As people say goodbye to Michael Jackson, we can look past Bubbles, surgeries, sexual ambiguity, Corey Feldman, and general creepiness of his final years and focus on his artistic contribution to popular culture…in film.
Okay, so Michael Jackson is famous for his music, but his contributions to the history of film are still important. It all starts with the 1978 Sidney Lumet film, The Wiz, which we can also say changed the direction of Jackson’s music career. Musical supervisor on the film, Quincy Jones, would produce Jackson’s next three albums: Off the Wall, Thriller, and Bad.
Spending five years focusing on genre-defining music for a generation, Jackson’s next film credit was his extended music video/short film, Thriller. Of course, prior to that, he also made plot-driven videos like “Billie Jean” and “Beat It,” bringing new credibility to music videos as an art form. One record exec who worked with Jackson said the pop king always avoided the term “videos,” instead calling his pieces “short films.” In this regard, Jackson was prolific, making MTV into a cultural staple, and marrying film to music in a way previously unseen.
Jackson would work with many directors, from John Landis (Thriller, “Black or White”), Francis Ford Coppola (Captain EO), and Martin Scorsese (“Bad”), to Spike Lee, John Singleton, and special effects guru, Stan Winston, along with countless others in between. The gloved one even directed and wrote a number of his short films, helped usher in the era of morph technology, and even appeared on The Simpsons during its early years, writing “Do the Bartman” and singing in an episode. Throw in the scores of films that contain his music, from Revenge of the Nerds to 27 Dresses, and his impact on film becomes obvious.
Everyone remembers 1988’s Moonwalker, Jackson’s only feature starring role, a loosely connected series of his musical “short films.” However, few remember Michael’s 1997 effort, Ghosts, co-written by Jackson and Steven King. Similar forgettable efforts marked his final forays into film. Though Jackson could still parade friends like Eddie Murphy, Chris Tucker, and even Steven Spielberg into his later short films, they lacked the spirit of his earlier work. Everyone gets old, and regardless of whether or not people can admit it now, Michael Jackson got old.
Perhaps his increasingly bizarre nature and molestation allegations contributed to his diminishing success, but quality certainly played a part. Who remembers his cameo in MIB2? And, the million dollar question: What was Michael Jackson’s final film role? Answer: The 2004 Eric Roberts vehicle, Miss Cast Away. Ironically, it was also the last film for Bob Denver and Pat Morita, too. Even more ironically, Jackson played a representative of the Vatican (insert own joke here).
In cinematic terms, Michael Jackson was an amazing musician. In musical terms, he innovatively made film a crucial part of pop music. In life, Michael Jackson resided in Neverland; in death, it may be the films that pop’s Peter Pan left behind that will truly keep him forever young.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
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