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Dancing FoolTelling moments in Michael Jackson's greatest videos.

By Seth Stevenson
Posted Tuesday, Nov. 14, 2006, at 12:49 AM ET

For those of us who enjoy keeping tabs on each new Michael Jackson flare-up, it's been a disappointingly barren year. Ever since Jackson got acquitted of child molestation charges last June, he's kept a low profile—spending much of his time hiding out in Bahrain. There's been talk of him recording a new album in Ireland, and he's due to receive an award in London this month (I'm praying for some sort of jaw-dropping oddity to occur onstage). But for the most part, MJ's freak factor has been falling short of his lofty standards.

Thus I welcomed the chance to preview Michael Jackson Visionary—a new box set of Jackson's music videos. Visionary provides an excellent opportunity to analyze more than a quarter-century of Jacko on film. Through the course of these 20 clips, we can chart the evolution of Jackson's public persona. (And skin tone.) We can track the waning of his popularity. (And septum.) Jackson's growing isolation, his unchecked mania, his alleged pedophilia: all there in the videos, if you look closely enough.

Click here to see a close reading of Michael Jackson's greatest videos.

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Seth Stevenson is a frequent contributor to Slate.
Video excerpts from Michael Jackson Visionary © 2006 Sony.
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I think you're missing a lot of complexity in these Michael Jackson videos. There was a lot of humor behind that line in Thriller, for example. Landis says in an interview he knew "I'm not like other guys" would get a big laugh, because, hello, he wasn't. And MJ was constantly toying with idea of transformation, especially throughout Moonwalker. (Okay, yes, I'm a big MJ nerd.)

I just don't like the idea that now we're looking back and feigning shock at the idea that there was some turmoil beneath all these videos. Of course, there's always been turmoil there. That's what made the videos so compelling to begin with. MJ presented himself as a saintly figure but also a disturbed, self-loathing figure, confessional at times, saccarinely sweet at others, sometimes dangerously violent (and don't even get me started on your cheap dismissal of the coda of Black and White, which, to me, represents everything that is both disturbing and awesome about MJ; and you cut the clip before he stops to zip his zipper, a moment worthy of Chaplin).

On the other hand, the "You Are Not Alone" video was actually much more screwed up than you note. The original version shows MJ as a near-naked angel with wings, and everything's based on Maxfield Parrish paintings for some reason. (I think of that whole period as a public breakdown.)

But the "Beat It" video was not as obviously crazy, and that's what it makes it so great. There's definitely a potential for craziness there and some hints of messiantic tendancies, but I say that's what made is such a breakthrough to begin with. We shouldn't be so skeptical of the subtext in great videos, especially when most of today's videos have none.

--Steverino2

(To reply, click here.)

(11/15)

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