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商品の説明
内容説明
Margo Jefferson’s On Michael Jackson is a lucid and elegant cultural analysis of the rise and fall of the King of Pop.An award-winning cultural critic, Jefferson brings an unexpected compassion as well as her sharp intellect and incomparable insight to Jackson’s 2005 trial for child molestation, startling us with her erudite illumination of a media-drenched circus that we only thought we understood. As only she can, Jefferson reads between the lines of Jackson’s 1998 autobiography as well as published accounts of his childhood, his family, and Motown—where Michael and his brothers first made the Jackson 5 a household name—leaving us with provocative and perhaps unanswerable questions about Jackson, child stardom, and fame itself.
From Publishers Weekly
Pulitzer-winning New York Times critic Jefferson collects her meditations on what may be the oddest show-biz figure of all time. "Freaks" is the title of her first essay, and she notes Jackson's attraction to Barnum as well as the strangely apt imagery of his best-known video, "Thriller." Born in 1958 to a bullying father and a mother who was a Jehovah's Witness convert, the youngest member of the Jackson Five quickly became its VIP. Child stars are never "normal," and Jefferson glances at Buster Keaton, Jackie Coogan, Sammy Davis Jr. and, of course, Shirley Temple, the only one of them even more famous than Jackson, unless you count Elizabeth Taylor, Jackson's "best friend," who supplanted Diana Ross as his apparent role model. Jackson, Jefferson believes, is a "sexual impersonator," imitating, at times, a gay man, a white woman, a "gangsta" and a "pop Count Dracula." His bizarre looks and behavior drew literally thousands of cameras to his 2005 trial for child molestation. Jefferson concludes that Jackson may be a "monstrous child," but that he is, to a degree, a mirror of us all. Her slim, smart volume of cultural analysis may remind readers of Susan Sontag's early, brilliant essays on pop culture. (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --このテキストは、絶版本またはこのタイトルには設定されていない版型に関連付けられています。
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --このテキストは、絶版本またはこのタイトルには設定されていない版型に関連付けられています。
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カスタマーレビュー
最も参考になったカスタマーレビュー
4 人中、4人の方が、｢このレビューが参考になった｣と投票しています。
形式:ペーパーバック|Amazonが確認した購入
２００７年の初版であること、著者がNEW YORK TIMESの批評家であることで、この本を購入しました。一連の追悼文ではなく、判決から２年ほどの歳月の時点で、あの裁判、そしてマイケルはどのように描写されているのかに興味が沸いたからです。裁判に関しては、「当初から、マイケルは判決どおりの潔白だった。」という視点に立って、弁護士、陪審員、メディアを別々に分析していますが、その内容は「マイケルジャクソン裁判」の原書「CONSPIRACY」と矛盾しない。マイケルの家族一人ひとりとの関係、天才子役だった他のタレントとの比較、ブラックミュージックの流れの中でのマイケル、とそれぞれ興味深い。
ただ残念なのは、彼が自ら語っていた「尋常性白斑病」についてはかなり懐疑的であること。そのため、「彼の音楽シーンでのスタイルは、白と黒だけではなく、男と女、民族、階級といった、全ての壁をクロスオーバーしようとするもの」との分析は納得できても、そこに、ＰＶでの変身の多様性を結びつけるのは納得できても、「だからあの整形。あの白いメークでしょう」となるのは、いかがなものかと思ってしまう。GAY疑惑にも、「本当のことはわからない。」に留まっている。しかも、彼女は、音楽評論家でないのはもちろん、個人的に、ポップを愛する感性も、マイケルの音楽への造詣もそれほどあるとは思えず（PVの描写などは、読んでいて、少し気恥ずかしくなる）その観点から期待すると、余り読む価値はないとも言えます。
それでも、子供時代の喪失という、多くの天才子役達が負った「傷」をマイケルの中にも見出し、それを終生背負わねければならなかった彼の人生という論点を、深く掘り下げた内容は貴重であること、事実の誤認もいくつかあるけれど、マイケルの業績を地道に辿り、究極はマイケルの天才性を、素直に認めている事などから、☆４つにしました。ファンの暖かい視点というのではないけれど、将来、「アメリカの文化論」の中で、マイケルがどのように語られるのか、その一つのサンプルを、良質の英語で読むと割り切って読むには、お勧めです。
ただ残念なのは、彼が自ら語っていた「尋常性白斑病」についてはかなり懐疑的であること。そのため、「彼の音楽シーンでのスタイルは、白と黒だけではなく、男と女、民族、階級といった、全ての壁をクロスオーバーしようとするもの」との分析は納得できても、そこに、ＰＶでの変身の多様性を結びつけるのは納得できても、「だからあの整形。あの白いメークでしょう」となるのは、いかがなものかと思ってしまう。GAY疑惑にも、「本当のことはわからない。」に留まっている。しかも、彼女は、音楽評論家でないのはもちろん、個人的に、ポップを愛する感性も、マイケルの音楽への造詣もそれほどあるとは思えず（PVの描写などは、読んでいて、少し気恥ずかしくなる）その観点から期待すると、余り読む価値はないとも言えます。
それでも、子供時代の喪失という、多くの天才子役達が負った「傷」をマイケルの中にも見出し、それを終生背負わねければならなかった彼の人生という論点を、深く掘り下げた内容は貴重であること、事実の誤認もいくつかあるけれど、マイケルの業績を地道に辿り、究極はマイケルの天才性を、素直に認めている事などから、☆４つにしました。ファンの暖かい視点というのではないけれど、将来、「アメリカの文化論」の中で、マイケルがどのように語られるのか、その一つのサンプルを、良質の英語で読むと割り切って読むには、お勧めです。
Amazon.com で最も参考になったカスタマーレビュー (beta)
Amazon.com:
26件のカスタマーレビュー
11 人中、9人の方が、｢このレビューが参考になった｣と投票しています。
Intelligent read marred by factual errors.
2007/5/11
形式:ペーパーバック
This is a very well thought out book - musings - on the life and work of Michael Jackson. It is especially fascinating on child stars and what we ask of them.
Research-wise, she does lose sight of the facts surrounding MJ at times and chooses supposition over evidence on occasion. For example, she does not seem to give much credence to his vitilgo yet he first consulted a doctor about it in 1981 or thereabouts, long before the public had any idea of it. A picture exists of him from the early eighties which shows what he looked like with out make up to cover the patches.
She also makes out that Michael dismissed Debbie Rowe when hed had enough of her - but I believe this was not the case. She twists the facts somewhat.
But on the whole this book is worth reading by anyone interested in fame, our celebrity culture, race, gender.
Some MJ fans won't like this book and I'd say it is aimed at the general reader, the curious or the fan who is open minded. Though her language may seem harsh, on reflection, Margo Jefferson does come down on MJ's side in the end.
Research-wise, she does lose sight of the facts surrounding MJ at times and chooses supposition over evidence on occasion. For example, she does not seem to give much credence to his vitilgo yet he first consulted a doctor about it in 1981 or thereabouts, long before the public had any idea of it. A picture exists of him from the early eighties which shows what he looked like with out make up to cover the patches.
She also makes out that Michael dismissed Debbie Rowe when hed had enough of her - but I believe this was not the case. She twists the facts somewhat.
But on the whole this book is worth reading by anyone interested in fame, our celebrity culture, race, gender.
Some MJ fans won't like this book and I'd say it is aimed at the general reader, the curious or the fan who is open minded. Though her language may seem harsh, on reflection, Margo Jefferson does come down on MJ's side in the end.
37 人中、27人の方が、｢このレビューが参考になった｣と投票しています。
Around Jackson, not "on" him
2006/1/17
形式:ハードカバー
In the eloquent prose of a Pulitzer prize-winning critic for the New York Times, Margo Jefferson does one thing rather well. She puts Michael Jackson into cultural context. The most valuable contribution of this slim volume is to demonstrate that although her subject may appear to be the strangest human on the planet, he also exemplifies major themes in American popular culture.
Jefferson's exploration of this terrain succeeds not in normalising Jackson, but rather in linking him to a broader stream of strangeness - the freak show element present in American showbiz at least since the days of P. T. Barnum, whose methods Michael himself once studied avidly. The author's other principal strength is her rich appreciation of Michael's art: her rapturous riffs on his music and its meaning smack more of the fan than the detached critic.
Her title, On Michael Jackson, suggests a high-brow essay. Stylistically, she does not disappoint, delivering many fresh insights in diamond-sharp language. Scholastically, though, she fails. The book is "on" Michael Jackson but she never tells us what she is "on" about. What is the objective? Much of the time she is actually talking not about Michael Jackson at all but rather - in "cultural studies" vein - about public perception of the superstar. This enables her, like all that mealy-mouthed academic tribe, to be vague and evasive on the big issues, in this case whether Michael has or has not been sexually involved with young boys. Her unspoken agenda seems to be Michael's rehabilitation, judging by her emphasis on what his art has meant for her and her generation. I have no quarrel with that mission. It's fine by me.
What is a good deal less fine is her sly disinclination to confront inconvenient facts. She has a chapter on Michael's trial but totally ignores the evidence of sexual conduct given by his accuser. Likewise she refers obliquely to the earlier crisis of 1993-4 but never touches on what the boy in that case told the authorities. She prefers instead to ramble on about the competing lawyers and their tactics. What a sense of priorities!
It is not just sly, it is slipshod, relying on research she did a decade or more ago, if at all. For instance, she cites J. Randy Taraborrelli as an important biographical source. Fair enough, but had she done her homework she would have known about, read, and cited the 2004 edition of his work, not, as she does, the 1991 one, which obviously could not have covered Jackson's first brush with the law. Likewise, despite pretending to some knowledge of "child sex abuse", it is obvious from the uncritical way she buys into the abuse industry's language, and from the paucity of her (dated) references, that her understanding is as near to zero as makes no difference. It is embarrassingly clear she has not the foggiest notion of why boys are so important to Michael Jackson or indeed to other men who wreck their lives in pursuit of taboo relationships.
Jefferson's exploration of this terrain succeeds not in normalising Jackson, but rather in linking him to a broader stream of strangeness - the freak show element present in American showbiz at least since the days of P. T. Barnum, whose methods Michael himself once studied avidly. The author's other principal strength is her rich appreciation of Michael's art: her rapturous riffs on his music and its meaning smack more of the fan than the detached critic.
Her title, On Michael Jackson, suggests a high-brow essay. Stylistically, she does not disappoint, delivering many fresh insights in diamond-sharp language. Scholastically, though, she fails. The book is "on" Michael Jackson but she never tells us what she is "on" about. What is the objective? Much of the time she is actually talking not about Michael Jackson at all but rather - in "cultural studies" vein - about public perception of the superstar. This enables her, like all that mealy-mouthed academic tribe, to be vague and evasive on the big issues, in this case whether Michael has or has not been sexually involved with young boys. Her unspoken agenda seems to be Michael's rehabilitation, judging by her emphasis on what his art has meant for her and her generation. I have no quarrel with that mission. It's fine by me.
What is a good deal less fine is her sly disinclination to confront inconvenient facts. She has a chapter on Michael's trial but totally ignores the evidence of sexual conduct given by his accuser. Likewise she refers obliquely to the earlier crisis of 1993-4 but never touches on what the boy in that case told the authorities. She prefers instead to ramble on about the competing lawyers and their tactics. What a sense of priorities!
It is not just sly, it is slipshod, relying on research she did a decade or more ago, if at all. For instance, she cites J. Randy Taraborrelli as an important biographical source. Fair enough, but had she done her homework she would have known about, read, and cited the 2004 edition of his work, not, as she does, the 1991 one, which obviously could not have covered Jackson's first brush with the law. Likewise, despite pretending to some knowledge of "child sex abuse", it is obvious from the uncritical way she buys into the abuse industry's language, and from the paucity of her (dated) references, that her understanding is as near to zero as makes no difference. It is embarrassingly clear she has not the foggiest notion of why boys are so important to Michael Jackson or indeed to other men who wreck their lives in pursuit of taboo relationships.
33 人中、24人の方が、｢このレビューが参考になった｣と投票しています。
Readers, please!
2006/1/31
形式:ハードカバー
I must take issue with those reviewers who make a point of Margo Jefferson's factual errors, as if her book was meant to be definitively biographic. The title--"On Michael Jackson"--reveals her approach from the git. Hers is an extended--and exquisitely attuned--essay; a volume of musings on a deeply paradoxical subject that dips profoundly into cultural issues, and continually delivers treasure. The misguided will demand a summation, a tying-up; but this is a book of and about perception. Don't miss it if you enjoy the play of an extraordinary mind on an extraordinary subject.
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