Finding Neverland

The Man in the Mirror 

Back in the early 70's, I enjoyed the Jackson 5, and was impressed with the singing/dancing talents of the young Michael Jackson. I continued liking his music as he grew into adolescence and young adulthood. He did "Ben", "The Wiz" and then "Off the Wall" which set him apart as a truly gifted, inspired song writer, dancer and singer. He displayed a sensitivity that set him clearly apart from the soul/disco Lotharios of the time (e.g. Al Green, Barry White).

His tour de force was of course, "Thriller". His ability to work with other artists like Paul McCartney and Eddie Van Halen, as well as his chameleon-like ability to cross musical genres made him fascinating. When he appeared on a 1983 Motown special in his latest incarnation -- a moon walking, one-glove wearing, Webster carrying musical mastermind, the nation was spellbound. It was quite clear at this point that Michael had had a small amount of cosmetic surgery, and he had his share of eccentricities. But he was only 25, and the world was very forgiving. It's interesting, in retrospect, that the "Thriller" video itself was a harbinger of times to come. A morphing Michael who "isn't like the other guys" was about to take the stage.

What followed in the mid 80's, even before his next album, was a barrage of news stories about chimpanzees, hyperbaric oxygen chambers and the bones of elephant man. Where other celebs are extremely cautious to gauge how something will play in Peoria, Michael seemed to indulge his personal, private whims with nary a care. When his next album, "Bad" came out in 1987, it was something of a letdown. None of the songs carried the same magic as before; on the cover and in the video, he evinced more surgery and pallid white skin. His music seemed preachy and mis-guidedly messianic, not inspired. What followed in 1991 was "Dangerous" which did little to dispel the impressions from "Bad".

The 1990's were not at all a good decade for Michael. I had secretly rooted for him, because he seemed like an individualist that marched to his own drummer. Trouble was, he seemed to be drifting further into a dysfunctional private Idaho where nobody offered him credible feedback. The ultimate irony is him naming his estate "Neverland" so as to establish once and for all his childlike essence, and his separation from the madding crowd. The first fissure of the 90's was an Oprah interview where Michael claimed to be dating Brooke Shields, to have the skin disease vitiligo, and to have had minimal cosmetic surgery. Brooke politely denied his assertion, and his other statements were blatantly at odds with what was visible and obvious. ("As plain as the nose on your face" you might say).

What followed is a flurry of events so mind-boggling I'll just hit the highlights here: He was accused of child molestation in 1993, paid the accuser millions to drop the charges. Married Lisa Marie Presley briefly, and she defended him in an ABC interview, saying they had an active sex life. Michael had 3 children with a former assistant, and there is speculation that all 3 were done via artificial insemination. He dangled one from a hotel balcony in Berlin. He faced molestation charges again, in 2005, years after a "normal" person would've concluded that sleepovers with minors give people a bad impression. People who've worked close to him have revealed ironies upon ironies: He reportedly calls black people "spabooks" and prefers the company of whites. He still adheres to some of his Jehovah's Witness doctrine and condemns gays as immoral, though he appears to be implicated in sex acts with boys. His nose reductions are so extreme, he's said to have permanently damaged the blood supply to the nose, and what he has now is a prosthesis.

What I see with Michael is not an evil person, but rather a man in a fantasy world, who never had to confront reality until now. Mental health professionals could probably publish volumes about Michael and his convoluted life. He was apparently suspended in childhood, and most likely sees his own exploits with minors as a form of child's play. It is truly unfortunate that Michael is coming to terms (if indeed he is coming to terms), only because charges are brought by a district attorney. Maybe at last, he can heed his own words and look at "The Man in the Mirror".