邁克爾•傑克遜：舞隨心動的顫慄者

Michael Jackson: A Thriller in His Own Right

邁克爾·傑克遜：舞隨心動的顫慄者
文/Courtney Young

中文來源：MJJCN.COM 翻譯：xhzhuli

親愛的邁克爾：
在清楚的知道你已不在時，我滿心感慨的寫了這封信。你知道你的死會給這個世界帶來多大的影響嗎？在2009年6月25日，你的辭世幾乎讓網路堵塞，使很多就像Twitter那樣的社交網站都暫停了服務。超過160萬人登錄了那個隨機的彩票系統，只是為了獲得2萬張葬禮門票中的一張。在近兩周的時間裏，你的面孔幾乎佔據了每個主流（和小型）國際週刊、報紙和新聞節目的版面。全世界的心跳都停止了一拍。全世界都為此震驚——而你，不可戰勝的邁克爾，去世了。

關於你的報導和故事太多太多，從你對人類深遠的影響，到你的容貌巨變，從你背負的巨債和孌童案法律糾紛，到你的孩子們的命運。從卡通漫畫到流行文化評論，甚至到神秘的學術思考，你都成為了全球想像力的眾矢之的。作為成長于80年代的孩子，你都毫無疑問的是我自己用舞蹈動作嬉戲玩樂時的模仿物件。更重要的是，你扮演了一個讓美國黑人音樂真正融入到流行文化中並帶來極大衝擊力的角色。

在奧巴馬歷史性的獲得美國大選的勝利並帶來了一股全球狂熱之前，你才是黑人例外論和傑出成就的全球公認代表。在今日很難成為一個對流行音樂幾乎漠然的消費者，當看到了那麼多對你的舞步、革新的音樂錄影帶、風格感覺、發明進行重新造型、混音、修改、甚至剽竊的作品時，你肯定難以忍受。很難想像如果你從來沒有出現，像亞瑟兒、賈斯汀、克裏斯布朗、碧昂斯以及許多其他歌星的文化產品會變成什麼樣子。夾在摩城唱片的兩位重量級人物貝瑞戈狄和昆西鐘斯中間，我懷疑過你的才華是出自於這兩位元音樂傳奇的指導。在充分利用了美國黑人音樂與演出的財富基礎上，你研究了像戴安娜羅斯、詹姆斯布朗、尼古拉斯兄弟、傑基威爾森、艾麗莎佛蘭克林、山米大衛斯和迪翁沃維克這些音樂家的所有作品——就像真正的天才所做的那樣——在傳統中重塑了你自己，用你熟練的節奏和音樂的戲劇效果震撼了這個世界。

但是在你之前，流行樂幾乎是一個被隔離的藝術形式。在你之前，像MTV這樣的主流電視音樂頻道從不播放黑人藝術家的作品。因為《顫慄》的巨大成功，你的名聲再也無法被否認，這也使成為第一個重要的全球流行巨星，衝破了種族因素給你之前那麼多藝術家們帶來的桎梏。對傑克遜突然產生的需求是那麼強烈以至於MTV除了播放《顫慄》之外毫無選擇。而剩下的就是歷史了。從沒有哪個藝術家像你這樣橫掃每個種族、年齡層、階級、性取向和國籍。更重要的是，你在將美國黑人音樂與演出概念塑造成前所未有的全球受眾形式這一點上扮演了一個變革性的角色。你只用了一隻手，便讓世界為你神魂顛倒。

我沒有忘記，今年美國為她的兩個原生兒子慶祝，歡迎了奧巴馬的勝選也向你道別；在6個月裏，全球都見證了兩位黑人巨星的誕生與辭世，他們都塑造了全球對黑人的看法——具體說，就是黑人的氣概、黑人的聲音與黑人的感情。你們二位都撼動了黑人氣概的流行概念，取而代之的是更多的移情、人性、服務與一種強烈的工作規範。你的辭世，讓全球都失去了一個先鋒與文化標誌。

儘管並非因為你自身缺乏爭議性，但是也沒有其他明星可以通過音樂表演呈現這樣多樣化的人性。現在還有哪位在世明星的死能與你的離去一樣重要嗎？歐普拉？奧巴馬？史蒂夫旺德？我不確定。但是我確實知道的是你的辭世將我帶入了很長一段時間的思考：作為音樂家的邁克爾，作為人類的邁克爾，和作為文化標誌的邁克爾。你是這樣一位如此複雜並又具有深厚感情的人，你如流星般的隕落和巨星的身份遠比其他流行標誌們教會了我什麼叫做演員的身份、影響力和人性。毫無疑問你影響了我作為消費者和流行文化評論者的發展。

也許，現在你可以好好享受你傾盡一生所尋求的平靜。這是我對邁克爾的祝願，舞隨心動的“顫慄者”，願你安息……
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/feature/111729-michael-jackson-thriller
Michael Jackson: A Thriller in His Own Right
By Courtney Young 23 September 2009

Dear Michael,
I am wrought with emotion at the sobering knowledge that you are no longer here. Had you any idea how your death would impact the world? On June 25, 2009, your passing almost succeeded in crashing the Internet, suspending social media mechanisms like Twitter in the process. In excess of 1.6 million people logged into a random lottery system in hopes to garner one of the 20,000 tickets needed to gain access into your memorial service. Your face graces the cover of virtually every major (and minor) international periodical, newspaper, and news program for almost two weeks. The pulse of the world has skipped a beat. The world is in a state of shock—you, the indomitable Michael Jackson, is dead.

Much has been written and reported about you from your impact on an impressively diverse and large demographic to your physical transformations to your massive debts and legal troubles stemming from allegations of pedophilia to the fate of your children. From cartoon strips to pop culture critiques to esoteric academic musings, you are captivating the global imagination. As a child of the 80s, you were unequivocally the model for many of my own dalliances with choreography and dance expression. More importantly, it’s your role as the seminal figure in the integration of African American musicality into the global pop culture stratosphere that bears a seismic weight.

Before the international frenzy that Barack Obama commanded following his historic presidential campaign and win, you were the global face of Black exceptionalism and achievement. It is impossible to be an even casual consumer of popular music today and not bear witness to the modeling, remixing, modification, and even plagiarism of your dance moves, innovative music videos, and sense of style and reinvention. It’s difficult to imagine what the cultural productions of artists such as Usher, Justin Timberlake, Chris Brown, Beyonce, and a score of others would look like had you never existed. Sandwiched in between heavyweights such as Motown’s Barry Gordy and Quincy Jones, I suspect your brilliance was grounded through the tutelage of these two musical legends. Drawing upon the rich history of African American music and performance, you respected and studied the oeuvre of musicians such as Diana Ross, James Brown, the Nicholas Brothers, Jackie Wilson, Aretha Franklin, Sammy Davis, Jr. and Dionne Warwick and—as true geniuses do—reinvented yourself amidst this tradition, electrifying the world with his catalog of rhythmic adroitness and musical theatrics.

But before you, pop music was a largely segregated art form. Prior to you, mainstream television music channels such as MTV did not air videos by Black artists. Upon the massive success of Thriller, your fame was undeniable, making you the first major crossover global pop star, defying the barriers that race presented for so many artists before him. The sheer demand for Jackson was so great that MTV had no choice but to showcase Thriller. And the rest is history. Never before has an artist touched every race, age, class, sexual orientation, and nationality in the way that you did. Moreover, you played a transformative role in shaping ideas of African American music and performance to a global audience in a way never before achieved by any other artist. You turned the world on its head, singlehandedly.

It is not lost on me that this year, America celebrated two native sons, welcoming the inauguration of Barack Obama and saying farewell to you; in the span of six months, the world has born witness to the birth and death of two Black superstars that have shaped the global idea of Blackness—specifically, Black masculinity, Black vocality, and Black expression. Both of you have destabilized popular notions of Black masculinity, in favor of a definition, that takes great stock in empathy, humanism, service, and a strong work ethic. In your passing, the world is losing a pioneer and cultural icon.

Though not without your own controversies, no other pop star has brought together such a diverse palate of humanity through musical performance. Is there another human being alive whose death would carry the same weight as yours? Oprah? Barack? Stevie? I’m not sure. But what I do know is that your passing has caused me to undergo a period of reflection of Michael the musician, Michael the man, and Michael the cultural icon. You were such an incredibly complicated and simultaneously deeply empathic human being, and your meteoric rise and superstar status has taught me more about stardom, influence, and humanity than any other pop culture icon. You have definitely influenced my development as a consumer and critic of popular culture.

Perhaps, now you can rest and find the peace you so desperately sought throughout your lifetime. This is my wish for Michael, a thriller in your own right, rest in peace…
Courtney Young

Originally from Lafayette , Louisiana , Courtney is now a certified New Yorker. She is a commentator and writer of both fiction and pop culture criticism, having published in arenas such as The Nation, The Grio and Popmatters.com and was a contributor to the Encyclopedia of Hip-Hop Literature. In addition, she has published her fiction in the Stanford University Black Arts Quarterly and 971 Menu. She is a graduate of the Progressive Women’s Voices Program at the Women’s Media Center in New York . She received her Bachelor’s Degree in English and Management in 2002 from Spelman College in Atlanta , Georgia . While an undergraduate student, she completed the Tuck Business Bridge Program in the summer of 2000 at Dartmouth College and in the summer of 2001 was a research fellow at UCLA’s Summer Humanities Institute. In 2004, she graduated from New York University receiving her Master’s Degree from the Gallatin School of Individualized Study.