Michael Joseph Jackson passed away eight years ago today. The world mourned his untimely death with countless tributes: from a 24-hour marathon of his unprecedented music video collection broadcasted on MTV (who was starting to abandon music videos from their program lineup at the time) to a candlelight tribute outside of his home in Los Angeles, it was inevitable that the King of Pop would be greatly missed.
His life and legacy demands to be remembered, but it should solely be remembered via music and never film.
Jackson and his family were once the most popular people in America; ever since the Jackson 5 entered the scene back in 1969, America couldn't seem to get enough of Michael, Tito, Marlon, Jackie and Jermaine.
Who could blame them? With their fresh faces and sweet-sounding songs, this family was impossible to resist.
The paparazzi was not immune to their charms either, and took it upon themselves to find out everything about this "perfect" family.
Tabloids spoke of the boys' father, Joseph Jackson, as being abusive, dangerous, and altogether explosive during rehearsals. Jackson himself once admitted his father would remove his belt from his pants and whip his brothers until they got the song just right.
This is only the tip of the iceberg that is the mountain of scandals that would haunt Michael Jackson in his later years--and make him infamous with the media.
During the filming of a Pepsi-Cola commercial in 1984, Jackson's hair caught on fire following an accident with pyrotechnics on the set. Celebrity magazines covered the entire event cover-to-cover, even detailing that this particular incident led to Jackson's addiction to painkillers.
Almost a decade later in 1993, the L.A.P.D. began an investigation at Jackson's home of Neverland Ranch following accusations made by 13-year-old Jordan Chandler. Chandler claimed that Jackson had molested him, but the case was eventually dropped due to a lack of evidence.
Jackson thought the worst was behind him at this point in his life, but a tidal wave of tragedy was soon to follow.
In 2002, Jackson shocked the world once again when he dangled his then-infant son, Prince Michael II, from a dangerously high balcony in a German hotel. Perhaps what made this so shocking was the fact that Prince had a cloth over his face during the incident.
Jackson would claim that he "was caught up in the excitement of the moment" when it happened.
Just a year later, the Santa Barbara police issued a warrant for Jackson's arrest on child molestation charges. Thus would begin the lowest point in his career.
Ironically enough, Jackson was found innocent on June 13, 2005 after the evidence brought to court was deemed unrealistic and false. People who testified only had praise for Michael, not one single person had a bad word to say.
This tragically beautiful life was cut short on June 25, 2009 when Jackson died of cardiac arrest. This day would be remembered as another day when the music died, when we could forget about all of the craziness, all of the scandals, and all of the demons; we could finally focus on what really mattered: the music.
And shouldn't that be the only thing that matters today? Do we really need to see Jackson's entire life depicted in a made-for-television movie?
No.
Jackson himself once admitted that to have a white actor portray him on the screen would be "horrifying." But you know what else would be horrifying? A film that shows everything about his life, even the things he himself admitted to feeling a shame about.
I personally would not enjoy a film that focuses on the abuse he endured as a child, yet people saw it dramatized in The Jacksons: An American Dream (1992). Of this five-part miniseries, Andy Webb of TheMovieScene.UK, wrote, "...Fine for the general fans who will enjoy all the music, but inaccurate for those who know more about the family."
Furthermore, who would want to see a movie that basically writes Michael Jackson as a sick-minded psychopath? Not me, for one thing. However, the media felt it their obligation to create a film that was set to release on VH1 weeks before his trial began. We got the rushed, sloppy atrocity that was Man in the Mirror: The Michael Jackson Story. Webb of TheMovieScene.UK wrote that it "Feels like...a fan of Jackson who has collected press clippings over the year and put them into this so-called biopic."
And then there was the most recent biopic on this poor unfortunate soul who is undoubtedly turning over in his grave at this point: Michael Jackson: Searching for Neverland. This movie offered us a perspective of Jackson's final years through the eyes of his then-bodyguards. An interesting premise, yes. But Lifetime missed the mark when they slated Michael Jackson impersonator Navi as the star. Navi got the look down pat, but the voice needed to be rehearsed again. Navi's accent was so thick it was a wonder that Michael never blurted out, "Cherry-o!"
The point here is, there will never be another Michael Jackson and we should stop trying so hard to re-create one for the screen. For that matter, if you call yourself a Michael Jackson fan, you have to ask yourself: would Michael want all of this nonsense?
Just live and let die, and enjoy the music.
