Fake for Real: Man in the Mirror

Some days when we look in the mirror we like what we see, some days less so. Would it not be great to be able to tweak the image a bit? After all, it is our main manifestation to the outside world, right?Our beloved King of Pop, Michael Jackson, is living proof that manipulating your own looks can be a precarious game. At the height of his success, Jackson underwent pioneering plastic surgery to recreate his own face according to an ideal he had in mind. Sadly, after each operation, that ideal seemed to shift, necessitating new adjustments. People were shocked when a mug shot from his arrest was published in 2004: in it, Jackson arguably looked scarier than the zombie he had played in the 1983 hit video “Thriller”.

For the fans who wondered what Michael Jackson would have looked liked today without plastic surgery, forensic artist Stephen Mancusi created a series of virtual images of an aging Michael by applying basic aging trends to one of Michael’s childhood pictures.Maybe the image couple would be better like this?

It is impossible to say which is the real Michael when you have to chose between a physical appearance sculpted by plastic surgeons and a highly speculative computer generated image extrapolated from childhood photo’s. Both Michaels are virtual in their own way.Fortunately for all his fans, appearance is just an outer shell. Even if Jackson looks like Mickey Mouse ten years from now, inside, he’ll always be Michael and we will always love him.From our Fake for Real series