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Michael Jackson, the creative genius
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Researching the great creative minds of the modern world, one might tend to equate Genius with a certain type of Madness. He or she could point to the sociopathic reclusiveness of J.D. Salinger or the self-mutilating tendencies of Vincent Van Gogh, to name two. There is one big factor, however, that separates these two attributes: Genius, unlike Madness, cannot be nurtured and created in a lifetime; one must be born with it. On the other hand, the seeds of Madness can be planted in childhood and cultivated throughout a lifetime, as in the case of Michael Jackson.
In the years leading up to Michael Jackson’s unexpected death in June, 2009, his Madness made us forget that Michael Jackson was, in fact, an artistic Genius. It is true that he was pushed relentlessly by his father to achieve musical greatness, and that this contributed to his problems as an adult. But the truth is that Michael Jackson possessed the type of greatness one can only be born with.
And if there is ever to be a final testament to such a claim, This Is It.
This Is It shows us just how much control Michael truly had over the execution of his craft. Every dramatic pause and musical flourish, every alternate arrangement to a song or video cue, Michael was the mastermind. If the bass wasn’t funky enough, Michael knew. The stage was his galaxy, Michael was the Sun, and everybody’s movements and actions were revolved around his.
Thankfully this film is almost all performance and hardly any interviews, at which Michael was never very good; he was too emotional, too naïve, too vulnerable. Not so on the stage, when Michael’s confidence and prowess is palpable, as he is validated by how undeniably good the music is. And the music really is that good.
The stage is the only place Michael felt comfortable, wrapped in the protective blanket of his music and his craft. Music is what he understood. It was how he lived and breathed and made his living. Having no other outlet for his emotional instability and traumatic abuse, music was his only true friend and the stage his only refuge. There were brief glimpses of his instability, when emotion overwhelmed rationality and his complaints were somewhat incoherent, and we can only assume that there were more such moments edited out by director Kenny Ortega. But we’ve already seen enough of Michael’s Madness, and that’s not what This Is It is about. Instead, it shows how Michael, when in his element, is once again motivated, confident, rational, even cool.
And his talent is undeniable. While dancers mimicked his moves, you could almost feel the years of intense training that went into each thrust of the pelvis or twist of the ankles. These are probably the best dancers in the world, chosen through an unbelievably rigorous selection process, and they have spent their whole lives working up to this moment. Meanwhile Michael leads them with the ease and proficiency of a man doing something as simple as brushing his teeth. And the dancers, screaming like teenyboppers in the audience of otherwise empty stadiums, were far from jealous; they were simply in awe. Despite his frightening and perhaps misleading visage, thankfully obscured by sunglasses for most of the film, he is still as incredible a performer as ever.
This Is It allows us to sit in on the rehearsals for what would likely have been the best concert series in the history of pop music, where the music takes you places you’ve never been and where Michael is once again King.
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