One of the reasons I love Michael Jackson is because of the message behind his music. Sure, he, like everyone else, had songs that were pretty irrelevant to issues concerning the world, but a lot of his stuff has meaning to it. If you didn't pick up on the meaning from the song itself, you could definitely find it in his music videos. Whether you agree or disagree with his status as the King of Pop, you can't deny that he was the King of the Music Video.
One of my earliest childhood memories was watching a Michael Jackson video with my parents. Weird I know, but it's stuck with me all these years. I was 3 years old and was watching the "Black or White" video on my parents' bed. You have to understand - this was back in the day when MJ videos made people stop in their tracks. It was a world premiere, the first single released from the Dangerous album, and my parents and I were watching right along with the rest of the world.
The morphing faces towards the end of the song had the biggest impact on me. That was something no one had ever seen before on television, especially not at that precision and quality. But the message behind the faces stuck out to me, too.
I'm a biracial kid. My mother is white and my father is black. They're an interracial couple, and have been for nearly 35 years. The ridicule they've faced, especially living in Indiana, is unbelievable. Bringing a child into the world didn't exactly make things easier.
But when the three of us watched that music video, something happened inside of us. To see someone of Michael Jackson's caliber and fame saying that it really doesn't matter what you look like or what color you are was huge to us. I was only 3 years old, but even then I knew the importance of watching someone on tv say that my family was okay, even if we were two different colors. We already knew that it was true, but to have somebody of that stature in the world verify was made us feel good. Really good.
I can remember my dad saying, "Did you see that? Just watch. Now everybody's going to have commercials and stuff with people's faces morphing." But looking back, I can honestly say the smile on his and my mom's face said so much more.
It was a good day in Cheatham household.
P.s. Check out the end of the video when MJ's crashing windows and stuff. I didn't remember this part of the video, but the message still carries through. In the words of MJ, "prejudice is ignorance."
One of my earliest childhood memories was watching a Michael Jackson video with my parents. Weird I know, but it's stuck with me all these years. I was 3 years old and was watching the "Black or White" video on my parents' bed. You have to understand - this was back in the day when MJ videos made people stop in their tracks. It was a world premiere, the first single released from the Dangerous album, and my parents and I were watching right along with the rest of the world.
The morphing faces towards the end of the song had the biggest impact on me. That was something no one had ever seen before on television, especially not at that precision and quality. But the message behind the faces stuck out to me, too.
I'm a biracial kid. My mother is white and my father is black. They're an interracial couple, and have been for nearly 35 years. The ridicule they've faced, especially living in Indiana, is unbelievable. Bringing a child into the world didn't exactly make things easier.
But when the three of us watched that music video, something happened inside of us. To see someone of Michael Jackson's caliber and fame saying that it really doesn't matter what you look like or what color you are was huge to us. I was only 3 years old, but even then I knew the importance of watching someone on tv say that my family was okay, even if we were two different colors. We already knew that it was true, but to have somebody of that stature in the world verify was made us feel good. Really good.
I can remember my dad saying, "Did you see that? Just watch. Now everybody's going to have commercials and stuff with people's faces morphing." But looking back, I can honestly say the smile on his and my mom's face said so much more.
It was a good day in Cheatham household.
P.s. Check out the end of the video when MJ's crashing windows and stuff. I didn't remember this part of the video, but the message still carries through. In the words of MJ, "prejudice is ignorance."
One of my favorite videos of all time. One would be hard-pressed to find a contemporary video that preaches the same virtues. Not only does it establish a moral ideal, but the Macaulay Culkin guitar interlude is priceless.
ReplyDeleteI just watched this video a few days after his death. My wife loves Michael Jackson; says he's a major reason for why she originally wanted to go into music. We put on the video, which was on Comcast on Demand. I did feel charged by the song, the beat, the morphing transformation of faces.
ReplyDeleteI never appreciated or enjoyed music as much as my wife did. And I wish music videos still were what MJ made them to be. It wasn't for the glory of getting your face on TV. It was for the purpose to give life to your music. To deepen the meaning by giving it a visual story.
My favorite MJ video will always be Smooth Criminal. I tell my wife my dancing is as good as Michael Jackson.
She doesn't believe me.