That's sad news. Living two years after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer is very rare, so you know he was a fighter. I always enjoyed Patrick Swayze's work (well, except for his singing). "To Wong Foo" and "Dirty Dancing" were both great, and I think his role in the "North and South" TV miniseries way-back-when was, too. Still, my first thought on hearing this was, now he's a "Ghost."
Michael Jackson's death has made me face the paradoxical set of feelings he evokes in me. I have enjoyed his videos, liked most of his music, and been very moved by some of his songs. But the increasing Level of Freak throughout his career took its toll, and, lately, he's just been easier to dismiss or ignore. Now that he's dead, it's like I have to decide once and for all how I feel about him. (It was this post on Feministe that got me thinking about it.)
MJ's death forces me to look at the conflicting emotions he inspired, and the past couple of days I've been surprised at how much I really liked those songs. "Human Nature" "Man in the Mirror" "Black and White" "You Are Not Alone". I believe world is a better place because of those songs and many others like them.
But the other stuff...the sordid, disturbing, devastatingly personal Other Stuff. It obscures the art. And I have to ask myself, Why does my enjoying and appreciating the art make me feel like I'm trying to excuse all the horror?
I can't reconcile it. So sometimes I really like and appreciate Michael Jackson. And sometimes I'm repulsed by the thought of the guy. I guess I'll just have to live with both those realities, appreciate the aspects of his work that I think are genius, and hope through it all that MJ has found some much-needed peace.
