
Really now. Are people just ghouls?
Well, some clearly are.
But was Farrah Fawcett — or Michael Jackson — really Princess Diana?
Come to think of it, was Princess Diana really Princess Diana?
Certainly the choreographers, arrangers, composers, studio musicians, costume designers, tailors, sound engineers, video directors, technicians, hairdressers, and cosmetic surgeons who created the work enacted by Michael Jackson have reason to mourn the talented performer. They lost a major vehicle for their work, not to mention a paycheck.
Ticket holders for Mr. Jackson’s July concerts in London probably haven’t decided whether to demand refunds or have their tickets framed as holy relics. Rights holders in the recorded Jackson corpus (and their lawyers) are undoubtedly working 24/7; media archivists and tabloids are sleeplessly All-Jackson-All-the-Time. But others are obviously mourning their lost youth through the music of the era, or simply feigning mourning à la mode.
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