Has anyone written the book yet, about how history repeats itself- and how the mythologizing and reverencing of society's idols leads to their inevitable and unattractive evasion of mortality- resulting in the plastic and yet cobwebbed appearance of the said pop gods? Add to this the tragic and futile attempts to maintain and perpetuate the myth that the idol is immutable, eternally beautiful, desirable and as talented as ever was- and you get a sad and pathetically lacquered spectre of what was once a supreme being. None-the-less we revere this image, and as the worshipers in the cult of personality, serve to extend and shoulder up this glory- with its use-by date long past.
Micheal Jackson is gone- and who would have ever thought it? 'Peter Pan' himself has been proved to be a mere mortal and the world is bereft- how will we adjust to life without his input- his ever changing and unnatural beauty, his long-held belief in the sanctity of childhood and his clever yet generically oriented music? Of course we will adjust- to worshiping the memory, to reverencing the image of the man- although this age will, (almost humourously), never be able to quite pinpoint an image which best depicts the man-child- as Jackson himself could not settle into one particular face- and was constantly undergoing surgeries and procedures in order to 'improve' himself. His brothers and sisters, similarly , seem to have been unable to accept the natural aging processes and are resembling Little Richard in his latter days more and more, tragically.
The Jacksons are only the tip of the iceberg, history has shown, especially in this age of film and video, Youtube and facebook, how the great battle and lose against the sands of time. Why do they continue to war against the natural processes we must all succumb to?
Who do we know who continue to evoke adoration and respect amongst the famous, and yet manage to not undergo the rigours of the knife and the plasictization of cosmetic enhancement?
Queen Elizabeth II, Paul Newman, Katherine Hepburn, Brigitte Bardot, there are a few- but not as many who don't chose to grow old gracefully.
To be honest and fair, those idols who died young and beautiful have the advantage over all those who live to a ripe age- Micheal Jackson, Elvis, Princess Diana, Marilyn Munroe, Eva Peron, Grace of Monaco, Ayrton Senna to name a few- there are many more but these will live on in our memories as having an immortal beauty and timeless appeal. For the famous maybe it is not as desirable to have to deal with ones perfection diminishing, to die young and gorgeous- a far more acceptable situation. But we know this is NOT the case- everyone wants to live- and live forever. Held together tenuously by scar tissue and cosmetic tricks, what-ever the case- a 'Star' is no less bothered by the idea of eternal life than the common man or woman is.
And yet, it still seems to me to be an incredibly pathetic scenario that time after time is re-enacted- the meteoric rise to fame is followed by a season in the lime-light followed by a gradual decline, punctuated by the typically anticipated come-backs, which become less and less fresh and authentic. The cliche remains and continues to amaze me- there was really no more fitting end to the Micheal Jackson phenomena- that he should die prematurely, on the eve of yet another comeback, not-with-standing the debts and unanswered questions he leaves behind for the mourning to deal with... that he should die beautiful and adored and with millions of fans in anticipation of being blessed in his re-invented glory yet again...
doesn't it seem just a little staged to you? It does to me- I've seen that movie somewhere before I'm sure- did no body else see Sunset Boulevard?
