Core Response

Kobena Mercer’s, "Monster Metaphors Notes on Michael Jackson’s Thriller" was an interesting take on the mysteriousness behind Michael Jackson and his role as a celebrity through a unique analysis of his music video of Thriller. Thriller is interesting in how it differs from other music videos because it quite literally brings the audience a sense of thrill throughout the plot and transformation of Michael from human to werewolf to zombie. The music video also is composed of various horror movie allusions as well to help connote it's tribute to cinematic horror. The effects of horror interestingly enough brings about a sense of sexuality that most wouldn't automatically assume correlates to each other but within horror films women are often viewed as the victim or "prize" in regards to the hero and the villain. When Michael undergoes his transformation into a werewolf it ties heavily to the portrayal of black masculinity as it demonstrates that there is a "real man" within Michael's likable demeanor, especially since Mercer states that "animals are regularly used to signify human attributes, with the wolf, lion, snake and eagle all understood as signs of male sexuality" (Mercer, 311). One point he made that was brought to my attention was how on the cover of Michael's Thriller album cover, the appearance of a tiger cub served as a metaphorical representation of the mystery behind Jackson's role as an African American male pop star. It is through these ambiguities that Jackson manages to parody the ideal views of what is black masculinity.

Mercer credits Jackson with "not only questions dominant stereotypes of black masculinity, but also gracefully steps outside the existing range of 'types' of black men" confirming his ambiguous role as a celebrity has many different effects (Mercer, 314). Mercer details that Jackson is “neither child nor man, not clearly either black or white and with an androgynous image that is neither masculine nor feminine” preserving his mysteriousness in the public portrayal of what defines black masculinity (Mercer, 302). This entire concept of Michael Jackson's image embodying certain aspects of ambiguity to help reinforce the contradictions of what is portrayed as African American masculinity definitely ties into the themes of star contradictions we studied throughout this class.