Ep. 163: The Man and The Mirror

In this solo minisode, Sam enters the wilderness of mirrors to unpack Michael Jackson: child star, King of Pop, fairy-tale monster, walking logo, and one of the strangest cultural phenomena of the 20th century. Using Margo Jefferson, Wendy Lesser, Mark Fisher, Foucault, Bakhtin, Peter Pan, The Little Prince, Shirley Temple, Diana Ross, Elizabeth Taylor, Bob Fosse, P.T. Barnum, Neverland Ranch, pork pie hats, patent leather shoes, and white spats, Sam pursues Michael as a figure of inversion: the child who was an adult, the adult who became a child, the Black man who became white, the man who became a woman, the innocent who became the guilty. Along the way, she considers the glamour and horror of child stardom, the maternal diva archive, the carnivalesque body, the freakshow of Wacko Jacko, and why Michael’s legacy remains endlessly unresolved.

Stargirl’s 100th episode, we love you Emma <3

On Michael Jackson by Margo Jefferson

On Michael Jackson, with Shannon Taggart by Weird Studies

The Resistible Demise of Michael Jackson, edited by Mark Fisher

His Other Half: Men Looking at Women Through Art by Wendy Lesser

Moonwalk: A Memoir by Michael Jackson

The Autobiography of PT Barnum by PT Barnum

Rabelais and His World by Mikhail Bakhtin

r/LeavingNeverlandHBO

My Family, The Jacksons by Katherine Jackson

Michael Jackson’s Interview in Gold Girl Magazine, 2002

Michael Jackson - Thriller (Original)