Althouse: "The movie, in effect, resurrects [Michael] Jackson, only to remind viewers that he’s gone, fans say...."

June 25, 2026

"The movie, in effect, resurrects [Michael] Jackson, only to remind viewers that he’s gone, fans say...."

"Awa Cham, 28, a content creator in London, agreed, saying via video chat, 'I feel like I went through this whole grieving process again. I was, like, this is not fair, he should be here.' JaRed Cameron, a musician from the Bronx, said by email, 'I cried, laughed, and I cried some more throughout the whole film.' He added, 'It took me about a week to shake off the rain cloud of "Michael" "withdrawal" since watching the movie.' For others, Jackson’s lifelong loneliness and the abuse he endured as a child added a dimension to their sadness. 'Watching young Michael cry alone in the corner of the bathroom made me so sad,' Victoria Tappa, a physician assistant student in Davenport, Iowa, said via email. 'Even writing this, I have tears in my eyes.'"

From "Feeling Mournful After 'Michael'? It Might Be 'Michosis.' Some Michael Jackson fans are experiencing deep, lingering grief after watching the biopic — a potent reminder that he is gone, they say" (NYT).

28 comments:

R C Belaire said...: People experiencing a deep, lingering grief? Over an entertainer? Life is tough.; 6/25/26, 7:05 AM
Shouting Thomas said...: The “abuse he endured as a child!” God, I’m tired of this shit. His father trained and fashioned him into a super rich music star who could indulge his perversions to the max. When will this therapeutic bullshit die its deserved death? Maybe Jackson would have been better off wiping down cars as they emerged from the car wash? God bless Jackson’s parents. They conferred generational wealth on their kids.; 6/25/26, 7:14 AM
RideSpaceMountain said...: Tee-hee whinin' and cryin'.; 6/25/26, 7:16 AM
mezzrow said...: It is painful when people we loved in the world of entertainment die tragically. For those who aren't aware, Chico and the Man episodes are now available via Tubi.

Humans are complicated, some more than others.; 6/25/26, 7:16 AM
rehajm said...: …you can kind of guess how old someone is by how much they love-hate Michael Jackson. They didn’t have to tell us this person was under 30…most of the 30-40 somethings say he’s a child molesting freak. 50s give nuanced answers. Anybody mentioning Jackson 5 is over 60…ymmv…; 6/25/26, 7:16 AM
mezzrow said...: My inner autist wants recognition for withholding the use of italics in my above post .; 6/25/26, 7:18 AM
Eric the Fruit Bat said...: I think it's okay that some fans experience deep, lingering grief after watching a movie about Michael Jackson. You have to start somewhere. Maybe eventually they'll work their way up to movies about Jesus.; 6/25/26, 7:19 AM
Shouting Thomas said...: I wish my father had “abused” me in the same manner. I have three sisters, all of whom were pretty good musicians. The family band is an old and very marketable tradition in country music.; 6/25/26, 7:26 AM
tim maguire said...: You can't make a movie about a dead person because that will make people feel bad that he's dead!?; 6/25/26, 7:27 AM
tim maguire said...: Shouting Thomas said...Maybe Jackson would have been better off wiping down cars as they emerged from the car wash?

Maybe he would have been. Instead he was robbed of a childhood and grew up hating himself so much that he disfigured himself; doomed to spend his final decades as a monstrous recluse. His death wasn't sad. His life was.; 6/25/26, 7:31 AM
rcommal said...: Rehajm @ 7:16 a.m.: Precisely put, insightful point.; 6/25/26, 7:50 AM
CT Ginger said...: I will never understand how people find this self-hating pedophile to be a great talent. He was a mediocre song and dance man with a deeply troubling sexuality.; 6/25/26, 8:01 AM
Wilbur said...: I've never felt grief or mourned the death of anyone I did not know personally.

I remember being stunned at the outpouring of grief over Princess Diana. Just didn't get it.; 6/25/26, 8:05 AM
Bob Boyd said...: Wait...Michael died? OMG!; 6/25/26, 8:07 AM
Leland said...: I picked up the movie, because so far I've enjoyed the various music celebrity biopics. I haven't watched this one yet.; 6/25/26, 8:23 AM
Southern Pessimist said...: Michosis is a faintly amusing play on the medical term mycosis referring to a chronic fungal infection. I wonder if that was what the NYT writer had in mind.; 6/25/26, 9:03 AM
Louie the Looper said...: I look forward to an article about those who experience deep lingering grief about the passing of Bill Cosby.; 6/25/26, 9:07 AM
RCOCEAN II said...: Yeah, michael jackson was a talented singer, but an odd, weird guy. It shows how naive I am, that before he died, I used to think it sorta cool that Jackson had a little theme park at his estate and would help out poor, disadvantaged kids.; 6/25/26, 9:37 AM
Tom T. said...: The frequency with which child stars wind up leading messed-up lives is appalling. The little girl from the Ring movies just died on Skid Row as a homeless addict. Is it just the disruption of childhood, and having to work a job to support the family, or are these child stars all getting sexually abused somewhere along the line?; 6/25/26, 10:44 AM
Lazarus said...: As the eventual front man of the group he was subject to greater pressure than his brothers and he was less capable of coping with the pressure than they were. It's like that in families: some siblings aren't bothered by what their parents do and other sibs are deeply wounded by them. Why it's like that is one of the many mysteries of life.; 6/25/26, 10:55 AM
Tina Trent said...: Quite unprofessional for the Times writer to snarkily identify herself as someone who 'watched the film four times for research purposes.' Perhaps she could have behaved like a journalist instead and also report on the child molestation scandals. Two terrible things that often coexist: childhood abuse and aging into abusing others.; 6/25/26, 11:26 AM
Josephbleau said...: Michael Jackson was the white Elvis.; 6/25/26, 2:42 PM
Jim at said...: I have a friend who believes Michael Jackson faked his death. He also thinks 9/11 was controlled demolition.

I haven't even started to ask about chem trails and the moon landings.; 6/25/26, 4:13 PM
Jim at said...: The thing I remember most about Michael Jackson's death - on this date, 2009 - was it happened just a few hours after Farrah Fawcett's.; 6/25/26, 4:17 PM
boatbuilder said...: Jim at--tell your friend that it is very, very important to make sure that the shiny side of the foil faces out.; 6/25/26, 5:20 PM
Jim at said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 6/25/26, 5:36 PM
Jim at said...: tell your friend that it is very, very important to make sure that the shiny side of the foil faces out.

Oh, the group of us have a lot of fun with it. He's a great guy, but is one of those people who settles on a conclusion and then cherry-picks the data to support it.

Next gathering, I'm going to make a wheel with 6-8 conspiracies. Give it a spin and let the hilarities commence.; 6/25/26, 5:36 PM
Yancey Ward said...: I didn't mourn the death of Michael Jackson even though his music from 1979-1987 formed a big part of the soundtrack of my teenage life- music I still enjoy today. What I mourned was my younger self- Jackson's death just reminded me of that loss.; 6/25/26, 10:22 PM