Ep. 163: The Man and The Mirror

In this solo minisode, Sam enters the wilderness of mirrors to unpack Michael Jackson: child star, King of Pop, fairy-tale monster, walking logo, and one of the strangest cultural phenomena of the 20th century. Using Margo Jefferson, Wendy Lesser, Mark Fisher, Foucault, Bakhtin, Peter Pan, The Little Prince, Shirley Temple, Diana Ross, Elizabeth Taylor, Bob Fosse, P.T. Barnum, Neverland Ranch, pork pie hats, patent leather shoes, and white spats, Sam pursues Michael as a figure of inversion: the child who was an adult, the adult who became a child, the Black man who became white, the man who became a woman, the innocent who became the guilty. Along the way, she considers the glamour and horror of child stardom, the maternal diva archive, the carnivalesque body, the freakshow of Wacko Jacko, and why Michael’s legacy remains endlessly unresolved.Stargirl’s 100th episode, we love you Emma On Michael Jackson by Margo JeffersonOn Michael Jackson, with Shannon Taggart by Weird StudiesThe Resistible Demise of Michael Jackson, edited by Mark FisherHis Other Half: Men Looking at Women Through Art by Wendy LesserMoonwalk: A Memoir by Michael JacksonThe Autobiography of PT Barnum by PT BarnumRabelais and His World by Mikhail Bakhtinr/LeavingNeverlandHBOMy Family, The Jacksons by Katherine JacksonMichael Jackson’s Interview in Gold Girl Magazine, 2002Michael Jackson - Thriller (Original)Who’s Loving You - The Jackson 5 on The Ed Sullivan ShowInterview with Suzanne de Passe, Motown Costume DesignerHuman Nature, Wembley ‘88 - Michael JacksonMichael Jackson’s This Is ItSylvester Stallone on Michael JacksonBob Fosse, The Little Prince, and Michael JacksonThe Little PrinceMJ Productions’s Letter to The Little PrinceMarianne Williamson officiates Elizabeth Taylor’s wedding to Larry FortenskyElizabeth Taylor surprises Michael Jackson with an elephantAbnor