 |
 |
|
Jacko and the Angel: Why We Care
Englewood Cliffs, NJ
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Dr. Patricia A. Farrell
ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, NJ: Entertainment stars come and go, but some of them, a very few, live on and, in some ways, attain a kind of immortality. Michael Jackson, the King of Pop as he was known, died on the same day as Farrah Fawcett, the forever blond, forever young star of "Charlie's Angels" One's painful illness and treatments was carefully filmed for for a documentary on the personal trials of an icon with cancer; the other hid his pain and his illnesses. Two icons, two incredibly successful people from two different worlds whose numbered days on earth, ironically, both ended on a Thursday in June in the same city in California just hours apart.
I went to one of Michael Jackson's concerts in Madison Square Garden in New York City many years ago and it was a memorable evening. The precision of the choreography, the lighting, the pyrotechnics--it was all carefully and expertly staged. I can only think it was geared to hypnotize and it truly did. The audience was roaring and rushed the stage, knocking over seats in an exclusive front-row area. At the end, when thousands of people were winding their way down the narrow staircases into the tunnel-like exits, someone shouted, "Gun!" and everyone began a mad dash for the doors. It was probably someone's idea of a joke because there were no shots, no guns and no police swarming toward the crowd.
When Farrah Fawcett tried to earn credibility as a true actress, I was standing outside a small off-Broadway theatre on Manhattan's West Side waiting for the theatre next door to open its doors. She emerged after her performance of "Extremeties" for which she had received very favorable reviews. There she stood at the curb with perhaps two men waiting for her car. No pretense, just a young woman waiting for her ride home. She smiled shyly at the crowd that seemed to stay back just looking at her, perhaps not believing it was really "her"
Each had their loyal fans and each will, probably, have those few fans who will make the pilgrimage to their graves, their homes or some favored spot. If in life these fans couldn't actually touch these stars or get close enough, now they will have many chances. We saw that, and still do see it, in the James Dean devotees who trek to the graveyard in Indiana, the "Lady in Black" who visited Rudolph Valentino's grave each year on the day of his death and placed a rose there and those who flock to Graceland to see home of "The King," Elvis Presley.
Jackson's death was unexpected, just as Elvis' was and that will probably add to the fevor as speculation grows about how and why he died. We can expect interviews and books and bits and pieces being strung out for a variety of reasons. In death, Michael Jackson may have been pushed into the news as he might have wanted, but not for this reason. The career was about to go into revival mode just as it was to be for Presley who was preparing for a return to the stage when he died suddenly.
Farrah knew her final film was to be a journey of pain that would end not in a career resurrection, but, hopefully, a film to offer hope for other cancer sufferers.
They were both held in awe and will now be icons against which all future stars are measured.
Why do we care about them? Probably because they offered an opportunity to believe that fame is still within reach, that talent and the beautiful people are just like us. People related to them because some aspects of their lives were similar and for brief periods they provided some relief from our daily concerns.
http://www.drfarrell.net
I went to one of Michael Jackson's concerts in Madison Square Garden in New York City many years ago and it was a memorable evening. The precision of the choreography, the lighting, the pyrotechnics--it was all carefully and expertly staged. I can only think it was geared to hypnotize and it truly did. The audience was roaring and rushed the stage, knocking over seats in an exclusive front-row area. At the end, when thousands of people were winding their way down the narrow staircases into the tunnel-like exits, someone shouted, "Gun!" and everyone began a mad dash for the doors. It was probably someone's idea of a joke because there were no shots, no guns and no police swarming toward the crowd.
When Farrah Fawcett tried to earn credibility as a true actress, I was standing outside a small off-Broadway theatre on Manhattan's West Side waiting for the theatre next door to open its doors. She emerged after her performance of "Extremeties" for which she had received very favorable reviews. There she stood at the curb with perhaps two men waiting for her car. No pretense, just a young woman waiting for her ride home. She smiled shyly at the crowd that seemed to stay back just looking at her, perhaps not believing it was really "her"
Each had their loyal fans and each will, probably, have those few fans who will make the pilgrimage to their graves, their homes or some favored spot. If in life these fans couldn't actually touch these stars or get close enough, now they will have many chances. We saw that, and still do see it, in the James Dean devotees who trek to the graveyard in Indiana, the "Lady in Black" who visited Rudolph Valentino's grave each year on the day of his death and placed a rose there and those who flock to Graceland to see home of "The King," Elvis Presley.
Jackson's death was unexpected, just as Elvis' was and that will probably add to the fevor as speculation grows about how and why he died. We can expect interviews and books and bits and pieces being strung out for a variety of reasons. In death, Michael Jackson may have been pushed into the news as he might have wanted, but not for this reason. The career was about to go into revival mode just as it was to be for Presley who was preparing for a return to the stage when he died suddenly.
Farrah knew her final film was to be a journey of pain that would end not in a career resurrection, but, hopefully, a film to offer hope for other cancer sufferers.
They were both held in awe and will now be icons against which all future stars are measured.
Why do we care about them? Probably because they offered an opportunity to believe that fame is still within reach, that talent and the beautiful people are just like us. People related to them because some aspects of their lives were similar and for brief periods they provided some relief from our daily concerns.
http://www.drfarrell.net
Patricia A. Farrell, Ph.D.
Licensed Psychologist
Patricia A. Farrell, Ph.D., LLC
Englewood Cliffs, NJ
