Metamorphosis

Background Research

Michael Joseph Jackson was born on the 29^th of August in the year of 1958 in Gary, Indiana. He has five brothers – Sigmund, Toriano, Jermaine, Marlon, and Steven. On the other hand he has three sisters too which are Rebbie, Janet and La-Toya. Michael Joseph Jackson started his singing career at the age of 5. He was the lead singer of the Jackson 5, which is a band consisting of him and his four other brothers, not including Sigmund as he was too young at that time. The Jackson 5 was discovered by Bobby Taylor and The Vancouvers. The Jackson 5 had successfully made through the audition for Berry Gordy of Motown Recrods. They had gained popularity and fame as they had made their first four singles on America’s No. 1 Hits , including “I Want You Back”, “The Love You Save”, “ABC”, and “I’ll Be There”.

However beyond the fame, there laid a dark side to the Jackson 5’s success. Michael Joseph Jackson would recall his father, Joseph sitting with a belt while he and his brothers performed and “if you didn’t do it the right way, he(the belt) would tear you up, really get you”, which explains why Michael Joseph Jackson was a perfectionist by nature. Michael Joseph Jackson admitted in an Oprah Winfrey show in 1993 that he cried due to loneliness and even vomiting when he saw his father when he was a young boy. “Joseph once held Michael upside down by one leg and pummeled him over and over again with his hand, hitting him on his back and buttocks”, according to his brother, Marlon. However, Michael Joseph Jackson had given credit to Joseph’s disciplining that leaded him to his success although it was obvious that he was traumatized. He even broke down during a BBC interview with Martin Bashir in 2003.

Michael Joseph Jackson was basically “robbed” of his childhood which made him a little boy at heart although he had grown up - according to what he said in an interview in 1982 ,”I’m a collector of cartoons. All the Disney stuff, Bugs Bunny, the old MGM ones. It’s like everything’s all right. It’s like the world is happening now in a faraway city. Everything’s fine.” Along the way, that would explain the existence of his 3000 acre ranch Neverland, built in 1988. It was his house, his retreat and his amusement park – “Because I wanted to have a place that I could create everything that I never had as a child. So, you see rides. You see animals. There’s also a movie theater.”

Michael Joseph Jackson was a beautiful human being. He had composed and sang many meaningful songs such as Heal the World, Black and White, We are The World, Earth Song and so on. He was a successful star and had won many awards. He is also known as “The King of Pop”. Despite of his fame and wealth, he had donated money and even spent his time with unlucky and disadvantaged children by visiting them in hospitals and orphanages.

By the late 80s, the media began targeting him and focusing on his clothing his habit of wearing one glove, sleeping in oxygen tent and so on. That was how he got the nickname “Wacko Jacko”. In the 90s, Michael Joseph Jackson was accused of child molestation. Due to overpressure, he became addicted to medications such as anti-depressants, painkillers and muscle relaxants. Michael Joseph Jackson had passed away on the 26^th of June 2009 due to cardiac arrest in his Los Angeles home. It was one of the most shocking news ever. His death was certainly a great loss to the world and it impacts almost everyone because he was and will forever be literally the King of Pop.

Han En.