Music Theorists 3 - Deborah Holdstein

1. The ‘3 Striking Qualities’ of a Star in Music Videos
   • The star as a fantasy ‘seer’ or prophet
   • The star as a political commentator or narrator
   • The star as a mediator or point of resolution for social conflict 
2. Music Video: Messages and Structures
   • “ Videos seem to divide into two categories: Those with allegedly explicit ‘political’ themes, and those which revive the traditional U.S. film musical.”
   • The fantasy video is based entirely on performance. This format puts “the group or star in a mythical, medieval, exotic or surrealistic series of images and locations.”
   • “ Videos make the artist more accessible to the fans. When they come to a performance, then they bring or wear things they've seen in the video.”
   • “ In the past, artists portrayal will only be left to the viewers imagination or how they are seen in concert, the record album cover pose, photographs and interviews
   • But nowadays, “the video image is quicker and more powerful.” 

My example which supports this theory:

  (above is a remake of the official video as i couldnt find it on the net, but this is still performed based on the real video!)

Michael Jackson - ‘Beat It’ 

• Holdstein: “Is Jackson portrayed as a ‘fantasy’, a ‘political commentator’, or as a ‘mediator of social conflict’.”
• The song does address ‘racism’ and ‘social class’ : “They told him don't you ever come around here, don't wanna see your face, you better disappear.”
• It doesn't need words, it has faces, gestures, emphasis, and a narrative one could easily follow without ‘Beat It’ on the soundtrack.
• Jackson, the mediator, has become a surreal ‘fantasy’ figure, involved yet detached from the action he seems to resolve.
• With a vivid start to the scene's, we see several men, who we will learn are members of a gang about to meet their rivals for a ‘rumble.’
• Political Commentator: “We come upon Jackson in his apartment, lying on his bed. Somehow he instinctively knows there will be trouble.”
• Crosscutting continues from Jackson to the gangs, alternating between one gang piling on a truck, presumably to the rumble's location, and the other gang, walking.
• The suspense of ‘who'll get there first,’ and ‘what'll happen when they get there’ is heightened by a question: Where's Michael Jackson, and what role will he play in all of this?
• The traditional U.S. film musical: WEST SIDE STORY is revisited. Both gang leaders line up against each other, jabbing knife shots.
• But the scene is portrayed as a ‘fantasy’ through dance. Jackson enters to stop the fight (‘mediator of social conflict’) before all characters dance behind him in one large choreographed routine.