I heard of Michael Jackson’s death while on vacation in the Swiss Alps. The fact that the news was shocking, but not surprising, added to my sadness. Such talent, so broken.
I’m told MJ had been the King of Pop. “The king of what?” I wondered.
Considering the nature of pop – “Pop Culture: the mainstream of a given culture, pursues populism and ratings, heavily dependent on and influenced by mass media, changes constantly, seeks to shock and amaze, focuses on basic instincts, trivia, the glitzy and the superficial” – it makes you wonder who’d want to be the king of that? (and then keep a safe distance). Michael may well have ended up the King of Pop, anointed by the very pop media he at times despised, but I doubt this is what he really lived for or in his heart desired. Muhammad Ali wanted to be the greatest and proclaimed it loud and clear. I’ve never heard Michael Jackson make a single claim for the King of Pop title – it simply never was his goal. In the end he appears as much a victim of pop culture, than it’s king. It appears the true kingdom he had been pursuing all along was the kingdom of love for himself and his life.
PS. How will pop culture’s next king or queen fare? Who will it be? Given the uphill battle, I wish him or her well. The determining factor as always will be how much the person shapes pop culture, or how much pop culture shapes the person. But there will always be one winner, guaranteed – mass media – greedy, cruel, insatiable, dependent 24/7 on fresh news from inside the kingdom of pop.
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