Written Analysis-Analysis 3

     American society’s reaction to Michael Jackson’s death in 2009 perfectly demonstrates the cult of celebrities. For many days after his death, all of the major television networks were flooded with news of his death and reminiscing his life’s achievements. It seemed that his death was more important than any political or world news.

     During the reminiscence of his life’s achievements, the networks overlooked many of the morally questionable details of his personal life. As an alleged child molester of ambiguous sexual identity, these details did not mesh with the Michael Jackson we came to know and love, the illustrious entertainer. Michael was undoubtedly popular, in the United States and all over the world. At his funeral, there were more than a million attendees. Hordes of gatherers have visited his former house and improvised monuments have been raised in his name at several sites.

     This type of worship of a celebrity, like Michael, extends far beyond talent for entertaining. The cult of celebrity may have allowed Jackson’s sexual and racial identity confusion to contribute, in some odd fashion, to his appeal to many who were looking for an idol and could identify with him. Michael’s many surgical reconstructions illustrate how he defied societal norms and the very laws of nature.

     In a culture that encourages its society to worship their celebrities more than their everyday heroes, it is really no surprise that Michael Jackson’s cult of celebrity reacted as cultists would. The media enables, and even promotes, this behavior through their creation and manipulation of popular culture. We as a society must really begin to analyze our personal values and realize that they have an effect on our culture. After all, this is the culture that we are teaching our children, the people who will replace us.

Icon Analysis

What is an icon? When I typed “icon definition” in Google’s web search engine it defined icon as “a person or thing regarded as a representative symbol of something.” This definition is pretty straightforward, but I will build upon it by discussing the three characters from three different popular television series as icons in today’s popular culture. The three characters I will discuss are Claire from House of Cards, Lori from The Walking Dead, and Tara from Sons of Anarchy.

Claire Underwood is the wife of the House of Cards’ protagonist, an ambitious and cunning politician, Francis J. "Frank" Underwood. She is a lobbyist and leads a nonprofit environmental conservation organization. Lori Grimes is the wife of The Walking Dead’s protagonist, Rick Grimes, a previous sheriff’s deputy and group leader. She is part of a group of survivors in a post-zombie-apocalyptic world. Dr. Tara Knowles-Teller is the wife of Sons of Anarchy’s protagonist, Jax Teller, the National President of an outlaw motorcycle club. Tara works as a pediatric surgeon.

Claire

Lori

Tara

I chose these three icons because I find it ironic that even though they appear on three different networks, they have so much in common. They are women married to men in leadership positions, and disagree with the some of the their husband’s decisions throughout the series. They act as supporting roles to their protagonist husbands and vary their roles, playing both “cold as ice” and vulnerable, emotional women.

These iconic characters seem to represent popular culture’s definition of a good “wife” and a woman’s role in a marriage. This is apparent to me because throughout the three series one pattern is very prevalent: these characters are only portrayed negatively when they disobey, betray, or oppose their husbands. As a nation, we have definitely made progress achieving women’s equality through legislature. However, to achieve true equality, it seems we should penetrate popular culture as well.

Written Analysis - Analysis 1

Written Analysis-Analysis 1

            Even posthumously, Michael Jackson is someone who embodies the concepts of popular beliefs, myths and icons of popular culture. In this analysis, I will focus on the myths that surrounded Michael Jackson’s life.

Michael’s appearance transformations were shrouded in myth. In the early 1980s, when the album, Thriller, was released, he changed from a “lithe, afro’d, fresh-faced sensation” to a sex icon (Cowley, 2001). Additionally, Cowley wrote, “[Michael’s] nose was more sculpted, his cheekbones higher and his lips seemed thinner” (2001). Jackson underwent many more physical alterations—including multiple rhinoplasties and skin pigment changes (Triggs, 2009). Jackson’s appearance transformed entirely, and the world followed these transformations for decades.

Many myths that enveloped Michael’s life concerned his relationships with women. He was twice married. Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley secretly married in the Dominican Republic in May 1994 (Time). Maintaining a completely private marriage, nearly two years later, they divorced with no children together (Time). Three months after his divorce, he married Debbie Rowe, had two children and divorced after three years together (Wikipedia, 2014). Later, Jackson fathered a third child by a surrogate mother (Wikipedia, 2014).

Lastly, myth surrounded Michael’s peculiar relationships with children. A lawsuit was filed against him for seduction and sexual abuse after being accused of molesting a 13-year-old boy (Montaldo). Jackson countered the allegation, pleading innocence. Eventually, he paid his accuser approximately $20 million. Additionally, in 2002, Jackson dangled a baby over a hotel balcony (Montaldo). No confirmation was made to whether or not the child was one of his three children.

Between Michael Jackson’s appearance alterations and personal relationships, he exemplifies the myth theory. However, these myths didn’t and don’t hinder his album sales.

References

Cowley, J. (2001, January 29). The man in the mirror. Retrieved February 28, 2014, from NewStatesman.com: http://www.newstatesman.com/node/139525

Montaldo, C. (n.d.). Michael Jackson - the king of pop or wacko jacko? (Part 2). Retrieved February 28, 2014, from About.com: http://crime.about.com/od/current/p/michael_jacksn2.htm

Time. (n.d.). Top 10 Michael Jackson moments. Retrieved February 28, 2014, from Time Lists: http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1907249_1907255_1907251,00.html

Triggs, C. (2009, July 10). Inside story: Michael Jackson's plastic surgery. Retrieved February 28, 2014, from People.com: http://www.people.com/people/package/article/0,,20287787_20290367,00.html

Wikipedia. (2014, February 23). Personal relationships of Michael Jackson. Retrieved February 28, 2014, from Wikipedia.org: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_relationships_of_Michael_Jackson

Popular Culture Blog

Popular culture is a trend or trends specific to a group of people who have something in common. It is important to me because it influences multiple facets of my life. Therefore, I must be aware of its existence and how it influences my behavior and actions and the behavior and actions around me.

An understanding of popular culture is relevant to me in a business environment because it greatly affects my ability to work with people and effectively market consumer products. As a recruiter, I must be cognizant of popular culture in order to enhance interpersonal relationships within my community and to identify the best methods to reach my desired audience.

I would consider Quick Response (QR) codes to be an example of a popular culture artifact. I would choose it because it is a relatively new trend that is specific to this era of technology innovativeness.