The House Next Door

The Times arts blog on Jackson and Fawcett.

Fawcett's death is sad, for her family and for guys (like me) whose puberty was kick-started by that feather-haired pinup. Jackson's is monumental. The man's life was so complex and troubling from a biographical (and later, legal) standpoint, and so formally ambitious (bridging the gap between soul and rock like nobody before or since) and so flat-out mesmerizing (the voice was absolutely angelic) that it'll be decades before we get a real perspective on what his life meant.

Although the guy was more troubling (sometimes appalling) than inspiring for much of his adult life, the human being as case study, I still feel immensely saddened by his passing. His music was bright and sharp, his voice ethereally beautiful. Even as his private life became increasingly weird and repellent, I never could bring myself to think of him as a villain, much more as a victim. Nobody who attains such immense success and wealth and then puts it toward building a life of Xanadu-like isolation and systematically obliterating all the facial features that were once his visual stamp could possibly be a happy person. What he did to himself, and the dark places into which he dragged others, could only have been the result of primal horrors suffered as a child. The combination of physical abuse and growing up in a spotlight (and being not so much raised as owned, more like Flipper than Mozart) must have fried his synapses early. That he could concentrate on anything at all after such a fucked-up childhood is rather extraordinary; that he'd later prove himself monumentally dysfunctional seems not the least bit surprising. When I think of his music, and then his life, I picture a flower repeatedly mashed into the muck by a heavy boot, yet somehow always summoning the strength to keep rising up again, looking for sunlight.

One could sense the artist in him continually reaching for a pure place that he very possibly was never allowed to experience here on earth.

Thank you for putting it so well, Matt.

Given the general tenor of reactions on the web, I'm feeling a bit squemish about posting something about Michael Jackson that's anything more than a knee-jerk condemnation of him as a CHILD MOLESTER!!1!!

But seeing as how Matt has taken a more ruminative approach without apparent incident, I'd like to take a stab at it, too.

So may I first take a moment to state categorically that I don't support child molesters, child molestation, NAMBLA or any organization or ideology which thinks sex with children is hunky dory?

Okay, then...

I've always felt a deep sadness for Michael Jackson. Something was fundamentally wrong there, and you can see it all the way back to his days in The Jackson 5. As a child he was forced to sing songs about pining after women at an age when most children are doing nothing of the sort. As an adult, he seemed to want to do nothing but finally be a child, incapable of understanding that it couldn't be.

So I don't know. There are some troubling details, certainly, but nothing ever quite seemed like a smoking gun. Naive or not, I'm actually inclined to think that maybe Michael wasn't sleeping with children in order to have sex with them but rather simply to try and recapture a time in his life that was denied him.

And it's not that I would find such a claim generally plausible from anyone, but from Michael, I did. Corey Feldman says he didn't molest him. MacCauley Culkin also says he didn't molest him, I believe. So what was he doing with the children? I generally think he was just trying to be a child himself, as if it could happen if he could just isolate himself enough and will it to be with the help of children.

If that's the case, his life makes it very clear that all the money in the world can't fill that kind of a hole, and it makes his legacy less one of pop genius and more a cautionary tale about pushing children too hard into adult roles.

If, rather than being a child predator he was merely an immature regressive manchild, imagine how horrifying it must have been to go from being loved and adored to vilified as a monster.

If his death turns out to be suicide, I won't be the least surprised.

Now please don't attack me for defending a child molester. I'm only defending him if he wasn't, and I'm not convinced that, for someone as bizarrely eccentric/crazy, the act of sleeping in a bed with a child, however inappropriate, proves that he molested children.

I just think maybe he was just crazy.

Let us remember on this solemn occasion that Katharine Hepburn once invited Michael jackson to dinner and was disappointed that he couldn't carry on a conversation about anything.

such great loss for the entertainment industry.

the two shall be missed...

my heart goes out to farrah's loved ones. she will certainly be missed. i lit a virtual candle and left a lasting condolence to her family at tributes.com/farrah-fawcett

Well, the universe certainly is a complicated place, isn't it?

Jackson has earned everything coming his way, good and bad: recognition of his immeasurable imprint on world music & culture, immortality through his brilliant music (which rightfully lives on), his place in history as a trailblazing, brave, black American hero, credit for his philanthropy, sympathy for his brutal treatment by the media, credit as a brilliant businessman, & condemnation for his years of unspeakable evil.

He has MORE than earned a place in history that remembers ALL of these qualities. He had 50 years, and did much with his time. Now he shall be remembered for all of it. As it will be for all of us.

While I certainly respect the opinions of Jackson's defenders (re: charges of child molestation), I personally feel, however, that excuses & explanations made for him are prime examples of the blinding power of celebrity.

I think that the more time passes and the blinding light of his celebrity fades, the truth will become increasingly obvious. Not unlike the wide understanding now of baseball's steriod era, or that the church has been covering for its sexual predators, that Madoff was a fraud, that there never were any WMD in Iraq, that the strong housing market was an illusion, etc...

Time has a way of making obvious what was not always so clear.

One more post:

I agree wholeheartedly with Kensington that Michael Jackson should also be remembered as a cautionary tale for children in the entertainment industry.

For many of us adults, children remain incomprehensibly fragile and vulnerable. As adults I do think we overestimate what they can handle and endure, and think of our own needs before theirs (both as parents of young talent, or as an audience for the entertainment they provide).

A child who finds themselves a celebrity is likely destined to years of adult suffering, at best.

If anyone was put on this earth to be a child star, it was Jackson. But all the talent in the world couldn't save him from starting so young.

america's obsessions with race, sexuality and celebrity turned a supremely talented child into what michael jackson became. i hope that doesn't get lost in all of this. WE MADE HIM. all of us...

Anonymous' comment reminds me of the great scene in "Three Kings," where Mark Wahlberg is interrogated by his Iraqi capturer about Michael Jackson.

"What is the problem with Michael Jackson?"

"I don't understand."

"Michael Jackson. You're country make him chop up his face."

"No, he did it to himself."

"PLEASE! It is obvious my main man! Your country make the black man hate himself, so he make his skin white and chop up his face."

"I don't think so."

"Michael Jackson is pop king of sick fucking country."

It's interesting how many are calling Jackson a child molester without knowing whether the allegations are true or not. Like always, human beings like to pretend that they know the truth or like to pin labels . . . while remaining ignorant. Was he a child molester? I haven't the foggiest idea. Am I going to call him one? Why should I? I DON'T KNOW. No one realy knows the truth.

The interesting this is that I was surprised to discover that legal problems also surrounded Fawcett. Not her, particularly, but hers and Ryan O'Neal's son, Redmond. Over drugs.

But you know what? Regardless of Jackson and Fawcett's problems, I cannot deny that both were talented. And both certainly left a strong impact - entertainment wise - on my youth. I'll miss them both.

By the way . . .

"america's obsessions with race, sexuality and celebrity turned a supremely talented child into what michael jackson became. i hope that doesn't get lost in all of this. WE MADE HIM. all of us..."


I'm afraid I'll have to agree with this assessment. Not completely. After all, Jackson is responsible for some of the mistakes he has made. But I feel that the world's obssession with celebrities has contributed a lot to whatever problems he had. I could probably say the same about Fawcett, as well.

Matt, I truly enjoyed what you said. I felt so sad upon hearing about his death. It was a different kind of sad than I felt when Elvis died. I'm old enough that Elvis was the music of my adolescence and his handsome face the one I pined for. When he died in 1977, I felt as if I'd been punched and was sad for days.

Obviously I was much, much older when Michael Jackson became a star. But I clearly remember visiting a much younger friend who played the album Thriller for me. I was galvanized by it, and immediately went out and bought one.

The main point I wanted to make is hard for me to articulate. But I can't help but be disgusted at these public gatherings of people playing his music and mourning for the cameras. Who are these people? They turn up for every celebrity death, tears streaming down their cheeks. As I said before, I felt deep sadness when Elvis died, but it never occurred to me to wail in public, much less visit Graceland!

As someone else said, Michael Jackson was never convicted of child molestation. Public figures settle malicious and unfounded lawsuits all the time - to get the thing off the front page and to save money in the long run, given what defending legal cases costs. This is not to say he wasn't guilty. Only he and the children involved know the truth. I find it repellent that so many people are bringing up that fact after his death.

I wrote some of my own personal reflections on being an MJ fan here, if you care to read: http://wenyeowchan.blogspot.com/2009/06/few-words-on-michael-jackson.html

MZS: "the result of primal horrors suffered as a child"

Agree. Well put. Your whole comment is very well put. Thank you.

R.I.P Jackson and Farrah:
remember you always and will always be in our hearts.Family Valles