Michael Jackson's Multiple Personas

On June 25, 2009, the World was crushed to find that Michael Jackson had passed away. His life and love for his talent was cut short due to drug use. Michael Jackson is a hero and an inspiration to many. He has created one of the biggest fan bases through his music and other talents including songwriting, dancing, choreographing, acting, and philanthropy. Michael Jackson struggled with himself and his identity, which ultimately led to his death. Michaels struggle is apparent throughout the years by looking at the significant transformation he made.

Cashmore and Franco both talk about identity and how it changes over time. Stars will change their identity multiple times to continue to be accepted by the public. A prime example of an exterior transformation is Michael Jackson. Like Cashmore and Franco said, these stars are people but also have personas. Michael Jackson had an ever-changing persona.

As a young boy, Michael was a cute African American; he had dark features and black curly hair. By the age of twenty-six he had become involved in the use of plastic surgery by narrowing his nose and shaping his eyebrows. People in the African American community noticed his changes and claimed he had made his nose more “white.” At age twenty-seven he underwent another nose job and tattooed permanent eyeliner around his eyes. At twenty-nine Michael had his third nose job, enhanced his cheekbones, and magically changed his skin color from dark to light. By forty-one he had his nose and chin done again and got new cheeks and a smaller jaw. As I look through the rest of the list of surgery’s there are too many to name. Finally, during September of 2004, Michael got his final new nose from part of his ear.

The transformation Michael made was to go from a young black man to a feminine white man. The changes he made were drastic and almost unrecognizable. Michael Jackson did this to create an identity that he felt would be more pleasing to the fans. I believe that by making such a transformation he created a backlash and people did not like him. I think that the criticism of his appearance and the stress created due to such a transformation had a profound impact on his life and was one of the factors that led to his death.