Music Videos - Billie Jean

Billie Jean - Michael Jackson
.
What representations are being shown here? Are there any stereotypes?
He subverts stereotypes as he was a young black artist, which wasn't in the music industry at the time.
Stereotypical detective outfit

What is the narrative?
A female fan claimed that Michael Jackson was the father of her son. Michael Jackson used the lyrics to explain the truth and to say that none of the claims were true.

How is Michael Jackson seen? Star Image?
He is wearing a suit, which makes him have a star image.
The detective seemed a bit like paparazzi, so portrayed Michael Jackson's fame as people wanted to take photos of him.
.
Brief Notes on Historical Information
- 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 short film for Billie Jean is considered the video that brought MTV, until then a fairly new and unknown music channel, into 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 wasn't "rock" enough.
.
How is Michael Jackson presented as a young black male?
He gives a homeless man some change, which transforms the man and changes his life, this is seen as a positive thing, so gives a good name to young, black males, which isn't usually portrayed in the media.

How does it show the hounding/obsession by the groupies as mentioned by Michael Jackson?
He is seen running away, which could portray his daily life of having to run away from these people.

Steve Barron produced the music video.

The Inspiration

'I'd come up with the idea based on an idea that I had for a previous video for Joan Armatrading: The Midas Touch thing. So the plan was that everywhere Michael went, everything would glow and turn to gold in the light. I wrote the concept down in a fax and we faxed Michael this page and a half of content and they said, 'Michael really likes it, he really wants it to feel like a peter pan thing'.

Social, Cultural and Historical Context

The reporter could represent Michael Jackson being hounded by the press.

They also represent a repressed community that is monitored and controlled by the press.

What could the cat changing into the tiger represent?

It may represent women or in particular Billie Jean.

What does the tiger print material represent?

It could be seen as a piece of evidence that someone has been there or that Michael is the father as people are trying to find information out. It was found in the bedroom which is seen as proof and is what the media and press want.

Billie Jean came out in 1982 but can be linked to life beyond the year of its production. Can you make any associations to modern day society?

Flashing lights and cameras link to today's society as everything is documented.

The Interpretation of the Narrative










This screenshot shows a man struggling with a problem. In the lyrics the problem is obviously whether he fathered a child with a women obsessed with him. So the first part is him walking down the street thinking about what he should do.

What may be confusing is the reporter that starts creeping around in the shadows. This 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 spreading rumours. The reporter drops the newspaper with the headline Billie Jean Scandal.

In this part, Michael Jackson is trying to show how these issues can get so out of hand in the media. He not only has to worry about it personally now but he 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 ‘artist 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. This part 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 the 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 women to call the police on the creepy reporter. The reporter gets arrested for violating Michael Jackson’s privacy. At the end you see the Michael looking at the person who is sleeping in the bed (Billie Jean) still with so much confusing and pain about the situation, that he makes himself

disappear after putting 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.

Michael Jackson Research

Michael Jackson Research

Artist 
Michael Jackson was an American singer, songwriter and dancer.
Known as the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant figures of the 20th century and was one of the greatest entertainers. 
He was born on August 29, 1958 in Gary, Indiana, USA. 
He died on June 25, 2009 in Los Angeles, California, USA at the age of 50.
He died due to cardiac arrest induced by propofol and benzodiazepineintoxication. 
The eighth child of the Jackson family, Michael made his professional debut in 1964 with his elder brothers Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, and Marlon as a member of the Jackson 5. 
He began his solo career in 1971 while at Motown Records.
His music videos, including those for "Beat It", "Billie Jean", and "Thriller" from his 1982 album Thriller, are credited with breaking racial barriers.
His popularity helped bring the television channel MTV to fame.
Jackson is one of the best selling music artists of all time, with estimated sales of over 350 million records worldwide.

Thriller
Thriller is the best selling album of all time, with estimated sales of 66 million copies worldwide.
It was released on November 30, 1982, in the United States by Epic Records and internationally by CBS Records. 
Thriller explores genres including pop, post-disco, rock and funk.
Had a production budget of $750,000.
Thriller peaked at number one on the Billboard 200.
All the singles reached the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100, breaking the record for most top 10 singles from an album, with "Beat It" and "Billie Jean" reaching number one on the chart. 
Following Jackson's performance of "Billie Jean" at Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever where he debuted the moonwalk, the sales of Thriller significantly increased, selling one million copies worldwide per week.
By the end of 1983, Thriller became the world's best-selling album, having sold 32 million copies. It was the best-selling album worldwide of 1983 and 1984, and was also the best selling album in the United States in 1983 and 1984, making it the first album to be the country's best-selling for two years.

Billie Jean
Released by Epic Records on January 2, 1983 as the second single from his sixth studio album, Thriller (1982).
Billie Jean blends post-disco, rhythm and blues, funk and dance-pop.
The lyrics describe a woman, Billie Jean, who claims that the narrator is the father of her newborn son, which he denies. 
Michael Jackson said the lyrics were based on groupies' claims about his older brothers when he toured with them as the Jackson 5.
Billie Jean reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100, where it remained for seven weeks. Billboard ranked it as the No. 2 song for 1983. 
Billie Jean topped the R&B chart within three weeks, and became his fastest-rising number one single.
The song has sold over 10 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling singles of all time.

The Big Issue Analysis

The Big Issue Analysis


Analysis
- Illustrated as a comic book, creates a comical effect and makes it less serious.
- Red and Blue ties may connote to different political parties. Labour vs Conservatives, left wing vs right wing.
- Great British flag in the background, links to Brexit. Also, contextualises the whole text as regarding the whole of the UK and has an association with patriotism and racism.
- The font and style of the main headline, Tucker vs Partridge resembles an old fashioned boxing promotional poster.
- The smaller cartoon of Armando Lannucci is comical and perplexed, showing the magazines attitude to Brexit as being ridiculous and comical.
- The black and white The Big Issue logo represents the diametric opposition in views.
- The magazine is dealing with the issue of Brexit in a comical and irreverent way.
- It is showing Brexit to be something which has divided the UK very strongly.
- It is poking fun at this fact an portraying it to be something absurd which fits into a fictional comedy world better than it does into reality.
- It is using intertextuality very strongly with its references to Alan Partridge and Malcolm Tucker.
.
The Big Issue Background Information
- The Big Issue has a niche audience.
- The magazine is part of a larger organisation and movement to help homeless people. It is financially independent and therefore not owned by a commercial company.
- The organisation allows registered vendors (homeless people) to work selling the magazine and receive half of the cover price for each copy sold.
- It provides a contrasting example of how media language can be used to construct alternative representations that appeal to particular audiences.
.
Key Representations 
The UK:
Divided along very clear lines. Both sides at war with each other.
Brexit:
A ridiculous and rather absurd idea which is bringing division and hostility to the UK.
.
The Big Issue Cover Analysis 
Cover One

- There are ghosts on the cover and ghosts have a negative and eerie connotation.
- The ghosts seem to be mocking Boris Johnson and looking down on him.
- The magazine seems to mock the idea of Brexit by having a pumpkin that resembles Boris Johnson by his hair and ghosts with the faces of the oppositional politicians edited onto them.
- The pumpkin can be seen as a fairy-tale aspect, where he will be exposed for what he really is.
- The ghosts are all a different colour (red, yellow, blue) representing the different political parties, and they are in order of left wing to right wing.
- The black and white The Big Issue logo represents the diametric opposition in views.
- Trick or Treaty is a pun on the famous Trick or Treat, readers will be familiar of it, Treaty links to an agreement.
- The cover looks a bit childish so could portray that The Big Issue feels as though Brexit and the politicians are childlike and comical.
- Having the childish cover makes Brexit seem ridiculous and a less serious matter.
- The font looks like a typical blood, horror font that most audiences would recognise.
- The nightmare before Christmas shows intertextuality.
- Orange colour links to typical Halloween colours; can link to fire and flames, and can be apocalyptic.
- Ease your Brexit blues, shows that people have negative opinions of Brexit, shows the audience is mainly against the idea of Brexit.
Cover Two

- The man on the cover has his finger pointing up which seems like an instruction, which links to the headline of All Rise.
- Resembles a typical theatrical movie or play poster.
- Gold colouring resembles fame and fortune.
- Glitter resembles the theatre world.
- He is wearing a beige shirt, not a suit, this shows he is an ordinary man.
- Purple is represented with royalty and mystery.
- Direct eye contact to the reader, commanding attention.
- He comes under the BAME community, so would appeal to BAME audiences.
- Positive representation for Latino audiences as they are usually prone to racism in America.
- Goes against the stereotype of men being muscular and manly, so he subverts it by showing he is in musicals such as Hamilton.
- The text From the heights of Hamilton to His Dark Materials suggest his journey of careers, acting, writing, singing.