Bad (Martin Scorsese, 1987)

"But they say the skys the limit/And to me thats really true/And my friends you have seen nothin/Just wait til I get through . . ."

Introduction

This is a really serious video. Personally, my lack of knowledge when I was younger led me to believe that the kids dancing in Moonwalker to Bad was in fact the video to Bad. Of course, its not. So this is the final music-video analysis on the blog 'in memory' of Michael Jackson. We had David Fincher and Spike Lee. We could have had John 'Boyz in the Hood' Singleton's Remember The Time, or John 'American Werewolf in...' Landis Thriller or even the short introduction to the Dangerous film directed by David 'Twin Peaks' Lynch. I am sure we could go back to these if we get a chance. Nevertheless, Bad has a full version of the video spanning 14 minutes and is directed by Martin Scorsese Pre-Goodfellas (he must have been discussing it though with Nic Pillegi at this point) but Post-Mean Streets, Raging Bull and his most recent film at this point was The Color of Money so he was hardly an unknown or director-in-need-of-attention. He was well established and, to top if off, for the writer of the music video (obviously not the song itself - that was Michael Jackson, but for the script that precedes the video) was no other than the writer of Sea of Love Richard Price. Price also managed to write many episodes alongside a man called David Simon recently, in a TV series called The Wire. Thats Sarcasm. I am a huge Wire fan.





What I reckon ...

You know Scorsese was hardly going to be able to bring the amount of depth and meaning to a Michael Jackson music video as he does in his own films - so you are not going to get any religious symbolism and Catholic iconography here - but you do get a little masculine-identity issues and some technicial correlations that could be discussed. First and foremost the sequence the precedes and follows is shot in black and white, similar to Raging Bull, I assume - if we were going to look 'deep' into the video, because the dream-like sequence shot in full colour with the dancing and completely-different 'bad' look of Jacksons is not what actually happens. Black and white is the real world, while the colour is - possibly mentally - what Jackson wants to express but until the last act, does not manage to explain.

Its an incredibly dark video too - we have references to theft, vandalism, drug dealing - and taking - and the constant problem of breaking free from poverty. Justified, we get no idea as to how 'Darryl' (Jackson) broke free from the 'dodgy' end of NYC, simply that his mother (Roberta Flack interestingly enough) clearly works exceptionally hard to support him (so she is not home when he gets back for the summer) and that he acknowledges this. He has begun to appreciate his life. He's not racist towards his classmates in the private school he attends, while they clearly are not racist towards him (then again, his skin by this point was so bleached maybe this is a difficult issue to discuss when talking about race and MJ...). They are proud of him, and accept his friendship - as we see on the train, while the shifty guy on the train who appears to be someone to fear, in fact only asks him about his pride - something that, I assume, can be detroyed in any area of society and, yet both agree in the sentiment: "Be the man". The question is, what is it to 'be the man'?

Its so upsetting to imagine how only a year - possibly within a year - after this was made, Jackson makes Moonwalker. Such a shame. Nevertheless, its not long before we meet friends of Darryl who clearly - without stating it directly - has issues about Darryls circumstances. He's in private education - there is no indication these men have even gone to school ("no school tomorrow? ha ha ha") and so you can see the conflict. Darryl is more intelligent, he has morals - he has a caring family who will do whatever they can to get him out of poverty - while his friends, including a young Wesley Snipes, clearly have very little of anything. They refer to him as 'joe-college', making sexual references, mocking his school friends and manipulating him when he makes any comment that implies his intelligence. You can feel how awkward it is. This is when it gets even more sinister as we see a drug deal - the four guys attempt to threaten the dealer who carries his own protection. We pan across their faces and Darryl despises what he is doing - but we see the other guys expressions too. While Darryl is out of his element, they are clearly in their element.

In leads to the obvious confrontation - Snipes reacts. All his friends turn on him - the pressure is physically and emotionally claustrophobic as the guys grab and challenge him, knocking down everything he and his family have worked for: "Are you bad? hm? or is that what they teach you up in that little sissy school of yours? How to forget who your friends are?". Darryl knows them, he cares - and he caves. Building himself up for one last 'bad' act. He plans to mug a civilian - but as soon as he see's that the civilian doesnt understand him at all, that this man is completely innocent, alarm bells ring. This whole sequence reminds me of The Godfather the pressure mounting parrallel with the train sounds getting louder - except instead of Michael Corleone shooting Solozzo, Darryl can't do it letting the man go. Snipes and co. get angry - Darryl tells him his thoughts: "If I ain't bad, you ain't nothin' - you ain't nothin!"

The music video itself is what it is - flawless dancing and choreography, dancers from a diverse background representing the range of cultures that are affected by poverty and, inevitably, crime. It is interesting to note that, as soon as this finishes, Snipes and Co. decide to back down on Darryl and as the camera pans back, he is alone again in his usual clothes. Clearly, Snipes' gang don't change their ways themselves - there is no indication that they even agree with Darryl as they walk away. Darryl is just on his own and they respect him for taking the opportunity he was given - fact is, Snipes' gang have not been given that opportunity and they clearly cannot stay friends with Darryl, hence their decision to walk away. Darryl is not 'one of them' anymore.

It is great that such dark themes are brought to the forefront, Jackson never shy's away from these society and worldwide issues, utilising his fame and influence to highlight them to the mass market. So many people claim MJ as inspirational - and people in horrendous domestic circumstances state how Jackson specifically is what got them out of crime and depression - seriously this is true. I would not be suprised that it was videos like this, like Man in the Mirror, like Stranger in Moscow and other inspirational videos that created such a personal link with fans. As fans we can look at his stories and understand - at a very young age - what opportunity is, what 'to-dream' is and how, ultimately, it is down to us (and not down to our parents or our circumstances) to dictate what to achieve.

Interesting info - If you listen to the lyric of the song, you can imagine it as a duet - apparently that was the original intention, whereby Jackson was to duet with Prince! How would that have sounded?

They Don't Care About Us (Spike Lee, 1997)

"Tell me what has become of my rightsAm I invisible because you ignore me?Your proclamation promised me free liberty, now"

Introduction

Straight off the bat we have problem with this song. First off, we have two videos - both directed by Spike Lee - but it begs the question (which I shall try and answer) about why two and, the lesser seen video, is not seen so much. Michael Jackson sure does court controversy but its often brought upon by himself. If you write a song about injustice - people are going to have a problem with it. It happens so often whereby people get into heaps of 'controversy' because, to show pure and morally sound perspectives, it is neccessary to show ugly and immoral perspectives to contrast the argument with.

It is also worth noting that the 'Prison' version of the video I had never seen prior to this week. So, to think that I, as a pretty big fan, was not aware of a music video of Michael Jackson is pretty shocking. Either the makers did not push the video as much or I am actually not a big fan of MJ ... I think its the former.

Rio De Janiero Video

Summary

This is a very run-of-the-mill video to some extent: Singer sings along, no narrative, lots of dancing, etc. But on the other side of things, it is actually quite groundbreaking. MJ constantly reiterates his view to the police on the streets - shoving his hand in their face, [it looks like] he is swearing at them and they do no respond. Clearly uninterested in his view. They don't care about him. The percussion is different to the music in the song as rather than a very solid-beat, we have 200 drummers, drumming in time perfectly. This drumming continues after the song itself has finished and we see over a minute of flawless cultural brazilian music.

What I reckon...

This has to be one of my favourite music videos by Michael Jackson. Seriously - over 'Bad' and 'Thriller'. I can appreciate how it has not got the complexity and cinematic value of other videos, but as a music video, it looks and sounds stunning. Its more the song I think - which for obvious reasons - makes any visuals look better. The best part of the song is the beat that, as we pan over hundreds of drummers, simply adds to the force that the beat is supposed to emanate.

The vivid colours and beautiful setting of the faeva in Brazil simply adds to this cultural and angry video. Apparently, there was a huge problem with filming in this location - whereby the Brazilian government were concerned about how MJ highlighting the poverty in Brazil would affect their chances of holding the Olympics. It truly is suprising that they felt like that becaue the video appears to - on one side with the song lyrics itself - highlight human injustic that not only affects Brazil but many other parts of the world, but also manages to show the beauty of Brazil. The panning shot of Christ the Redeemer at the start simply looks stunning - and the children singing and dancing simply adds to the cultural traditions of this country. We jump from the ignorance of the police -an important point - when Michael dances, to Michael dancing in the street - prompting fans to run out and hug him, not so important.

On the flip side to this, a friend of mine (shout out to Richard B) noted how the video is hardly a 'Spike-Lee-Joint'. You don't see credits written on signs or clear signifiers of human brutality - and this is true. But then, when you watch the second video for this song, you realise where Spike Lee's direction becomes clear. This first video with its brilliant percussion is what we see the most and makes us want to dance and move ourselves, while the second video actually angers, frustrates and upsets you ...

Prison Video




Summary

Michael is in a cell, with TV's surrounding him, 'broken' into the wall. The film is interspersed with human rights violations from across the world and then mixes this up with men in jail, banging on the table - rocking the screen and room with their anger - as they punch the sky in time and bang on the tables. It truly is a work of real Art.

What I reckon ...

This second video begins with a child coverng their eyes - ignoring the brutality of the world. As the music beat starts we see CCTV footage of riots, whereby police use brute force on the people. We hear children ad toddlers crying as they sit alone, covered in garbage, we see Tank man in Tianamen Square and we see footage of assasination attempts and the KKK. This is before we see MJ himself, in a cell, with the footage we have just watched surrounding him. He is in the middle of all of this violence and horror.

The lyric - which on this version of the song, you become accutely aware of - is filled with anger an aggression. Amongst the lines are the following lines: "You rapin' me of my pride/Oh, for Gods sake" and "I'm tired of bein' the victim of shame/ They're throwing me in a class with a bad name" and so it goes on. (Seriously, check out the lyrics: http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/michaeljackson/theydontcareaboutus.html)

This is a song about the divide in society - how people are ignored, beaten and -ultimately - not given their human rights because of their race. There was a huge uproar when the song was released with the lines used in the song "sue me, jew me" and "kick me, kike me, don't you black or white me". These slurs or use of race as an insult is what the song is trying to highlight - Jackson isn't ignoring the issue he is putting it out there for all to see. The song is 'They don't really care about us' and through people ignoring what actually happens - rarely showing the video and censoring the lyric (which is what happened), in my opinion, it seems, people don't want to swallow the pill. Human rights are violated in a number of ways, but we ignore it.

In the face of such abuse, how much are people expected to go through before they snap - Will me, thrill me/You can never kill me", even though Roosevelt and Martin Luther King, years before, attempted to stop such out-and-out racism, it still exists. You notice all the moves of the prisoners are all linked in frustration, anger, and sadness and then when the - how do I put this - 'rock-bit' kicks in, rather than have some fan hug Michael Jacksn (as in Rio De Janiero), it shots Michael Jackson spinning while we clearly see shots behind him, and it cuts away to, shots or violence and racism, Vitenam, Civil Rights protests - am I right for thinking that its Rosa Parks in one shot? - and it really is shocking.

As the song builds up - we see hands reaching through fire for freedom - we see the guards in the prison intimidated, we see prisoners holding their hand up, in protest. The video ends as we see Jackson run through the streets of Rio de Janeiro and we move back to the other video ...

It is shocking to think that this video is 14 years old and yet these things still happen. In Northern Ireland, only recently, Romanian immigrants houses were burnt down. This was in the last six months. Such a brilliant video and director, such a brilliant song and performer - and such an important issue.

Moonwalker (Jerry Kramer, Colin Chilvers, 1988)

"I'll never finish this movie! Who let him in? Isn't anybody in charge?"

Introduction

Now I am a huge Michael Jackson fan, and this is his only 'feature length' movie (I am not gonna count films like Men In Black 2 because that was just a cameo) so it is inevitable that I bought, watched and, consequently, review this title. I will come back to the music-video reviews I explained I would do ... but this does not fall in the three, lesser known, music-videos I said I would discuss. Nevertheless, Moonwalker does have some stunning sequences in and so it is worth a once-over at the very least.

What I reckon ...

Okay. There are two ways to describe this film: "Influenced by directors as diverse as Paul Verhoevan, Carol Reed and Robert Zemeckis - alongside Pop Art influences - comes Moonwalker" or I could describe it as "a mish-mash of incoherant stories that have no background, connection or depth to even qualify as a feature-legth film - it might as well come free with the Bad music album". The 'story' - if you could call it that - was by Michael Jackson. You can imagine it: "then spiders and then, then, then I turn into a car ... and then I turn into a robot and shoot him away... and, and, and the bad guy is a Joe Pesci-like drug lord... etc". Any sense is not applied - you coould call it 'surreal'. I'd call it random. "From the imagination of Michael Jackson, comes a movie like no other" - indeed.

Interestingly, there are some great influences - mainly taken from 80's movies - that may have played a part. The whole robot-thing seems very Robocop-esque (1987 was its release date ... so, it might be too close to call...), while the Michael-Jackson-car speeds off leaving a trail of fire akin to the Delorean in Back to the Future (1985...) and - to top it off - the colours, music and general sense of wonder we are expected to have when the Michael-Jackson-spaceship flies off into the night recall E.T. (one of MJ's favourite films apparently), when E.T. goes back home. I think, because it is so obvious, it takes the edge off of any credability that could be given. Nevertheless, the whole Smooth Criminal story is very separate to the rest of the film - bookended by live performances of Man in the Mirror and Come Together, and music videos of Leave me Alone and Speed Demon (Directed by Will Vinton, it is a very strange Roger Rabbit inspired sequence whereby live-action mixes with stop-go-motion creatures). That is not to say some inspirations go unfounded -its clear the film-noir style of the Smooth Criminal and the tilted cameras come from Carol Reed's The Third Man and - lets be honest - the dancing sequence inside Club 30 is up there as one of the top Michael Jackson dance sequences and that gives the entire movie a higher-quality - the fact that the sequence is preceded by what must be ten minutes of 'chasing', torches and shooting, for no clear reason does hamper the film.

To close, it is worth noting how impressive the music-video for Leave Me Alone is. It is directed by Jim Blashfield (not Jerry Kramer or Colin Chilvers interestingly enough...) and shows Michael trying to escape dog-press people on a fairground ride. He rides through all the gossip, rumours and newspaper articles that spiralled out of control after Thriller so it features references to the Elephant Man, Elizabeth Taylor (footage from Cat on a Hot Tin Roof) and the cryogenic-freezing chamber. The whole thing reminded me of Richard Hamiltons Pop Art pieces - using collage to make up an entire image - or in this case - a video. The video ends with Jackson emerging from the theme park - and akin to Gulliver in Gullivers Travels he breaks free from the 'chains' of entertainment that restricted him before. The i-hate-the-press song has been done by Michael Jackson on his Invincible album, with the song Privacy. Even Britney Spears has her own i-hate-the-press song on the album released post-baldness. Something about 'You want a piece of me', etc. But, thi video shows Michael completely mocking them and their goals - he laughs and dances in what he believes is complete fun and games. he doesn't take them seriously and, it is clear, that as much as he hates them, at this point in his career he gt frustrated but understood their neccessity. But he still wants them to go: Leave Me Alone, he cries ... and, they never did.

Interestingly, the video to Leave Me Alone was the only video from Bad that got a Grammy award. In fact it was the only Grammy Award given for the Bad album.

Who Is It? (David Fincher, 1992)

"Don't You Judge Of My Composure'/ Cause I'm Bothered Everyday/ And She Didn't Leave A Letter/ She Just Up And Ran Away"

Introduction

This is the first of a guaranteed three (but there are seriously so-o-o-o many) music video reviews. As a huge Michael Jackson fan, I felt that this might be the perfect opportunity to 'review' (is it a review?) lesser known music videos created by the King of Pop. So, 'Thriller' and 'Black or White' is not going to be reviewed. John Landis and his 'American Werewolf' movies might be reviewed in the future - but, as everyone knows those videos so well, there is no point in me stating 'Then a zombie appears and, in time, they dance'. Means nothing to me anymore and, I'm sure, it means nothing to you either. To kick start though we have a Pre-Benjamin Button, Pre-Panic Room and Fight Club film directed by David Fincher. Its quite funny how much from this film shows how brilliant a director Fincher is ...

Summary

We see NYC, whereby Michael Jackson's character has found out about his lovers relationship with 'Alex'. "Who is it?" he asks - only for it to be revealed that 'Alex' is not a lover of hers - but in fact an alias she goes by when she is working as a high-class call-girl. She has some very shiny cards all with different names on: Alex, Diana, Celeste, Eve, etc.

Michael is - obviously - cut up by this and decides to leave one night while she is out working. he gets on a plane and she tries to run back to him but it is too late. Michael Jackson's assistant throws all the cards back in her face and she realises he knows. But, alas, she returns to her employers - a man and a woman - who promptly slap her and then start making-her-up again for her next client.

Michael is in China (?). Alone.



What I reckon...

This has so many clear links to Fincher's work - specifically 'Panic Room'. The entire beginning of the video recalls Hitchcock's 'Psycho' credits sequence, which was in turn, copied by Fincher in 'Panic Room'. Even the warm colours and false-looking NYC buildings in 'Panic Room's' opening credits could have been taken directly from the opening shots - before the beat kicks in and flips from the warm palette of oranges to the cold colours of black and blue.

The entire atmosphere reeks of Neo-Noir, 'Blade Runner'-esque influence - smokey woman, shadows and shiny surfaces (elevator walls, the cards themselves, mirrors). Then again, there is more to it - to the point that it feels a little like a 'Dairy Milk' advert. The woman with a white hood in this high class society: All because the lady loves ...

I'm going to mention two directors whom I know little of - David Lynch and David Cronenberg. The shiny cars, the shiny walls, the mysterious hooded woman ... am I right? I watched Cronenberg's 'Crash' years ago and - obviously - due to the nature of the film (eroticism and cars) it relied heavily on the metallic sheen of vehicles, so this did seem to recall that but 'Crash' was made three years after so clearly that is just me. Maybe a Cronenberg fan can clarify if this type of 'look' is his influence ... David Lynch though ... I don't know exactly where I got his influence from, especially when currently I have only seen 'Mulholland Drive' (I've got 'Blue Velvet' sitting on a shelf!) ... so completely discard that last paragraph if you know better, if you don't then ... be aware it might be rubbish. Throughout the video, we often see a face emerge from flat, clean surfaces and this is completely surreal so that might be the link - Lynch and his Surrealism.

Nevertheless, Fincher doesn't seem to be making a run-of-the-mill music video. We have the product-nature of the woman, constantly reiterated in the nameless-faces that emerge from the artists drawing paper initially (deigning woman, designing humans, products thus prostitution) and then blank surfaces throughout. One specific special effect is incredibly haunting as we see what Michael feels, as a couple are underneath sheets - but when the sheets blow away there is nothing there (Strangely enough, in the recent trailer for Scorsese's 'Shutter Island' there is a similar effect as Michelle Williams disappears in DiCaprio's arms...) But we, the viewer, get to see the real identity of her clients intermittently - one of which is not only disturbing, but quite amazing to see in a Pop music video. A man sits in the shadows and then reveals himself to be wheelchair bound - cut to this client using an oxygen mask while she dances seductively out-of-focus, soon enough he gets the energy to stand, cut back to Michael. Lonely as hell. This is pretty serious stuff - prostitution, disability, sex and money. A feature ... if only

An interesting side-point is how the video raises concerns about what is the role of a man - and what is the role of the woman. When she realises Michael is gone she is found by her employees - a male character moves close to hear (does he smell her?) and moves off disapprovingly, while the female employer comes up to her and slaps her. It would make more sense for a woman to slap a man but this 'girl' was slapped. Bear in mind this is a woman who has slept with many men. Maybe the role-reversal of a woman with many partners, opposed to a man accepted if he has many partners, is a factor. But, in this case, she is slapped because she wanted to be with one man opposed to the many clients who desire her - and pay for her. Normally your are chastised for having many partners, but her employers chastise her for wanting one partner: Michael Jackson.

The entire video is steeped in expressionistic visual signals - Michael awaits in a dark and cold environment while feeling pain and anguish - but as the video progresses, he moves into the city through to the airport as he faces not only the city lights, but the reality of his life and his relationship and its impracticalities. When we first saw her she was dressed in white as some sort of saviour, but by the end she is in the shadows with dripping make-up in the rain - clearly, this career option began as beauty and class but degenerated into a destructive and ugly lifestyle.

But Fincher did not ignore Michael's trademark socks - and, as he sits upset, he shows a quick shot of the iconic socks. This is a Michael Jackson video of course.