Charles Bailey2
Newcomer
8 messages
joined Apr 2023
^That little guy snagged an Oscar, then stripped it down. 😉
Lately, I haven't been watching much (barely made it through True Detective), mostly reading instead. It's that kind of season.
But over two nights, I sat through the two-part documentary Leaving Neverland. It’s controversial, just like the central figure at the heart of it all—Michael Jackson.
Hardly anyone would argue that MJ didn't give the world incredible music, but his artistic legacy creates a massive distortion when people try to perceive Jackson as a human being. The reality is that at some point, he clearly went through something that turned him into a monster—not just a predator, but a charismatic manipulator and a sociopath capable of enchanting even adults to serve his dark agenda.
The whole estate was basically a gingerbread house from Hansel and Gretel, designed so no child could resist him (and plenty of adults, too). You can feel that intense Stockholm syndrome throughout the doc. The parents wanted status, they got it, and they paid the ultimate price for it.
I once read an interesting take comparing Captain America and Iron Man: they are both personifications of America. The first is what she ought to be—an ideal of freedom, justice, and goodness—while the second embodies corporate interests, Machiavellianism, and arrogance (which we see far too often).
After watching Leaving Neverland, I'm convinced there's no better personification of America than Jackson. She offers entertainment and fame, she lives in a candy house, but despite the plastic facade used to maintain eternal youth, she is more decayed than a portrait of Dorian Gray, and her gift is nothing but devastation.
