J Brown Media Studies

Music Videos

Billie Jean-Micheal Jackson

Tuesday 19th November

Background

Jackson said that "Billie Jean" was based on groupies he and his brothers encountered while they performed as the Jackson 5. "They would hang around backstage doors, and any band that would come to town they would have a relationship with, and I think I wrote this out of experience with my brothers when I was little. There were a lot of Billie Jeans out there. Every girl claimed that their son was related to one of my brothers."

According to Jackson's biographer J. Randy Taraborrelli, "Billie Jean" was inspired by letters Jackson received in 1981 from a woman claiming he was the father of one of her twins. Jackson, who regularly received letters of this kind, had never met the woman and ignored those claims. However, she continued to send letters stating that she loved him and wanted to be with him, asking how he could ignore his own flesh and blood. The letters disturbed him to the extent that he suffered nightmares.^[6]

Eventually, Jackson received a parcel containing a photograph of the fan, a gun, and a letter instructing him to kill himself at a particular time. The fan would do the same once she had killed "their" baby, so they could be together in the "next life". To his mother's dismay, Jackson had the photograph of the woman framed and hung above the dining room table of their family home. The Jacksons later discovered that the fan had been sent to a psychiatric hospital.

Music Video Release
The "Billie Jean" music video debuted on March 10, 1983 on MTV.^[35] It brought MTV—until then a fairly new and unknown music channel—to mainstream attention. It was one of the first videos by a black artist to be aired regularly by the channel, as the network's executives felt black music was not "rock" enough.^[36]

Micheal Jackson as a you8ng black male is portrayed as a criminal/someone to watch.
The detective is in a stereotypical hat and coat.
There are two white females on a billboard
The old lady directs the police to Micheal Jackson.

Inspiration
I'd come up with the idea (for Billie Jean) based on an idea that I'd had for a previous video for Joan Amaltrading: the Midas Touch thing. So the plan was that everywhere Micheal went, everything would glow and turn to gold in the light. I wrote the concept down in a fax and we faxed Micheal this page and half of the content.

Social, Cultural & Historical Context

The reporter could represent Micheal Jackson being hounded by the press.
They also represent a repressed community that is monitored and controlled by the press

How does Micheal Jackson demonstrate control over the situation?
What could the cat changing into a tiger represent?

The cat/tiger could represent Billie Jean/similar women and how the press build them up..

What does the tiger print material represent?

It shows how the press are constantly looking for evidence of something that didn't really happen or at least something which is unrelated to Micheal.

Links to modern day society despite being released in 1983

The press are still desperate to jump at anything that might make an interesting story.
Things are documented constantly.

Narrative

In the beginning, Micheal is portrayed as a normal man having a walk in deep thought about a problem (Billy Jean).

What may be confusing is the reporter that starts creeping around in the shadows. The issue isn't really addressed in the song itself but it is about deception and what is more deceiving than a hack paparazzi sneaking around writing rumours. The reporter drops a newspaper with the heading Billie Jean.
Jackson then tries to show how these issues can get so out of hand in the media. He not only has to worry about it personally, he now has to dodge people trying to make the situation even worse.
Then, the video goes into the section where he's thinking about the picture Billie Jean had shown him where the babies eyes were like his own. He uses 'artistic license'. This means that the artist can interpret thoughts, feelings and actions in any way possible even if it goes into a somewhat unreal realm. In this part that is exhibited with dance. so even though he dances a lot while singing about such a serious subject, he ends up enhancing the power of feelings and words.
The last part of the film goes back to him trying to escape the paparazzi. He goes up the stairs to the motel and by putting his finger to his lips, he signals to the old woman to call the police on the creepy reporter. The reporter gets arrested for violating Micheal's privacy. But the best part about the end is that you see the man looking st the person who is sleeping in the bed (Billie Jean) still with so much confusion and pain about the situation, that he makes himself disappear after pulling the sheet on top of him. This could be his way of saying he just can't deal with the problem, and he makes his wish to make it go away come true by vanishing. It also represents his vanishing away from the paparazzi.

Thursday 21st November

Representation of Ethnicity

Alvarado (1987)

Four Main Types

Humorous-providing comic relief.
Exotic-other cultures presented as unusual and exotic in their traditions and ways of living.
Pitied-objects of pity and vulnerability.
Dangerous-criminal gangster and usually coupled with a binary opposition such as the respectable white character.

Positive representation of ethnicity

Micheal Jackson as a young black male can be seen in a positive light.
He gives money to the poor and transforms their life.
Voyeurism is used (the notion of looking).
He is seen as the star-light up flooring, light up bed, screen time. This could suggest the attention he gets or the good that he does in society.
The end in the bed is what people think but then he disappears as this is not true.

Negative representations of ethnicity

Micheal Jackson as a young black male can be seen in a negative light.
He has been accused of doing something-creating a scandal-why he is being chased by the press.
Being deceitful-telling people to keep quiet.
Disappearing when the reporter tries to catch him.
The newspaper in particular represents the scandal.

Mise-en-Scene

The newspaper gives very clear connotations of a scandal.
Lighting is used to make everything Micheal touches glow.
Micheal Jackson appears quite elusive.
The story line is esoteric
Micheal cleans his shoe as she wants rid of this silly situation.

The music video was directed by Steve Barron

The video could use the homeless man getting money to suggest how money changes you and how everyone wants you purely for your money.
Micheal Jackson ignores the girls on the billboard and just dances which shows how he actually has no involvement with these types of girls even though they are very dominantly there and have the power to change the media presentation (billboard).

Mise en Scene in Screenshot

Lighting as Micheal walks across the pavement.
Ignorance of Billboard
Billboard is big in relation to Micheal Jackson which shows the groupies can often have a bigger impact on the media than him.
Costume is sophisticated and unique to Micheal Jackson.
Hair is neatly styled.
Micheal has his ankles out in his costume which was supposedly fashionable?
The girls look smug
Jackson is facing forward and trying to move on past the girls but they don't disappear.

The moral of the story is don't believe everything in the media because people will make up anything for fame.

Wednesday 27th November

Analyse how the Billie Jean music video by Micheal Jackson uses stereotypes to represent a varying representation of ethnicity. (10)

The music video 'Billie Jean' by Micheal Jackson from 1982 highlights a number of positive and negative representations of ethnicity. It draws upon a number of ethnic stereotypes like the idea that young black males are all criminals, that white people should always be on their case and that white people should have power.

Billie Jean was released by Jackson in 1982, at the time, the music industry was dominated by white people with MTV being very reluctant to play 'Billie Jean' as they thought that black music wasn't 'rock enough' for their channel. When the video did air, this was groundbreaking as it not only gave Micheal Jackson publicity but also brought MTV into the mainstream and opened up the music video industry to other black artists. The video had a clear narrative of Micheal Jackson trying to get away from the press and the detectives and eventually just disappearing because he'd had enough of all of the media attention and false speculation. This links to the stereotype that young black males need to be watched as they're often up to no good. The whole message of the song states that this is false, at the end of the video Micheal doesn't sleep with 'Billie Jean' so all the detective work appears pointless. Micheal appears to be trying to subvert this strong stereotype of the 1970s and 80s and prove that just because he is young and black and has the choice of all of the girls being famous, it doesn't mean that he is the father of Billie Jean's son.

The media language of the video highlights a number of stereotypes used, for example, as Micheal Jackson walks down the street the paving slabs light up. This high key lighting has connotations of power and positivity in everything Micheal does and perhaps suggests that he is lighting up the black music industry and sharing it with everyone, no matter where you come from. It is also seen through the use of the camera with the use of a long shot of Micheal which makes him look small compared to the white girls on the billboard. This may have been used to show that Micheal still isn't as powerful as the likes of 'Billie Jean' in influencing the media (since even the courts believed he was the father at first), despite trying to light up the music industry for everyone. Stereotypes are also evident in the use of costume with the detective being in a stereotypical long coat and hat. This makes the detective seem normal at first until it appears that he is chasing a case that isn't true.

In conclusion, I think that Billie Jean successfully portrays a varying representation of ethnicity to make the audience question the stereotypes they believe in. This lead to a breakthrough of black music into the music video industry helping MTV to fame despite their original stereotypical views towards black music.

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