“Changing the Man in the Mirror”- research paper sneak peak Nour

My research question is; what is Michael Jackson’s relationship with race? Michael Jackson has been one of the biggest influences on pop culture and was known worldwide. During his years of being famous, Michael Jackson went through a transformation. He had many cosmetic procedures and even got his skin bleached. Was he trying to get rid of his “Blackness?” Was he ashamed of his racial background? I want to know why Michael Jackson was changing himself, specifically his race. Did he have internal racism? He ended up sexually abusing two boys who happen to be white. Why did he sexually abuse white boys instead of black boys, and why were they boys not girls? Was he also confused or conflicted about his sexuality?                                                                   I choose this topic because I recently watched the documentary, Leaving Neverland, that is about the two victims that were sexually abused by Michael Jackson. The documentary interested me so much and I wanted to know how why Michael Jackson did it, and it, if it had to do anything, was his problems with his race. I learned that Michael Jackson was abused by his father growing up and even though they were all the same race, his father made fun of his appearance. I also learned that Michael Jackson’s music contradicted his actions because he sang about equality and accepting everyone, meanwhile, he was getting cosmetic procedures to change himself. I have a clear direction with where I want to go with this project and am learning new things about the infamous singer that are very surprising. Most of my sources are scholarly journals, so I know my evidence is strong and will make my research paper make sense. I went from a very broad research paper that sounded more like a report, to an interesting topic that I never really thought about. Overall, I am excited to see where this research paper takes me.