•Billie Jean: is an example of a historically
significant music video. The video was one of
the very first videos on MTV to
feature a black artist and be aired on regular rotation by the
channel. The
video’s immense popularity helped bring MTV into the mainstream and
breakthrough
racial barriers on TV networks and helped propel the album ‘Thriller’
to
the bestselling album of all time. The video was released in 1982 & directed by Steve
Barron. It was popularly believed that "Billie Jean" was an autobiographical song, referring
to someone who claimed Jackson was the father of her child. He was the first black artist on
MTV, as before they didn't play black music, due to the segregation at the time. It was the
first time he preformed the moon walk & expanded his audience as he mixed
Magical Negro: Black person helping a white person
- Everything he touches turns white; could reflect purity & innocence
- Sophisticated editing
- Detective = bad
- MJ = good
Goodwin’s theory:
•Andrew
Goodwin’s theory of music videos states that music videos contain some or all
of
the following elements:
•A
link between the visuals & lyrics (compliment, contradict or amplify)
•Genre
characteristics (heavy metal in industrialised
settings; rap music in urban street
contexts etc.)
•Contain
intertextual
references (references to popular culture)
•Contain
notions of looking (e.g. screens within screens)
•Include
objectification of females (e.g. male gaze)
•Include
demands of the record label (close ups of lead singer, symbols or motifs
associated
with the band / performer etc.)
•Video
will be performance, narrative or concept based.
Neale’s
genre theory of Repetition and Difference:
•Steve
Neale states that though all genres are structured along the identical
conventions of
plot, narrative and mise-en-scene, success lies in their ability
to manipulate and re-shape
these elements.
•In
this sense, all genres all contain instances of repetition and difference – and
difference is
essential to the economy of the genre.
•Neale’s
model holds that a product’s genre is defined by:
•How
much it conforms to its genre’s individual conventions and stereotypes. A
product
must match the genre’s conventions to be identified as part of that
genre if it is to attract that
audience.
•How
much a product subverts the genre’s conventions and stereotypes. The product
must
subvert convention enough to be considered unique and not just a clone of
another product.
•Michael
Jackson largely defined the modern music video with Billie
Jean. He
followed it
with two bigger-budget videos: Bad (directed by Martin Scorcese) and
Thriller
(directed
by
John Landis) – pushing the boundaries of the music video genre.
•Both
of these later videos were effectively short films that leaned heavily on film
genres –
using well established film directors. This reinforced the intertextual
element of his music
videos and helped to create the Michael Jackson identity
of the 1980s and 1990s.
THE
SHORT FILM
Director:
Steve Barron
Primary
Production Location: Los Angeles, California
Michael
Jackson's short film for "Billie Jean" was the first of three short
films produced for
recordings from Thriller, which continues its reign as the
biggest selling album of all time
with worldwide sales in excess of 105 million
as of June 1, 2016 and in December, 2015
became the first ever album to be
awarded triple diamond status by the RIAA for US sales
alone. The "Billie
Jean" single reached No. 1 in 10 countries in the spring of 1983,
including
seven consecutive weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 - becoming the
second-highest selling
single in America that same year.
The
short film featured a paparazzo attempting to photograph Jackson as he danced
through an urban landscape. A specially created set featured steps and sidewalk
tiles that lit
up underneath Michael's feet. It is here that fans first saw
some of Michael's best-
known dance moves, such as spinning and landing on his
toes. Many of Michael's steps
and mannerisms in the video would become forever
associated with The King of Pop.
The "Billie Jean" short
film made history as the first video by a black artist to be
played in heavy
rotation on MTV, then in its second year. In 1992, the short film was
inducted
into the Music Video Producers Hall of Fame. MTV ranked "Billie Jean"
as the 35th
greatest music video of all time in 1999, one of three entries of
Jackson's on the
chart alongside "Thriller" and "Beat It." - Binary theory, levi strouce
Lyric Analysis:
'I
said, "Don't mind, but what do you mean
I
am the one' - confused by accusation
For
forty days and for forty nights - religious reference
Law
was on her side - sounds like court case, shows how she made a big deal, she
went court & tried getting money from hi
But
who can stand
When
she's in demand
Her
schemes and plans - he thinks she planned & did it on purpose
Billie
Jean is not my lover
She's
just a girl who claims that I am the one - making false accusations
But
the kid is not my son - denial
'Cause
the lie becomes the truth." - people start believing it
Race Stereotypes:
"Super
Freak" was released about five months after MTV went on the air, and
Rick
James made a slick video for the song hoping it would get some spins on
the network. At
the time, however, MTV refused to play videos by black artists,
and they rejected this clip,
continuing to feed America a steady stream of rock
and EuroPop.
This refusal to play black
music was a holdover from radio station programming,
where conventional wisdom was that
you would lose your white listeners if you
played black music.
•Rick
James video presented a hyper-sexualised black male who white women found
attractive.
•Rick
James’ subliminal media language of “the “Black Buck” was not suited to white
white
producers.
MTV director was a black woman who said "As a black woman, I did not want that
representing my people as the first black video on MTV."
•black
sidekick
of a white protagonist (the
help)(secondary
role) –
learners may
independently research the meaning of the “foil” as a character
role.
•the token
black person,
•the comedic
relief,
•the athlete
•the over-sexed
ladies’ man, (black
Buck, “in
the negro, all the passions, emotions, and
ambitions are almost entirely
dominated by the sexual instinct”)
•the absentee
father or the violent
black man as drug-dealing criminal and gangster thug
Stereotypes: Positive
and
negative stereotypes are often seen in contemporary British
media.
–Musicians
–
jazz, hip-hop and soul
–Sportsmen
and
women
–Comedians
–Criminals
–Socially
dysfunctional
–Prostitute/sexually
promiscuous
–The stud/pimp
MJ-
-good dancer & musician
-nicely dressed, clean
-represented as the hero/good person (protagonist)
-magical negro - helps poor person
- Inspector, B&W, looks like a film
- Cup glows, black negro, helps
- Relates to lyrics, shows how she made a big deal
- Everything he steps on/ touches glows
- Links to lyrics
- Editing
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