A Tale of Two Michaels

Michael, the entertainer, the art, the music, the difference!

King of Pop, the entertainer

Have you gone to see the new Micheal movie? It is an experience. The director and the actors flooded our memories and inspired that sing a long groove-feeling that lingers on even after you are home and the movie has ended. I joined the box office crashers and saw the film opening weekend, twice. After a few days of holding on to the rhythm that gets ya,’ I realized before I let go that the creator extraordinaire and the music art activist earned yet another shout and it is my turn. While this tale of two Michaels focuses on him, like the movie, there was a third who came to life on screen channeled through Jaafar Jackson. An unforgettable performance in his first acting role that took two years to transform and he nailed it.

Some decades before the making of the movie, the entertainer portrayed in the film created the period-themed set of Smooth Criminal which captured the roaring gangster cool of the 1930s with input from his costume designer on the project. Choreographer Vincent Patterson introduced the anti-gravity lean dance move which became the iconic move of that year and many years to follow. Rolling flash mob-like scenes of women dancing with men prancing while others were up to no good as the detective disrupted the scene to check and see if Annie is okay. This hook inspired by Resusci-Annie the training mannequin used to teach CPR and trainees learned to approach the mannequin and shout “Annie, are you okay?” to assess whether a person was responsive. The story goes Michael saw a mannequin on the floor when creating the music and liked the idea of adding the shout as a hook in the song.

In MJ fashion, there is an overriding message in the music which is the search for a just world safe for women as the detective enters the party scene in an apartment wearing his white suit and fedora hat in search of Annie who was in danger. The artist interlaced diversity with the mysterious Asian woman from beginning to end as a meaningful presence of beauty and mystery in this award-winning video. Her face, inextricably linked to the curious scene. Michael intrigues us with his set design while his choreographer integrates real time flawless dance moves by the entertainer and his repertoire of dance-actors. This nuanced storytelling and hands-on creative design are weaved throughout the compilations of Michael’s work that leave fans screaming for more.

The Scream collaboration with sister Janet was a video shoot over two weeks that Michael had fun with. It was an award-winning VMA best dance video and while accepting the award with his sister by his side Michael said that his “favorite thing about doing the Scream video… it was really an excuse to work with my sister because she is really one of the sweetest people I know in the world.” Yeah, he said that. The song came out during a legal, social, and unsolicited political rough patch for the artist and the collaborative support from his sister led to it becoming the first single to debut in the top five on Billboard Hot 100. Long time collaborators, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis were songwriters along with Michael and Janet on this global sensation topping charts at its debut in Italy, New Zealand, Spain, France, Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands, United Kingdom while reaching top five in Australia.

Music art activist

The movie and its Jackson family focus, with Joseph and Michael’s relationship front and center, did not show much about Michael the activist. We do see his rebellion against the machine that would not allow him in his youth to create his own music and the father who kept him trapped in a bubble of guilted loyalty that taunted him until the end of his life. He said in the movie he loved his family; childhood opened him up to a haunting affair with love. Dad’s taunts tempered by mom’s care. The entire cast of seasoned actors were impressive and brought their characters to life. The end of the movie hints the story will continue, good news because they have “i”s to dot and “t”s to cross.

The hopeless romantic and protector had strong feelings against injustice, and he created music art to tell his stories. Michael’s album HIStory featured, They Don’t Really Care About Us a song that takes us to Brazil to visit with him dancing with fans in the streets of the poverty ridden city to speak against police brutality. The video released a couple of years after the excessive force incident against Rodney King and the retaliatory civil attack on Reginald Denny in the city of Los Angeles where police notoriously stereotyped and enforced the law accordingly.

Bodycams and cell phone cameras have helped reduce the incidence of extreme violence while isolated incidents continue to happen. In Michael’s 1995 music video filmed by director Spike Lee, he introduces the music group Olodum (translates to Greatest God) known for the rhythmic thudding beats on their hand-painted drums in African colors. The cultural group was founded in the town of Salvador da Bahia to unify and empower the Afro-Brazilian community. Olodum plays a significant role in the Bahian carnival celebrations, despite select areas which have a history of marginalizing Afro-Brazilians from participating in carnival activities. Michael highlighted the talents of this music group and aligned with the voice of resistance to unfair treatment of any group. The verse in the song expresses heightened concerns about the dismissive indifference experienced by marginalized groups, concluding authorities do not really care about them. A wise successful businessman once told me, people do not trust you until they know you care. This indirect advice captures the theme of the message in the music of the Oludum and their community.

Nice segway to Michael’s highly eclectic special effects in the music video Black or White which opens with Macauley Culkin’s character telling is video dad to “eat this” as he strums his electric guitar to introduce Michael dancing with clay masked African giants followed by cowboys and Indians and other cultural or ethnic identities. A bit chaotic for my taste yet the strings rock and the hip hop lyrics of “not spending my life being a color” actually adds more color to the arbitrary special effects that meld together and sends the message; live life in your color, your culture and celebrate it. Michael the activist took on culture clash and injustice playfully and seriously. As a music art activist, he used music to speak loudly on issues of significance, his dance to entertain you, and his videos tell the story that dance and music alone could not convey. The videos expanded his voice and image to a global audience who came to know him as Michael the King of Pop.

Happy 250th to the people of the United States of America and warm handshake to the British across the Atlantic and all other allies.

Michelle Riesgo

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