I'm not exactly sure how long I'll be able to stick with this thread, actually. I'm admin on another (private) board, and have a lot of other stuff going on. But yet there's an idea I'd been working on. . . to return to "analyses," as fodder for discussion? Hopefully? I haven't read this entire thread over recently, so forgive me if this has already been discussed? (Sorry for SOS-length "dissertation?" LOL)
The idea is "
Michael as Warrior." (bear with this, ok? It also pertains to LITD) Michael had (has?) a variety of personaes, some quite different from one-another. In each song, each video, it's like he crafts/presents a different facet of himself, almost like a separate personality, letting each one shine in its moment? Some are the man in a man/woman, tender duet; some are playful; some are angry at injustices to himself; some are softer, even more feminine, in a way? "Childhood" comes to mind. And others. But one theme/personae that crops up again and again is "
the warrior" as an archetype. (This is different from the "bad boy" of TWYMMF, or Bad, or Beat It.) In the warrior archetype, he is portrayed as a leader of armies. . .that entire military theme? For the Bad tour he'd enter the stadium running at the forefront of a band of police of whichever country it was. And so on.
My premise is that this aspect of himself, as "warrior," and what he could offer humanity, and ecology, given his unique position in the world, was his MISSION, and that he took it seriously. He said, "
I can't do it by myself." Did he mean he needed an army behind him? (literally, with himself at the forefront?). Did he mean, he needed his fantasy companion? Or both of those things? Did he and "the woman" of his fantasies, imagination, and promises, ever meet, truly? I cannot say. Did his "mission" interfere with that relationship, because of his sense of responsibility as truly the world's most famous person, with the largest platform of anyone, for his message? Did he have an even greater responsibility. . for that?
What, exactly, is he going to war
against in the HIStory trailer, and other examples of his art with himself as "warrior?" If he is the leader of an army of L.O.V.E., then the adversary must be. . . EVIL? Not even so much the reprehensible acts that people can inflict on each other, on animals, on the environment, but the force that
causes violence, as the counterpoint of love? Taking a step back. . . this is a. . . rock-star? Right? Dressed as some sort of futuristic general of an army, going to war as he's being cheered on by. . mostly children. And women. So in that sense, he fights for THEM. I suppose what he was really fighting was the evil directed toward him in his own life, but also there was his philanthropy, and a multitude of good works, and his desire for global healing, in so many ways.
I offer these two videos (and the Moonwaker combat scenes would also fit in here). First, the well-known HIStory trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c93o05SrWzE
This is on a global scale. He is leading a vast army. It may seem self-aggrandizing, or it could be emblematic of a responsibility that he felt he had? That enormous statue, so large a helicopter could fly between its legs! The crowds cheering him on, relying on him as a leader? Quite an arresting image, actually. I think he MEANT it.
Now let me offer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRlh_UYDMGA&feature=related
This is from Captain Eo, where he is again portrayed as a warrior, but on a sci-fi, inter-galactic scale. The dancing is fantastic, but what is he DOING here? He's FIGHTING.
He's throwing "energy" from his hands, at. . evil? There are two "monsters" with whips that he engages with in combat. One doesn't have to be a Freudian analyst to see how this must have been cathartic for him, to be the winner, this time? (I won't delve into a discussion of Joseph and physical punishment here, or even Joseph's crawling in "little Michael's" window at night, wearing a fright-mask. A monster with a whip?) This is more than that. It's archetypal, and it's also magical.
He is throwing energy. . electricity. . . lightning . . from his hands! It is an enactment of a very real combat, but on a spiritual plane. And look at the very end of the clip. A figure appears before him. Is that a woman? Hard to tell. The figure is hazy, and robed.
My point is (actually I probably have several) is that Michael was gentle, tender, and he was POWERFUL and portrayed himself that way, sometimes. I'm not going to get into a discussion of the Biblical "Michael" here (wrestling with the devil?), because I'm not enough of a a Biblical scholar, but that also goes with the theme?
This combat -- this warrior personae -- brings to mind, to me, the idea of responsibility. I think Michael felt a responsibility that was more important to him than anything in his own life, or at least before he had his own children? In history there have been people who were the very personifications of evil. Hitler. . . . Hitler was a small, dumpy, man, physically. He couldn't have physically overpowered many people on his own. What it took for him to exert the power of evil, was the passivity of vast numbers of people. The passivity of those who were taken in by him, initially. The passivity of people who turned the other way, when atrocities happened. A nation of people, and more, did this. They had the power of numbers, but they allowed evil to win, for a time, and at great cost.
In my own life, personally, "evil" is not hard to identify. The rude, the crude, the violent, and the "dangerous" people can be identified and avoided.
FAR WORSE are the weak. Those people who turn the other way, who remain silent, who decline or even refuse to step UP when help is needed.
God spare us from the weak-of-will, who allow evil to happen! God spare us from those who refuse to offer comfort when they can, or who remain silent when they should speak. (If I'm anything in this life, I hope I am NOT like that, and that I've done my best, and have risked much. . . .)
Which brings me back to Michael. He was not leading a literal army, of course. He was INSPIRING people to action. . . through his music and his artistry. Maybe through his leading of metaphorical armies, he was trying to give people courage to do the right things, however large or small? And for him. . heaven could wait? "The woman" could wait?
opcorn:
