Michael Jackson‘s death at 50 from cardiac arrest has inspired the entire world to revisit the King of Pop’s body of work. And though I’m a huge MJ fan, I’d be remiss in my role as Pop Culture Fun Killer if I didn’t point out some defining characteristics of Jackson’s music videos: rapey, stalkey, and victim-blamey.
Off-screen, Jackson’s sex life was notoriously tortured—-rumors in the press pegged Jackson alternately as a lifelong virgin, a pedophile, and a freak. In his music videos, we saw Jackson play with sexual violence and physical domination in order to portray the image of complete sexual control.
Michael Jackson Date Rape Anthem: “The Way You Make Me Feel”
Relevant Lyrics:
The way you make me feel
You really turn me on
You knock me off of my feet
My lonely days are gone
Why It’s So Rapey: Here, Michael Jackson presents an interesting contribution to the Date Rape Canon—-one that defies lyrical explanation. The words to “The Way You Make Me Feel” only convey that the object of Jackson’s affection “really turns [him] on.” The song’s undertones of sexual violence all come courtesy Jackson’s notoriously specific body language. The music video makes clear the way the woman makes Jackson feel—-like stalking, verbally harassing, and physically intimidating her into loving him.
Meanwhile, Jackson’s female victim repeatedly fails to verbally dissuade Jackson from terrorizing her. The woman in the video, who attempts to evade Jackson’s advances through the darkened night streets, remains silent throughout. The disconnect between Jackson’s physical and verbal messages, and the woman’s inability to articulate opposition, mirror the unspoken nature of much sexual violence, which often goes unidentified and unreported. But it’s not the only MJ jam to play on the stalking theme:
Michael Jackson Date Rape Anthem: “Billie Jean”
Relevant Lyrics:
For forty days and for forty nights
The law was on her side
But who can stand when she’s in demand
Her schemes and plans
‘Cause we danced on the floor in the round
So take my strong advice, just remember to always think twice
Why It’s So Rapey: In the “Billie Jean” video, a rogue Michael Jackson sneaks into a woman’s bed at night as he’s chased by a band of police. The woman, obscured beneath the covers, shows no sign of being awake, or in fact registering Jackson’s presence at all! The sheets nevertheless erupt into a metaphorical flash of light, signifying doin’ it. Then, Jackson vanishes into thin air, underlining the song’s assertion that Billie Jean is totally lying about all of this. Tragically for MJ, charges of sexual assault weren’t relegated to the fictional sphere: Jackson was acquitted of sex abuse allegations in 2005.
Michael Jackson Date Rape Anthem: “Thriller”
Relevant Lyrics:
They’re out to get you, there’s demons closing in on every side
They will possess you unless you change that number on your dial
Now is the time for you and I to cuddle close together, yeah
All through the night I’ll save you from the terror on the screen
I’ll make you seeThat this is thriller, thriller night
‘Cause I can thrill you more than any ghost would ever dare try
Thriller, thriller night
So let me hold you tight and share a
Killer, diller, chiller, thriller here tonight
Why It’s So Rapey: In “Thriller,” a young man attempts to scare his date by taunting herwith horror film phantoms—-and insisting that she needs to come home with him to avoid them.
There’s a domestic violence lesson to be learned here: The guy who insists that you need his protection in return for sexual favors (implied) is actually much more dangerous than any of the shit he’s claiming to protect you from. (” I can thrill you more than any ghost would ever dare try.”) In the case of “Thriller,” the bogeyman keeping the girl close to Jackson takes the form of ghouls, blood-seeking creatures, and “the thing with forty eyes.” In real life, the phantom dangers abusive men use to make women stay include “never being able to find a guy like me again,” “being unhappy forever,” and/or “doing it for the kids.”