Michael Jackson challenged the power structure of the American music industry and struck at the heart of blackface minstrelsy, America’s first form of mass entertainment. The response was a derisive caricature that over time Jackson subverted through his art.In this expanded, all-new edition, Michael Jackson and the Blackface Mask argues for the tangible relationship between Jackson and blackface minstrelsy. It reveals the dialogue at minstrelsy’s core and, in its broader sense, tracks a centuries-long pattern of racial oppression and its resistance and how that has been played out in popular theatre. Michael Jackson and the Blackface Mask explores Jackson’s early talent and fame and the birth and escalation of ‘Wacko Jacko’. In relation to all this, the book examines Jackson’s dynamic art as it evolved, from his live performances and short films to the very surface of his own body.Scholarly and interdisciplinary, this work is suitable for readers across a diverse spectrum of academic fields, including African American studies, popular music studies and cultural theory, media and communication, gender studies and performance and theatre studies. Academic but accessible, this book will also be an engaging read for anyone interested in Michael Jackson and especially in his role as an icon of difference, in America’s dynamics of race and his mass media image.
Michael Jackson challenged the power structure of the American music industry and struck at the heart of blackface minstrelsy, America’s first form of mass entertainment. The response was a derisive caricature that over time Jackson subverted through his art.In this expanded, all-new edition, Michael Jackson and the Blackface Mask argues for the tangible relationship between Jackson and blackface minstrelsy. It reveals the dialogue at minstrelsy’s core and, in its broader sense, tracks a centuries-long pattern of racial oppression and its resistance and how that has been played out in popular theatre. Michael Jackson and the Blackface Mask explores Jackson’s early talent and fame and the birth and escalation of ‘Wacko Jacko’. In relation to all this, the book examines Jackson’s dynamic art as it evolved, from his live performances and short films to the very surface of his own body.Scholarly and interdisciplinary, this work is suitable for readers across a diverse spectrum of academic fields, including African American studies, popular music studies and cultural theory, media and communication, gender studies and performance and theatre studies. Academic but accessible, this book will also be an engaging read for anyone interested in Michael Jackson and especially in his role as an icon of difference, in America’s dynamics of race and his mass media image.
This two-volume work encourages students, fans, and scholars to take an expansive view of Michael Jackson’s art. Focusing on his films, which it approaches as exquisite works of art as well as a theoretical framework for interpreting his other work, it demonstrates the depth and scope of his art and its far-reaching cultural significance. Specifically, it demonstrates how Jackson engaged in a sophisticated process of telling, untelling, and retelling entrenched cultural narratives that perpetuate prejudice, and how he modified affective responses to racial signifiers and other marks of difference. In this way, Jackson confronted prejudice more profoundly than any other American artist in recent memory. This work also takes a detailed look at the allegations of child sexual abuse. These were so shattering for Jackson both personally and creatively that his life and career divide into two parts – a division reflected in the two-volume structure of this work. Volume One focuses on Jackson’s early films followed by analysis of the allegations, including historical factors that may have influenced how the police, press, and public reacted. Volume Two then focuses on the art Jackson created in response, including some of the most poignant, political, and significant work of his career. Volume Two also looks at evolving perceptions of Jackson’s face and persona, approaching them as revolutionary yet deeply troubling works of art – works that became even more unsettling as Jackson wrestled with the intense emotions unleashed by the abuse allegations. It posits that popular perceptions of Jackson’s face and persona were illusions that performed critically important cultural functions, and that Jackson himself – the man behind the illusion – was a trickster artist. It concludes that Jackson was the most important American artist of our time, and that his face was his masterpiece. However, it only arrives at these conclusions after careful analysis of his films. It’s through his films that Jackson articulates his aesthetic. Therefore, it’s his films that make his face legible.
This two- volume work encourages students, fans, and scholars to take an expansive view of Michael Jackson’s art. Focusing on his films, which it approaches as exquisite works of art as well as a theoretical framework for interpreting his other work, it demonstrates the depth and scope of his art and its far- reaching cultural significance. Specifically, it demonstrates how Jackson engaged in a sophisticated process of telling, untelling, and retelling entrenched cultural narratives that perpetuate prejudice, and how he modified affective responses to racial signifiers and other marks of difference. In this way, Jackson confronted prejudice more profoundly than any other American artist in recent memory. This work also takes a detailed look at the allegations of child sexual abuse. These were so shattering for Jackson both personally and creatively that his life and career divide into two parts – a division reflected in the two- volume structure of this work. Volume One focuses on Jackson’s early films followed by analysis of the allegations, including historical factors that may have influenced how the police, press, and public reacted. Volume Two then focuses on the art Jackson created in response, including some of the most poignant, political, and significant work of his career. Volume Two also looks at evolving perceptions of Jackson’s face and persona, approaching them as revolutionary yet deeply troubling works of art – works that became even more unsettling as Jackson wrestled with the intense emotions unleashed by the abuse allegations. It posits that popular perceptions of Jackson’s face and persona were illusions that performed critically important cultural functions, and that Jackson himself – the man behind the illusion – was a trickster artist. It concludes that Jackson was the most important American artist of our time, and that his face was his masterpiece. However, it only arrives at these conclusions after careful analysis of his films. It’s through his films that Jackson articulates his aesthetic. Therefore, it’s his films that make his face legible.
Piper and Jackson are 7-year-old twins. Piper has a loose tooth and everyone has an opinion about how it should come out. Piper likes her tooth and wants to keep it. Then the tooth falls down the drain and Piper's dad can't get it out and she's afraid the Tooth Fairy won't bring her a gift. Piper decides to get Dad's tools and tries to get the tooth out of the drain herself. She then floods the bathroom. Her family comes together to help clean up the floor and later the Tooth Fairy leaves her a mirror as a surprise.
An insightful read by the New York Times Bestselling author and star of True Crime with Aphrodite Jones. Michael Jackson was the pop icon the media loved to hate. Tremendously wealthy, inarguably eccentric, and one of the most famous people in the world, Jackson was the unenviable target of constant public humiliation. The media poked fun at his skin, his features, his sexuality, and his lifestyle.Here, seasoned crime reporter Aphrodite Jones condemns the media for perpetuating hateful rumors and innuendoes, recounting just the sordid details, and reporting only the most despicable accusations and grisly charges made against Michael Jackson during his criminal trial. They had built a highly profitable industry around the superstar's "freaky life" and banked on his conviction. And, it turns out, they got it all wrong.In their efforts to make money and win ratings, the media missed the truth. It wasn't until after the "not guilty" verdict that Jones had the insight and courage to admit her own unintentional role in the frenzy surrounding the shocking testimony, high drama, and countless celebrities in Michael Jackson's high-profile criminal trial. Bestselling author and TV host Jones makes amends with what is not only a truthful, well-documented chronicle of the entire trial but a powerful indictment against the media for conspiring to distort, dehumanize, and destroy Michael Jackson. She argues convincingly that the case against Jackson amounted to nothing more than a media-made, tax-paid scandal, and she makes an impassioned call to action for the public-at-large to think critically, question the integrity, and demand the truth in the "news".
