Not a Good Week in Hollywood
July 1, 2009 • written by Samantha Hartfiel
The last week of June was not a pleasant one to be a celebrity. The week was filled with misfortune in Hollywood from the dramatic split of Jon and Kate of the reality show Jon and Kate plus Eight, to the deaths of minor celebrities, television game show host Ed McMahon, actress Farrah Fawcett, and Oxy-Clean pitchmen Billy Mays. However, the most influential and infamous death was that of Michael Jackson, the 50 year old mega singer whose life was anything but ordinary.
Jackson, who began his music career at the ripe age of 8 with his four brothers in the Jackson 5, exploded into popularity in the 1980’s with his trendy album Thriller, which featured classic songs Thriller, Billie Jean, and Beat It, and is still the highest selling album in history. He was also well known for his signature dance move, the moonwalk, which he utilized when performing his song Billie Jean on stage. Throughout the decades in which Jackson entertained, he became an international phenomenon, and was more popular in other countries than the United States. He is also famed in breaking down racial barriers and opening the door to several of today’s popular artists including Beyonce and Justin Timberlake. Unfortunately, as Michael’s career grew bigger and bigger, the man became involved in and accused of many bizarre affairs, most notable the accusations of child molestation in the early 1990’s. Therefore, when the generation of students currently attending Park High School think of Jackson, the first thing that several think of is his disturbing past.
“I received about 3 or 4 jokes about Jackson and children the day after his death” replied one upcoming Park senior, “It was a little disrespectful but that’s how most of us knew Michael Jackson.”
Fortunately, many of the students at Park had only respectable things to say when hearing about the unexpected death of Jackson. Facebook messages and texts flew like mad displaying messages like “OMG, the king of pop is gone!” or “RIP Michael Jackson.” One girl even admitted that she and her friends had a moment of silence when they heard the shocking news. These displays show that while Jackson was extraneous throughout their lives, his music and legacy overcame and really did have an influence almost 4 decades after first appearing in the music scene.
“I had just done a report about music of the 1980’s so I learned a lot about Jackson in his glory days” admits senior Samantha Hartfiel, “therefore when I heard about his death, I thought about the Thriller music video. I forgot all about the child molestation accusations until I was reminded by the specials on TV, which was kind of unfortunate.”
To some other students, the death of Jackson really did not make much difference.
“I find it a little annoying all the coverage about Jackson. I could really care less” replied one anonymous student.
Overall, the death of Jackson appeared to be a shock to many. News spread quickly and most people knew about it within 20 minutes of the confirmation. It appeared that whether people found Jackson’s death to be good, bad, or indifferent, most people had something to say about the occurrence.
“I got three consecutive texts about his death,” said one Park female. “I even got one that was marked as urgent. It was amazing how everyone saw it as such a big deal. Jackson really did make his mark in the world. ”
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