cute Michael Jackson into the terrifying wolf monster is disturbing, I still remember seeing this video for the first time and being totally scared and confused. I can understand how at the time this was such a spectacle in popular culture, certainly going against all conventions of any standard music video of the time. Mercer also mentions how "Thriller" creates many conversations about societal norms, for example "mimicry of the gender roles of the horror genre provides an anchor for the way it visualizes the sexual discourse," (306) therefore making the title itself ironic. Plenty of Jackson's confusion with his identity is laid out in this video, initially we hear him say, "Im not like other guys," to which the girl quickly responds, "Of course not. That's why I love you" (309). The girl's horror and shock at Michael's transformation I think can easily parallel the disillusionment of some of his female fans. Jackson is trying to communicate that they don't understand the real him, but because this is fantasy the fans most likely won't take it too seriously.
The genre of horror, specifically in Jackson's "Thriller," reveal a great deal about sexual expectations and gender conventions - so it ties in well with Jackson's own personal questioning. According to Mercer, "Thriller's rhetoric of parody presupposes a degree of self-consciousness on the part of the spectator, giving rise to a supplementary commentary on the sexual and sexual identity of its star, Michael Jackson" (310). So essentially the video can be interpreted as a means for Jackson to communicate with his fans in a way he finds most comfortable, entertainment, to tell them "Im not other guys." Of course Jackson's audience did not begin questioning his sexuality at this moment, but rather there was plenty of gossip about being homosexual, transexual, and more. Mercer points out many contradictions in the conclusion of her article which I greatly appreciated, since I often find it hard to put these matters into words. She mentions, "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." So the way in which his fan base engaged with his ambiguity is quite representative of the various opinions on homosexuality and queerness at the time, but most primarily people loved Michael no matter how confusing of an image he gave off. Mercer continues on to say, "Jackson's image calls into question received ideas about what black male artists in popular culture should look like" (310), this is also a valid point as Michael's change to a more "white" and "European" face causes questions and controversies. In a sense, he steps out of the dominant stereotypes of black masculinity and black popular culture, but to what avail is the remaining question.
No comments:
Post a Comment