In case you haven't heard yet, Michael Jackson is dead (cue hysteria and media overload). But in all the rush, between the grotesque spectacle of his possibly immoral private life and the high quality of his music, it is easy to miss the poignant reality of emotional conflict lying beneath. The tale of Jackson's life, depending on how we look at it, lacks none of the psychological depth of Thomas Mann's "Death in Venice." Every human life no matter how twisted and bizarre or even milquetoast and ordinary possesses a certain dignity, an existential richness that must be understood.
But the media, our source of information for public figures and even local events, trivializes our lives. What would be a moving tragedy becomes a tawdry freak show, as seen by the stronger emphasis the media placed on the change in Jackson's skin color rather than his artistic genius.
Consider the cases of so many child stars. They are a talented breed, yet so much attention is lavished on them that they are often dragged through the corridors of drugs, sex addiction, anorexia, etc., until they become public figures of derision and amusement. They appear on VH1's profoundly disquieting "The Surreal Life," making them seem inhuman. Are their problems really so foreign to us that we feel the need to gawk at them? Their failed attempts at living a happy life are only caricatured versions of our own. As a subject, they are really complex enough to merit the treatment of Tolstoy.
Take a person like Paris Hilton: you can see that her life which is now almost synonymous with superficiality has some deeply disturbing issues at its core. She was raised in the family that owns Hilton Hotels but, despite this immense wealth and privilege, never went to college. We find here a parable on materialism and misplaced values; acting in homemade pornography and reality television were used to acquire attention and more riches while self-cultivation and education fell by the wayside. A similar story can be told about Michael Jackson: these are examples of human beings who are getting it wrong in an ugly and overpublicized but ultimately moving way. They were betrayed by life and never had a chance, and many people should be able to relate, because the same thing happens to us on a smaller scale.
The tabloids trivialize; Fox News and CNN trivialize. The humanity of so many people is stripped away, and they are met with nothing but a wag of the finger and a clucking of the tongue, all for the purpose of creating a snappy headline. As a bumper sticker hidden in the background of the film "American Beauty" urges, "Look Closer."
This dictum, "Look Closer," rings true even in our own microcosm: the police blotter in The Dartmouth, for example. We read incidents every week about people committing outrageous acts, and we just dismiss them as stupid in the same way we dismiss Hilton as a slut or Jackson as a freak. But if we asked instead why a person would indulge beyond the point of conscious choice, the answer could be illuminating. It might involve personal problems, love relationships, a deep discontent, a flight from meaninglessness. Or they might just have drank on an empty stomach I'm not saying everything is interesting.
To search for the grand and human within the mundane and strange is a bold and daunting task, but one, I think, that is necessary. As the late David Foster Wallace observed in his essay, "This Is Water," this change in perspective searching for the meaning behind the otherwise maddening and trivial surface of life might be the only thing that can prevent the most sensitive among us from blowing their brains out. To find Paris Hilton's humanity or that of a seemingly shallow frat bro may be tough, but it is wholly possible and arguably essential.
TV shows like "The Surreal Life" (and basically everything on the E! Channel) simply reinforce the idea that life is freakish and terrible. We may be overcome with giddy repulsion at Lindsay Lohan's latest escapade, but it is not so hard to notice the bars on her and our sideshow cages. These bars are what separate us from the common humanity in others, and they make us believe we are not equally a part of the freak show. Once those bars are discerned, it is time to find a way out and to liberate those trapped in these cages from such a constrictive and degrading image.
