Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Otherness and Power: Michael Jackson and His Media Critics
    Otherness and Power: Michael Jackson and His Media Critics
    Otherness and Power: Michael Jackson and His Media Critics
    Ebook97 pages2 hours

    Otherness and Power: Michael Jackson and His Media Critics

    By Susan Woodward

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    Otherness and Power: Michael Jackson and His Media Critics is an innovative study of the cultural impact of Michael Jackson. Jackson had millions of ardent fans around the world, but from the early days of his adult career many in the media mocked and reviled him. How did such divergent attitudes come about? This book examines the origins and psychological underpinnings of the media's hostility by closely analyzing some of the most harshly critical writings about Jackson. While racism and discomfort with Jackson's "otherness" have previously been recognized as the elements that fueled media criticisms, Susan Woodward reveals another important factor: the perception that Jackson was extraordinarily powerful, in ways that went beyond celebrity and wealth. Through research and careful analysis, Woodward explores the ways in which Jackson's power was seen, the largely unconscious response to his power, the functions of the media's criticisms and the origins of the perceptions of Jackson's power.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBlackmore Books
    Release dateMay 10, 2014
    ISBN9780578138176
    Otherness and Power: Michael Jackson and His Media Critics

    Related to Otherness and Power

    Related ebooks

    History For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Michael Jackson Allegedly Cried When Marlon Brando Confronted Him About Sexuality

      Aug 29, 2019

      Marlon Brando spoke voluntarily and candidly with prosecutors about Michael Jackson in 1994, back when the singer was being investigated on allegations of child molestation, a new podcast reveals in its final episode. In a sworn statement, the actor

      3 min read

    • Article

      Madonna

      Apr 28, 2022

      Madonna
      2 min read

    • Article

      Alice In Chains

      Apr 30, 2019

      Alice In Chains
      3 min read

    • Article

      What’s the Story?

      Aug 17, 2017

      THIS ISSUE IS ABOUT how to keep up—personally, politically, scientifically— with our rapidly changing world. In these essays, writers find new normals, ways to adjust or adapt and move forward in the face of adversity. But the flip side of adaptation

      5 min read

    • Article

      The Atlantic 10

      Dec 13, 2022

      The Atlantic 10
      7 min read

    • Article

      Letters

      Jun 4, 2018

      Your instructive, riveting, often hilarious, and terrifying ›Spring 2018 cover story (“A Vacuum at the Center,” W. Robert Connor) proves that the humanities—by providing context—offer critical insights in these chaotic and dangerous times. Published

      6 min read

    • Article

      Confronting Caste

      Jul 24, 2020

      Confronting Caste
      7 min read

    • Article

      Confronting Caste

      Jul 24, 2020

      Confronting Caste
      7 min read

    • Article

      Tuesday New Release Day: Starring Morrison, Black, Haigh, and More

      Feb 1, 2022

      Some notable titles hitting shelves this week include debuts from Julia May Jonas and Brandon Slocumb. The post Tuesday New Release Day: Starring Morrison, Black, Haigh, and More appeared first on The Millions.

      5 min read

    • Article

      The Darkness Within

      Dec 5, 2017

      LAST summer I wrote a review of Who Is Rich? (Random House, 2017) by Matthew Klam. The novel is narrated by a man named Rich Fischer, a self-loathing husband and father who conducts an anguished and antic affair with an equally unhappy infidel. Short

      7 min read

    • Article

      The Darkness Within

      Dec 13, 2017

      LAST summer I wrote a review of Who Is Rich? (Random House, 2017) by Matthew Klam. The novel is narrated by a man named Rich Fischer, a self-loathing husband and father who conducts an anguished and antic affair with an equally unhappy infidel. Short

      7 min read

    • Article

      Best Books Of The Year

      Nov 26, 2019

      Angry Queer Somali Boy: A Complicated Memoir details Mohamed Abdulkarim Ali’s journey from wartorn Africa to the West. Lost in a strange country (the Netherlands, then Canada) and culture, Ali found it difficult to assimilate. His sexuality was sudde

      4 min read

    • Article

      The Cover of My Face

      Mar 10, 2020

      The Cover of My Face
      7 min read

    • Article

      Present-Day Thoughts On The Quality Of Life (1969)

      Mar 4, 2019

      THE ESSAY THAT FOLLOWS WAS originally delivered as a lecture in 1969, but the two of us learned of its existence only in 2002. We were visiting our grandfather and his wife, Marguerite, at their home in San Antonio, Texas. After dinner, our grandfath

      7 min read

    • Article

      How to Murder Harry Potter

      Feb 19, 2020

      How to Murder Harry Potter
      7 min read

    • Article

      Why Wasn’t I Canceled?

      Oct 24, 2022

      Why Wasn’t I Canceled?
      10 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Otherness and Power

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Otherness and Power - Susan Woodward

      39946.png

      Copyright © 2014 Susan Woodward

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted by any means—whether auditory, graphic, mechanical, or electronic—without written permission of both publisher and author, except in the case of brief excerpts used in critical articles and reviews. Unauthorized reproduction of any part of this work is illegal and is punishable by law.

      ISBN: 978-0-578-13802-2 (sc)

      ISBN: 978-0-578-13817-6 (e)

      Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

      Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

      Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

      Blackmore Books rev. date: 5/1/2014

      BLACKMORE

      BOOKS

      CONTENTS

      Chapter One: Introduction

      Chapter Two: American Messiah

      Chapter Three: Web Of Fear

      Chapter Four: Angelism And Beastialism

      Chapter Five: Origins Of Power

      Sources

      Acknowledgments

      About The Author

      Endnotes

      CHAPTER ONE

      INTRODUCTION

      M ichael Jackson’s adult career spanned approximately thirty years, during which time he accrued many millions of ardent fans. His fans saw him as a phenomenally talented singer, songwriter, dancer and producer whose personality seemed to have a sweetness not seen in other pop musicians and a mercurial quality that made him more fascinating to many than other performers of his era.

      People who worked with Jackson reported him to be shy, gentlemanly and often genuinely childlike. He was not known to throw his weight around with other musicians, throw entitled tantrums, abuse employees or assault the paparazzi who relentlessly plagued him. People who knew him have remarked on his empathy for others and his extraordinary kindness.

      The media, especially in the U.S. and Britain, frequently painted a completely different picture of Jackson. Although he had been seen as eccentric since the early days of his adult fame, the ridicule and vitriol began in earnest in 1984, during the planning of a concert tour with his brothers, and only grew over time. As details of the tour, called the Victory tour, emerged, Jackson was suspected of exploiting his fans’ adulation in the interest of his commercial success. But after the tour was long behind him, Jackson continued to be mocked, sometimes in hateful language, for perceived eccentricities and his changing appearance, and his remarkable talent was often treated dismissively. When he was twice accused of sexually abusing children, most journalists seemed certain of his guilt and did not consider the possibility that Jackson might innocent. A large segment of the public assumed that they were being given an accurate portrayal by reporters and came to adopt as received wisdom the media’s negative representation of Jackson.

      How did two such dramatically opposing views of one individual come about? How could Jackson’s fans and many in the media, who after all were reacting to the same set of information, come to such different conclusions, each side fully believing that they were right?

      Two reasons have typically been given by Jackson fans for the negative media responses to Jackson: racism and deep discomfort with his otherness, meaning his supposed eccentricities and his fluid identity signifiers. While these reasons have seemed to me to be obviously true, I had the persistent feeling that there was something else going on. After studying hostile writings about Jackson I began to see that there was another factor to which journalists were reacting, with distrust or even fear: a perception of extraordinary power.

      Jackson is often said to have been as famous as the Beatles or Elvis Presley. The Beatles and Elvis were criticized and even to some degree feared by the older generation due to their influence over young people. The negative reaction to Jackson was not generational; his detractors were as likely to be progressive, young (mostly white) people, as well as older people. Jackson’s critics were responding to a radically different quality than that possessed by Elvis or the Beatles: that of a royal or elite person or of even a supernatural being. And this extraordinary power originated from Jackson’s otherness.

      The perception of Jackson as other sprang from his fluid and unreadable identity as well as some of his behavior. The fluid, unreadable traits were his race (he was African American, although, to greatly complicate matters, he appeared to become white), gender (he was clearly male, but a man who was very comfortable with feminine attributes such as a high singing voice, soft speaking voice, an interest in fashion and make-up), sexuality (speculation abounded that he was gay or that he was a pedophile or that he was just asexual), and age (as a child he seemed to be very adult, but as an adult he was notably childlike). His otherness also came from his sometimes unconventional behavior and lifestyle (Neverland, making public appearances with his chimpanzee, and not living with his second wife are examples) and even from the level of his talent as a singer and dancer.

      Jackson’s otherness has perhaps has been most eloquently described by Susan Fast in her article The Difference That Exceeded Understanding: Remembering Michael Jackson: "These differences were impenetrable, uncontainable, and they created enormous anxiety. Please be black, Michael, or white, or gay or straight, father or mother, father to children, not a child yourself, so we at least know how to direct our liberal (in)tolerance. And try not to confuse all the codes simultaneously."¹

      I have selected for this book three examples of writing in which the perception of Jackson’s power, and discomfort with it, is made explicit. Unlike the works I have chosen to examine, much of the criticism in the media came in the form of tabloid stories or dismissive reviews of albums or performances. (For a good example, see Jon Pareles, Michael Jackson Is Angry, Understand?, New York Times, June 18, 1995.) By contrast, the works I have selected are lengthy, detailed pieces that critique Jackson’s life and career in a comprehensive way, rather than focusing on one work or one performance. I believe, however, that the tabloid stories and dismissive reviews also are reacting to Jackson’s unusual power, although they do not usually state it explicitly, as do the authors whose works I analyze here.

      All of the authors analyzed in this book perceive Jackson as other, although in somewhat different ways, and they perceive him as powerful in different ways. In every case, however, the power they feel that Jackson had derived from not just his fame and wealth but also from his

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1