摘 要

现在，我们仍然可以感觉到种族歧视的存在。我们都知道，带着与生俱来的黑色肌肤，出生在非裔美国家庭，迈克尔·杰克逊可被称作世界上最著名的歌手。但他的一生都饱受争议。迈克尔·杰克逊用自己的生命去揭示种族歧视的残酷和危险，表达他对和平与爱的追求。

考虑到种族歧视的存在，“爱无定界”和“和谐世界”的思想仍然是人们的梦想。当我们回顾迈克尔·杰克逊的生平和事业时，我们试图探索他对平等与和谐的向往。通过在社会中揭露谎言或批判罪恶，迈克尔·杰克逊在他的歌曲中创造了一种理想的、和平的、欢快的种族平等的前景。

因此，本文选取了迈克尔·杰克逊的四首歌曲，探究他的“和谐世界”的理想。在他的“和谐世界”中，黑人与白人地位平等，人与自然和谐共处，他认为实现这一理想的途径是“爱”。

(300字左右)

关键词：种族歧视；爱无定界；和谐世界

Abstract

Nowadays, we can still feel the existence of racial discrimination. As we all know, Michael Jackson might be the world’s most famous singer who was born in an African-American family with inborn skin black. However, he used to be a controversial person all his life. Michael Jackson uses his life to reveal the cruelty and danger of racial discrimination, and to express his pursuit for peace and love, which are also the ideality of people with different colors.

Considering the fact that there still exists racial discrimination, the thoughts of “color-blinded love” and “harmonious world” still remain as people’s dream. When we look back to the life and career of Michael Jackson, we try to explore his longing for equality and harmony. By exposing lies or criticizing evils in the society, Jackson in his songs creates an ideal, peaceful and cheerful prospect for the equality between races.

As a consequence, the paper chooses four songs of Michael Jackson to explore his ideality of a “harmonious world”, in which black and white people share the equality of status and human-beings coexist with nature. And he considers the way of realizing the ideality to be “love”.

Key Words: Racial discrimination; boundless love; harmonious world

Contents

1 Introduction 1

1.1 Michael Jackson and His Songs 1

1.2 Literature Review 1

2 Black or White: We are One and the Same 1

3 Earth Song: Nature’s Worth is Our Planet’s Womb 1

4 We are the World: Love is Brighter than Tomorrow 1

5 Conclusion 1

6 References 1

7 Acknowledgements 1

Love is Color Blind: An Analysis of “Harmonious World” in Michael Jackson’s Songs

1 Introduction

1.1 Michael Jackson and His Songs

In the light of Michael Jackson, different scholars persist distinguishably. As the saying goes, “Turnip green vegetables, everyone has his hobby”. Michael Jackson, as an excellent music all-rounder, when it comes to lyricist, composer, scene production, arranging, singing, dancing or instruments, he has a remarkable achievement. Along with Elvis Presley and the Beatles, he was evaluated as the pop music's greatest immortal symbol, and we can say that his achievement has surpassed the latter two. Not only did he personally maintain long-term sale records of various countries and regions, but also received invitation from Reagan Bush, Clinton to enter the White House to be commended for his contribution. What’s more, he created a modern MV "Thriller" known as the world's first modern MV, which increased the position of MTV music in modern industry in the unprecedented history. In addition, he combined black Ramp;B and white rock to make the unique Michael Jackson’s music style. Sometimes indignant resounding, sometimes mellow voice of smart and unprecedented high standard of music video, as well as large-scale concerts caused a sensation all over the world.

Racial discrimination and harmonious thoughts must be closely related to the life and career of Michael Jackson. According to records, Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, dancer, singer-songwriter, musician, and philanthropist. Referred to as the King of Pop, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records. His contribution to music, dance, and fashion, along with a much-publicized personal life, made him a global figure in popular culture for over four decades. The seventh child of the Jackson family, he debuted on the professional music scene along with his brothers as a member of The Jackson 5, then the Jacksons in 1964, and began his solo career in 1971. His life career has been revealed in the book of “A Classic Guide to European and American Pop Music: Michael Jackson” created by Geoff Brown.
In the early 1980s, Jackson became a dominant figure in popular music. The music videos for his songs, including those of "Beat It", "Billie Jean", and "Thriller", were credited with transforming the medium into an art form and a promotional tool, and the popularity of these videos helped to bring the relatively new television channel MTV to fame. Videos such as "Black or White" and "Scream" made him a staple on MTV in the 1990s. Through stage performances and music videos, Jackson popularized a number of dance techniques, such as the robot and the moonwalk, to which he gave the name. His distinctive musical sound and vocal style have influenced numerous hip hop, pop, contemporary Ramp;B, and rock artists.
Jackson's 1982 album Thriller is the best-selling album of all time. His other records, including Off the Wall (1979), Bad (1987), Dangerous (1991), and History (1995), also rank among the world's best-selling. Jackson is one of the few artists to have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice. He was also inducted into the Dance Hall of Fame as the first (and currently only) dancer from the world of pop and rock 'n' roll. Some of his other achievements include multiple Guinness World Records; 13 Grammy Awards (as well as the Grammy Legend Award and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award); 26 American Music Awards (more than any other artist, including the "Artist of the Century"); 13 number-one singles in the United States in his solo career (more than any other male artist in the Hot 100 era); and the estimated sale of over 750 million records worldwide. Jackson won hundreds of awards, which have made him the most-awarded recording artist in the history of popular music.
Aspects of Jackson's personal life, including his changing appearance, personal relationships, and behavior, have generated controversy. In 1993, he was accused of child sexual abuse, but the case was settled out of court and no formal charges were brought. In 2005, he was tried and acquitted of further sexual abuse allegations and several other charges after the jury ruled him not guilty on all counts. While preparing for his concert series This Is It, Jackson died of acute propofol intoxication on June 25, 2009, after suffering from cardiac arrest. Before his death, Jackson had been administered drugs including propofol and lorazepam. The Los Angeles County Coroner declared his death a homicide, and his personal physician pleaded not guilty to charges of involuntary manslaughter. Jackson's death triggered a global outpouring of grief, and as many as one billion people around the world reportedly watched his public memorial service on live television. In March 2010, Sony Music Entertainment signed a $250 million deal with Jackson's estate to retain distribution rights to his recordings until 2017, and to release seven posthumous albums over the decade following his death.

Whatever the final autopsy results reveal, it was greed that killed Michael Jackson. Friends and associates paint a tragic picture of the last years and days of his life as Jackson made desperate attempts to prepare for the planned concert series at London's 02 Arena in July 2009. These shows would have earned millions for the singer and his entourage, but he could never have completed them, not mentally, and not physically. Michael knew it and his advisors knew it. Anyone who caught even a fleeting glimpse of the frail old man hiding beneath the costumes and cosmetics would have understood that the London tour was madness. Why did it happen this way? After an intense five year investigation, "New York Times" bestselling author Ian Halperin uncovers the real story of Michael Jackson's final years, a suspenseful and surprising thriller.

1.2 Literature Review

We can say without hesitation that there remain large quantities of resources about Michael Jackson. However, the commentaries and evaluations are far from being satisfactory. Searching online, we can find 15 review articles related to Michael Jackson, including 7 introductive articles as well as 8 argumentative articles. More and more scholars and specialists unscramble him from different angles of view, and thus draw a conclusion that he is always a person with capital and independent personality who also has great achievements in art and music.

For instance, Sylvia J. Martin writes in “The Roots and Routes of Michael Jackson’s Global Identity” that, “Transnationalism constituted a deep-rooted and striking feature of American identity. Like Superman, Michael Jackson was an American icon who went global. His ability to fuse together the musical influences of West African, African American, and Anglo–European as well as choreography styles from the American inner city, Fred Astaire, and French mime Marcel Marceau made him an icon and lent Jackson’s craft a broadly inclusive appeal”(Martin, 2012:286).

Furthermore, despite of racial discrimination, Whitfield and Beard (2014) also tell the story of him struggling to live a normal life under extraordinary circumstances, the story of a father fighting to protect and provide for his children. Remember the Time by Bill Whifield (2014) is the book that dismantles the tabloid myths once and for all to give Michael Jackson back his humanity. The Pursuit and Disillusion of Michael Jackson’s American Dream abroad written by Chang Liu in 2014, talks about American Dream----a kind of American spirit, which plays a vital role in achieving his success and pushing the progress of the society, has become the dominant melody of America. Judging by his achievements in music and art, Zhuang Yao and Wang Mingfen give him the highest evaluation that he could be denied to be someone who seeks for recreation and disengagement in some sort of fanaticism. He is acclaimed to be of explicit destination and faiths in his spiritual world as they have said.