In January 1989, a home video with the long-form Sci-Fi/Gangster Musical/Fairy Tale film ("Smooth Criminal") and several shorter pieces was released. In one of the short clips, "Leave Me Alone," put together by animator Jim Blashfield, Michael burlesques the media and indicates that he really does have the power to subvert the "circus" he's allowed them to build upon him.
Blashfield's reading of Jackson's attempt at cultural praxis is illuminating. In the video for Jackson's song "Leave Me Alone" (Moonwalker, CMV Enterprises, 1989), the semi-animated Jackson's doorstep is assaulted with newspapers bearing headlines like "Michael Confides to Pet Chimp," "Michael Weds Alien," "Michael's Cosmetic Nose Surgery." The headlines keep dropping, we see his face on a $20 dollar bill, then suddenly he's catapulted from his home across a lake to an amusement park. Paddling his way through on a small boat, fragments from the headlines take real form. A giant nose and a scalpel pass by the boat. He makes a left turn and there he is, passing through "Michael's Shrine To Liz." Old movie shots of Elizabeth Taylor are brought to animated life as they wander about the shrine. Michael looks on approvingly.
As Michael paddles out of the shrine exhibit, we are given a long view of the park. We see that Michael has just emerged from a larger version of his own head. It seems the entire park is constructed upon Michael Jackson's own body. He is kept tied down, Gulliver-like, by miniature dogs dressed in business suits. The small Michael in the boat rides around for a while, taking in the sights (which feature an exhibit of the Elephant Man's Bones, dancing, tied down with a ball and chain, alongside Michael who is also chained and dancing), joined by his favorite pets, when finally the Giant Michael, who's been sleeping, is awakened and breaks his bonds. He stands up, destroying the park. As the video ends, the little Michael whizzes by, free.
Blashfield's video is a remarkable look at power relations as they exist in contemporary popular culture, and suggests the subversive potential of Michael's gamesmanship. In the video, it's clear that the little (ordinary, everyday) Michael is a fan, and it is he who has awakened the sleeping giant.
©1992 by Robin Markowitz. All rights reserved. Published by University Microfilms International, Ann Arbor, MI.
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