Billie Jean - Michael Jackson

Media Magazine

What was the budget for Billie Jean? How did this compare with later Michael Jackson videos?

• $50,000 - Later it was $300,000 and then Thriller had a budget of $2 million.

Why was the video rejected by MTV?

• They argued that it didn't suit their 'middle America' target audience

Applying Goodwin's theory of music video, how does Billie Jean reflect the genre characteristics of pop music video?

• The music contains performance from the artist, lip syncing as well as narrative aspects conventional to the mmusic video genre.

How do the visuals reflect the lyrics in Billie Jean?

• This song is about Michael's sons and his experiences with fan girls and the lyrics have an obvious feminine connotation, reflected by the female visuals within the music video

Why does the video feature fewer close-up shots than in most pop videos?

• Michael Jackson's main selling point is his dancing, therefore the video favours less close up shots to make the performance a focal point of the video.

What intertextual references can be found in the video?

• Intertextual references to pop culture and the film noir film genre, as well as spy films and musicals such as Singin' in the rain. 

How does the video use the notion of looking as a recurring motif?

• The notion of looking acts as a perspective of surveillance on Michael, with a 'detective' characterisation. This could represent how he acts as a performer, and how he was constantly viewed through an outsider perspective all his life. 

What representations can be found in the video?

• Michael Jackson represents a 'godlike' angelic character, with his association with lights and positive impacts on the people he interacts with lives, such as the homeless man he throws a penny in the cup of. 

Close-textual analysis of the music video

How is mise-en-scene used to create intertextuality - reference to other media products or genres? E.g. colour/black and white; light/lighting.

• The Black/White colour palette links to the spy/film noir genre, with MJ's costume and the detective perspective that the video is set to, also alludes to the spy/crime genre. The lighting on the floor is an intertextual reference to 1970s disco and perhaps the film 'Saturday Night Fever', The bricolage of the polaroid photos is also an intertextual referencer to pop culture at the time of the music videos release.

How does the video use narrative theory of equilibrium?

• There's a villain on the loose, the villain gets caught and then peace is restored. 

How are characters used to create narrative through binary opposition?

• Binary opposition is used to create the classic hero vs villain narrative structure. The colour palette and sharp contrasts help make this binary opposition abundantly clear. 

What is the significance of the freeze-frames and split-screen visual effects?

• They slow down the pace of the editing and allow it to match the song's pace. It also modernises the music video and gives it a contemporary feel, apt to the 80s era.

What meanings could the recurring motif of 'pictures-within-pictures' create for the audience?

• It creates the idea that there is a separate reality created by media texts, and that the narratives we see in pictures can be manipulated from the 'truth' creating a post modern interpretation to the music video.

Does the video reinforce or subvert theories of race and ethnicity - such as Gilroy's diaspora or Hall's black characterisations in American media?

• The music video reinforces theories of race and ethnicity, with him being 'under a watchful eye' something Black people experience even today, and could allude to Gilroy's theory of diaspora and how Black people feel like they 'don't belong' or are alienated from a mainstream society. MJ also fits the archetype of the 'Entertainer' of Hall's characterisations, since his dancing and overall performance is in fact for a spectator which fits this theory. However, the 'positive' depiction of Jackson and his beneficial impact on people's lives arguably subverts race stereotypes in 1980s America. 

Does this video reflect Steve Neale's genre theory of 'repetition and difference'? Does it reflect other music videos or does it innovate?

• This video set the conventions for music videos, and uses a mixture of post modern aspects and was innovative for the time, however it set the tune for future music videos and repeated ideas.

Analyse the video using postmodern theory (e.g. Baudrillard's hyper-reality; Strinati's five definitions of postmodernism). How does the 'picture-in-picture' recurring motif create a postmodern reading?

• The 'picture in a picture' is an example of Bricolage, which links to Baudrillard's theory of hyperreality, we as the audience lose consciousness of what is real and what is an aspect of the narrative. It also could allude to the fact that the audience may view the realities constructed by the media as reality and further supports Baudrillard's theory. MJ also fails to appear in the detective's photos, which could be a political comment on how the character of 'Michael Jackson' that the media knew and the performer he was is how he was viewed but essentially wasn't real or the 'true him' merely a figment of the media's imagination.