American Humanist article on Michael Jackson hologram

    






 5 comments  

The Humanist  

 Login  













d



Sort by Best










Favorite ★ 

Share ⤤














Join the discussion…






























































 


−
⚑ 


Avatar
Better Off Damned  • 2 days ago 




You cannot exploit or dehumanize a dead person; only the perception of them. They have no rights, as they no longer exist. They have no consciousness by which they can be in any sense posthumously affected. There's literally no question of ethics to consider. It isn't ethical or unethical; it is non-ethical.
 
2 △  ▽  
•
Reply
•
Share ›


 










Avatar
Derpus  • 2 days ago 




This is a non-issue. I don't think it has a thing to do with humanism. I don't remember anyone complaining when the "Bill and Ted" movie exploited the images of Beethoven, Napoleon, Joan of Arc, and Genghis Khan. If it's a copyright issue with the music, make it one.
 
1 △  ▽  
•
Reply
•
Share ›


 










Avatar
JoeBS  • 2 days ago 




I'll go Better Off Damned one further and say that most artists of Jackson's ilk go into the business and stay in business precisely BECAUSE they WANT to be remembered in any way possible beyond their death. They sign contracts that actually have language designed to give others (including record companies) the rights to continue on with their legacy after death. This is not something any artist expects the industry to do for free, so to what extent anybody would be "exploited" here, or to what level the industry is actually doing anything wrong, other than simply going about business-as-usual, is even further in question. This brings up a lot of issues that are worth discussing, but first one must define the limits of loaded terms like "commodifying," "exploiting," "bought-and-sold," etc. They are going to be different in each instance and for each artists. There's no hard and fast here. From a strictly humanist standpoint, we may WISH there were and we may feel a compulsion to choose a position from which to make a stand for purely virtuous reasons. Alas, that is neither realist nor completely honest.
 
1 △  ▽  
•
Reply
•
Share ›


 










Avatar
Ronald Ventola  • 2 days ago 




The issue is more one of increased technology then about posthumous "exploitation." No doubt an audio recording might have seemed eerily lifelike 100 years ago and would have raised the same "issues." Photographs "outlast" their subjects, and would not disturb anyone who views them in the same circumstances. The still camera, the moving image, the hologram...these are all moving along in the same direction. Get freaked out if you will, but let a market continue to thrive on Jackson's "brand" as long as there is any life in it. He is gone and beyond being harmed. His corporation is not a person but can still produce an income for whomever was "written in" into it his lifetime.
 
 △  ▽  
•
Reply
•
Share ›


 










Avatar
jeanpaulazzurro  • 2 days ago 




sooooo cool
 
 △  ▽  
•
Reply
•
Share ›


 






 





What's this? 


Also on The Humanist

 A Bad Week for Pro-Choice Advocates: New Restrictions on Abortion Access 
 2 comments •
 8 days ago
  Avatar
Jo —  Wow, that's so friggen' touching. What part of that story has anything to do with you getting involved in another woman's healthcare …


“Trying On Atheism” with Ryan Bell 
 2 comments •
 2 days ago
  Avatar
X-Christian — There is no reason to believe in any gods. Run away from religion and all its nonsense.


 I Advocated for Women’s Equality in Pakistan. Then I Was Attacked. 
 5 comments •
 19 hours ago
  Avatar
Jamie Zimmerman —  Stay strong! You are an example to us all.  You and other girls and young women like Malala are fighting on the front of …


 Voilà! Another Pain in the Neck for Intelligent Design 
 98 comments •
 3 days ago
  Avatar
Kevin B. —  Evolution is both a fact and a theory. Evolution means "change over time." That life has changed over time is a fact. The Theory of …


Powered by Disqus

✉Subscribe 



d Add Disqus to your site 







Receive this in your inbox

TheHumanist.com




TheHumanist.com

Search for:
  
30
May

Cover_large

News



















Voices




























Commentary

Features










Arts & Entertainment






















The Magazine


Cover_large









































Multimedia




Twitter

Facebook






Creative or Creepy? The Michael Jackson Hologram and Humanism

Like
Tweet


1

by Merrill Miller • 28 May 2014


mj
Last week in Las Vegas at the Billboard Music Awards, Michael Jackson brought the live audience to its feet as he moonwalked across the stage. The problem? He’s been dead for four years. The image of Jackson dancing and singing at the awards was the result of innovative digital technology.
While the Billboard audience seemed thrilled with the King of Pop’s simulacra, fans around the world spoke out on social media to voice their disapproval, calling the projection “creepy,” “confusing and uncomfortable,” and likening Jackson’s image to “a zombie.” Others were delighted that Jackson had been resurrected from the grave. But beyond initial reactions of revulsion or excitement, some were asking questions about the ethical nature of reanimating a dead celebrity to perform in front of a live audience.
Humanism, as a philosophy concerned with the ethics of human life and our shared humanity, can inform our understanding of just what happened on that stage in Las Vegas. Initially, humanists and fans might be quite pleased with the performance. Jackson’s “hologram,” though novel, is not the first. For instance, in 2007 a “rotoscoped” image of Elvis Presley sang a duet with Celine Dion on American Idol, and in 2012 a digital recreation of Tupac Shakur rapped at the popular Coachella music festival in Indio, California. But this latest example is perhaps the most life-like audiences have seen yet.
It’s also exciting to think that celebrities may be able to “live on” after they have died. As humanists, we realize that this existence is all we have, but seeing a moving likeness of Jackson on a live stage gives fans a more vivid way to remember him. The performance, much like his recently released album of contemporized songs, could be interpreted as an homage to his legacy that also introduces him to a new generation. Esco “Jackie” Jackson, for instance, was enthusiastic about the tribute to his brother, hailing it as “incredible, amazing.”
While these are certainly valid reactions to the Billboard show, some might want to look beyond the initial performance and ask what it means when the music industry can revive a dead man to sing and dance on stage for profit. Some critics of the Billboard performance claimed that Epic Records’ use of the hologram was nothing more than crass consumerism and an exploitation of Jackson’s memory. Of course, there’s nothing new about studios using a departed singer to make a buck. Posthumous albums have been released by Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, and Amy Winehouse, to name a few. In many ways, presenting dead celebrities visually in front of an audience is not so different from distributing an album of unreleased tracks or re-mastered standards. Cynics might even go so far as to say that Jackson, like all too many before him, had been exploited by the music industry since his childhood, so there’s nothing surprising about his label continuing to cash in on his image. What Epic Records has done to Jackson in death is, arguably, not that different from what they were doing to him while he was alive.
Is there a difference between commodifying a celebrity in death, as opposed to in life? At least during their lifetimes, celebrities can participate in their branding and presentation. Michael Jackson in particular was known as a perfectionist when it came to his music and choreography, and no one knows how he might have felt about last Sunday’s spectacle. Epic Records CEO L. A. Reid said as much, as reported by The Huffington Post. Jermaine Jackson has been vocal about his disapproval of his brother’s second posthumous album, claiming that Jackson would have been disappointed with the songs’ lack of quality, and he expressed disappointment at the studio’s departure from Jackson’s vision just to turn a profit.
Something is lost when our society reduces a human being to a mere commodity to be bought and sold. Consumerism reduces a person’s worth to mere dollars and cents and flattens a human being into a mere object to be used and disregarded based on the whims of buyers. Humanism, however, affirms the intrinsic worth of one’s value as a human being. Each person is the awe-inspiring result of billions of years of evolution and a unique genetic makeup and cultural background, all of which contributes to an individual’s personality and talents. In the first view, Jackson’s memory is a product to be packaged only as long as someone is willing to pay for it. In the second view, Jackson was a man who, though flawed, used his talent to leave a musical legacy that forever changed popular music and brought joy to people around the world.
Was the Michael Jackson hologram a memorial of a gifted performer brought to us by the wonders of technology? Was it a dehumanizing attempt at a publicity stunt to boost album sales? Or was it a little bit of both?

Tags: Michael Jackson
miller_merrillMerrill Miller is the communications associate at the American Humanist Association.
 

    + Share

Most Popular
Image credit: ktsdesign / 123RF
27 May 2014
Voilà! Another Pain in the Neck for Intelligent Design

29 May 2014
The Cartoon History of Humanism, Episode Five
comingout_christina
22 May 2014
Book Review: Greta Christina’s Coming Out Atheist
See More Popular Posts





Receive Email Updates



Editor's Picks
 See All
elsinore
by Merrill Miller • 25 April 2014
AHA Wins Lawsuit Against Lake Elsinore Cross Monument
Read More
Church_State_400x400
by Roy Speckhardt • 8 April 2014
What’s the Best Way to Challenge Religious Intrusion?
Read More  

The Humanist Follow us on Twitter Like us on Facebook
Search for:
  
News
Voices
Commentary
Features
The Magazine
Arts & Entertainment
Multimedia

The Humanist
Subscribe to Newsletter  
©2014 The American Humanist Association About Us
About The Humanist Hour
Contact Us
Privacy Policy
Terms of Use
Site Map
       
http://thehumanist.com/arts_entertainment/culture/creative-or-creepy-the-michael-jackson-hologram-and-humanism