The Influence of Celebrities on the Social Life of Individuals - Essay Example

Celebrity Case Study Introduction In the contemporary society, the term celebrity is not unfamiliar. The influence celebrities have on the social life of individuals cannot be undermined. Empirically, every person at least has a particular musician, actor, film producer, sports person or even a politician who they admire, look up to or inspires them. In most cases, these celebrities tend to have some philosophical orientation, ideological alignment or just some attribute that makes them stand out in the society. Class, sexuality, gender and race among others are some of the critical social aspects that warrant evaluation in regards to celebrities. Celebrities are characterised by fame, influence and in some cases financial success (Weber, 2014: 100). Inspiration personalities have huge audiences and it is the strategic reason businesses that seek to promote their brands have in the recent past involved them in advertisements. People understandably pay much attention on what celebrities do both fans and haters. As a matter of fact, music, from time immemorial, has been an essential part of human life. Artists who consistently produced high-quality music that attracted a wide audience in the society have gone down in history not only as celebrities but as ‘stars’ and legends. Evidently, Michael Jackson was a music legend whose life was a blessing to many people. This paper seeks to evaluate Michael Jackson as a celebrity and as a case study and comprehensively explore various social elements with regard to his life and contributions while counter-comparing this with theoretical frameworks to come up with an argument supported by practical examples. Brief Information about Michael Jackson Michael Jackson is a name that most people can recognise, whether young or old. Similarly, both men and women identify MJ as he is popularly known for his exhaustively lived 50 years. He was born in August 1958 and died 50 years later in June, 2009. He is famous for his influence in the pop music and dancing styles that have since been embraced. Michael Jackson climbed to become an international figure due to his dedicated work in the music industry. He had an enormous contribution in the arena of music and dance that made the world recognise him sincerely. Apparently, Jackson was born in a family that had a thing with music as he had several siblings sing along with him in what was known as Jackson 5. He did his career music in the year 1964 and about four decades late, the name Michael Jackson was known in every cranny of the society. He became an epitome of pop music. Even after his death, he still wins music awards. This indicates what height he reached in the global framework (Courbet and Fourquet-Courbet, 2014: 279). Justification Why Michael Jackson is a Worthy Figure for Academic Study There are myriad issues of academic interest worth evaluating in the life lived by Michael Jackson. First, his contributions to pop culture make him stand out as figure worth analysing if a holistic understanding of the history of pop is to be achieved. Michael Jackson died a ‘king of pop’, a title he was given by his passionate fans all over the globe that were fascinated by his great flair in pop music. Consequently, Jackson is an influential celebrity whose work was predominantly music oriented. Celebrity Studies is a multidisciplinary discipline that encases areas such as music, culture, and media among others. With this explanation, the field that Michael Jackson specialised on, which is music, is among those that Celebrity Studies blanket. This rationale, therefore, makes Jackson relevant for this kind of academic analysis. Moreover, the large social influence Michael Jackson and the controversies that surrounded his life as person are worth academic analysis. Most of the issues surrounding his social life (which he chose to make public) parallels the theoretical explanations and counter-comparing him with these concepts and perspectives would practically expound the academic knowledge in this regard (Weber, 2014: 155). Michael Jackson’s Music Career According Pratt (2010: 101), Michael Jackson’s music career, as aforementioned begun way back in 1960s when he got an invitation by his auntie to join a family music band known as Jackson 5. Since then he has moved up the music ladder to a point where he was crowned the king of pop music. Until his death six years ago, he worked to transform the face of pop culture and music. He achieved his legendary when he produced an album known as thriller, a music album that has gone into history as the most selling of all time. Jackson rocked the pop world with numerous songs that he first launched at age 13. Having received an overwhelming (George: 2010: 78). Although Jackson stayed in the family group for several years later, he continued to gain great individual achievements that uplifted his spirits in the pop music career. In 1975, due to management reasons, Jackson broke away from the group and continued flourishing in his solo music career. The result of this was unimaginable. Michael Jackson continued to produce captivating music that increased his fame and influence in the music arena. Tracks such as ‘Don’t till you get enough’ and ‘She’s out of my life’ among others won for Jackson Grammy Award way back in the early years of his music career in 1970s thereby setting his career bright for success. Jackson navigated through to 1980s teaming up with other music legends that assisted him grow even bigger. In 1982, Michael Jackson released an album that would later script into history due to its overwhelming reception and purchase. He progressed with his music career breaking several records in the world. Analysis According to Tyler and Bennett (2010: 376), celebrity culture cannot be disentangled with social elements such as identity race, sexuality, class among others. Michael Jackson is an identity of a certain social group of people in the society. The first social group that identified with Jackson was the African-Americans who he seemingly represented in the pop culture. A large number of his fans consisted of Americans of African descent. As Weber (2014: 209) puts it, celebrities are likely to gain large audience when the fans identify themselves with them. True to this, the success of Michael Jackson that started way back in the 1970s inspired most black people who lived in America at a time when cases of racial discrimination was rampant. The large fan base therefore was supported by the racial identification of Michael Jackson as an African-American (Smit, 2012: 137). Consequently, issues of sexuality and gender are critical in celebrity culture. According to Hamad and Taylor (2015: 126), celebrities whose sexuality and gender align with the social expectation are likely to receive audience differently from those who seem to be controversial in regards to these factors. Michael Jackson is one of those celebrities whose sexuality has generated a lot of discussions. With numerous allegations of child molestation, the public trust that he had during his early years seemed to have gone down towards the later days of his life. Holmes and Redmond (2007: 99) believe that the personal life of a celebrity is open to criticisms and any fault identified can be a crack that leads to great career damage. Celebrity life has to be engrossed and synchronised into the personal life of the individual if public trust and reputation is to be maintained. The most famous people tend to keep their personal lives as private and confidential as possible to avoid such controversies that may end up denting their images on the public eye. Michael Jackson’s humanitarian efforts make him a celebrity who identifies himself with the less fortunate class in the society. He has gone on record as a celebrity who dedicated his life to assisting the poor by the numerous programs and projects he initiated to meet this goal. According to Marcus (2015: 3), celebrities are a sign of class identity. In most cases, they always represent the upper and middle class. However, Michael Jackson humility to the poor disadvantaged identifies him on different social class and status. Since 1984 to around 2003, Jackson has been engaged in very many charity programs directed towards assisting the needy persons in the world. This has earned him various charity awards; all that appreciate his humane heart and care for the community. Bennett (2010: 232) explains that celebrity class is observed based what they do. The kind of music the sing and the message in those songs also forms the basis of class identification. To Michael Jackson, humbly down and giving back to the society was a noble action to take. The ideological framework or the philosophical alignment of Michael Jackson can be easily identified in the lyrics of some of his songs as well as some of the quotes he made. The most famous quotes of Jackson had the message of love and kindness. In most of his talks, he warned against judging people without knowing their past. Courbet and Fourquet-Courbet (2014: 278) describe this philosophical point view as ‘philosophy of positivity in life’. This is what Michael Jackson subscribed to. He was a lover of life who sought to leave the world better than he found it. He pursued various ways in which he could bring down and crush the class inequalities that segregated ‘humans from fellow humans’. This was demonstrated by the many charity donations he made and the numerous songs he sung to reinforce his undying treasure for life. This celebrity’s impact on societal transformation was phenomenal. He has inspired and become a role model to many people. Moreover, his decision to try out plastic surgery after an accident he encountered philosophical symbolized his undying motivation to better his life no matter what he went through. Conclusion In conclusion, Michael Jackson is a typical example of a celebrity rich in resources for academic study. Celebrity study can practically refer numerous concepts from Michael Jackson’s life both as a pop musician and as a person. As seen, Jackson went through a few steps that led him to his myriad achievements in the music career. Despite the obstacles, Jackson developed resilience and went on to become a legendary celebrity whose mark in the lives of fans cannot be erased. Having a strong determination coupled with talent and a good heart, he has grown to be one of the distinguished celebrities who lived their lives for others’: the poor in the society. He used social elements such as race, class among others to benefit the society and even years after his death his touch lives on. From the analysis, it can be seen that he was an agent of transformation. References Bennett, J. (2010). Michael Jackson: celebrity death, mourning and media events, Celebrity Studies, vol. 1, 2, pp. 231-232. Courbet, D. & Fourquet-Courbet, M. (2014). When a celebrity dies …Social identity, uses of social media, and the mourning process among fans: the case of Michael Jackson, Celebrity Studies, vol. 5, no. 3, pp. 275-290. George, N. (2010). Thriller the musical life of Michael Jackson, New York, Da Capo Press. Hamad, H. & Taylor, A. (2015). Introduction: feminism and contemporary celebrity culture. Celebrity Studies, vol. 6, no. 1, pp.124-127. Holmes, S. & Redmond, S. (2007). Stardom and celebrity: a reader, London, SAGE. Marcus, S. (2015). Celebrity, Past and Present, Public Culture, vol. 27, no. 1, pp. 1-5. Pratt, M.K. (2010). Michael Jackson king of pop, Edina, Minn, ABDO Pub. Co. Smit, C.R. (2012). Michael Jackson: grasping the spectacle, Farnham, Surrey, Ashgate. Tyler, I. & Bennett, B. (2010). Celebrity chav: Fame, femininity and social class. European Journal of Cultural Studies, vol. 13, no. 3, pp. 375-393. Weber, B.R. (2014). Reality gendervision: sexuality & gender on transatlantic reality television, Durham, London, Duke University Press. Read More