Biopic Michael : The Phenotype of Ambition and the Sacrifice of Identity

The long-awaited biopic “Michael“, chronicling the life of the King of Pop, hits theaters this Wednesday. Era Environnement was among the media outlets invited to the advance screening of the film.

Immeasurable Violence

The biopic opens with a sharp, jarring scene. Michael Jackson, still a child, exudes pride after a successful musical performance. His enthusiasm is short-lived. His father interrupts him brutally, his tone severe, stating the group must practice. When Michael objects, the response is swift and stinging: belt lashes.

The scene is chilling. Set in the 1960s, the fate of the future King of Pop is sealed in pain. No one understands the impact of civil rights on daily life more deeply than the Jackson 5. These examples show how their parents raised them as Black men. They also reveal how the legacy of slavery forged their parents’ vision of America and its divisions.

The biopic could have highlighted Michael Jackson’s commitment through his key songs. Those which, later on, would carry the struggle of minorities in Brazil with “They Don’t Care About Us”, or the destruction of fauna and flora in Africa and the Amazon in “Earth Song”. But with the film ending in 1988, this musical catalog and these battles may only appear in a second installment.

The Phenotype

The road from Gary to Detroit was long and arduous. But one day, Suzanne de Passe, a young woman with a biracial phenotype, discovers the Jackson 5 during a musical session. She is a talent scout. De Passe plays a major role in the biopic. She presents the group to Berry Gordy, the director of Motown. She supports them, trains them. Under the direction of this young woman, young Michael Jackson and his brothers shed their assertive Black identity. They adopt a soft and understandable behavior for white audiences. Michael Jackson is 10 years old. Berry Gordy asks him to lie and tell the press he is 8.

The phenotype is the other crucial element in the Jacksons journey. Even if the actor playing the role of Joe Jackson, Colman Domingo, does not have the same features as the Jackson patriarch. This is a flaw, in a context where physical traits are paramount in Michael Jackson’s life. Quincy Jones, Berry Gordy, Suzanne de Passe, and even his bodyguard, Bill Bray, share a similar phenotype. They have biracial origins. Yet, Michael Jackson did not have these biracial features initially. His father, having mixed blood, was always cruel toward the artist. In the biopic, Joe even mocks his son when he sees him return from his first rhinoplasty.

The film highlights the father’s violence but explains little about who was this man born in 1928 and why he acted with such brutality. The biopic depicts different periods of Michael Jackson’s career, from 1968 to 1988, ending with the start of the Bad tour. U.S. history recalls how this trauma was born. A Black child, then a teenager and a young adult, endures a crushing fame. His phenotype changes under the effect of illness, but also his own choices. He desperately seeks the love of a white audience he would never belong to. This is a detail of capital importance in the way Michael Jackson represents himself.

Written accounts of Michael Jackson indicate that his multiple cosmetic surgeries were the result of a desire to erase his father’s features. Yet, it is the opposite. As a member of a Black family, Michael Jackson faces immense challenges to be accepted by himself. The biopic discreetly suggests his vitiligo during his adolescence during a pool scene. His understanding of who he truly was seems linked to all these powerful Black figures he met from childhood until his famous debut with Quincy Jones.

The biopic paradoxically measures his loneliness and his need to bring people together through his songs. His mother, his only confidant, speaks deeply and spends her nights watching old movies. His relationship with his bodyguard, Bill Bray, ironically introduced by his father, is also powerful but silent. Bill Bray was everywhere Michael needed him. When he had to face his father’s will while living in Encino, Bill Bray takes him, at the artist’s request, in his car to escape into nature without saying a word. He also accompanies him to buy toys in a store where they meet many young fans.

Where Does Inspiration Come From?

The inspiration that allowed him to impose himself comes from Encino. There, he cultivates natural beauty, the desire for family loyalty, fear, but also escape through his love for animals and nature. His refuge in nature was a response to an oppressive industrial environment. Post-it notes on his bedroom wall trace the chronology of tracks and describe the creative process. The film highlights his success and his complex relations with his father after the meteoric rise of the album Thriller.

The accident, during the filming of a commercial, occurred after he had won the record for the best-selling album of all time. His father forced him to film a commercial advertisement. In the biopic, the viewer understands that at the hospital, all his troubles are only beginning. After the third-degree burn, a doctor advises Michael to take medication.

During his stay in the hospital, he visits sick children and burn victims. Facing pressure, upon his release, he begins the Victory Tour with his brothers. In the biopic, his relationship with his brothers is perceived as detached. He does not share deep exchanges or games, especially when he reaches adulthood. His friends are animals, including a monkey. The artist explains having wanted to save it from animal trafficking. The scene showing the arrival of the animal is surreal. He calls on his entire family to welcome the animal in a diaper, coming out of a truck. His family does not seem to understand him but lets it happen. His mother opposes it but retracts.

Success at Any Cost

The film also describes his ambitions, his will to succeed. His lawyer, John Branca, is omnipresent. Even if the script deviates from historical reality. Branca appears in meeting rooms when Michael chooses him. He is tasked with ousting Joe Jackson from management. He is present at the hospital after the commercial spot accident. The lawyer is still present when CBS director Walter Yetnikoff demands the introduction of the artist’s video on MTV. Michael Jackson thus becomes the first Black singer to be broadcast on the channel.

The biopic, in reality, focuses on Michael Jackson’s early career until the launch of the Bad tour. It ends with Bill Bray announcing to Joe Jackson that Michael will no longer work with the Jackson 5, concluding with an onscreen inscription “The show must go on.” This suggests that a sequel to the first biopic is planned. The actors were incredible.

Jaafar Jackson, playing the role of his uncle, has strong resemblances to Janet Jackson. But his acting is realistic. He dances very well, as does Juliano Valdi. Two scenes are memorable: that of the Motown 25th anniversary and that of the audition of Michael as a child in front of Berry Gordy with the song ABC. Several key characters are missing from this two-hour film. Antoine Fuqua and the producers do not include Diana Ross, nor Janet Jackson, even less Brooke Shields. La Toya Jackson has only one line.

The controversy related to the lawsuits was not put forward. It has been reported that the first accusations were removed from the script. Yet, many lawsuits have targeted Jackson for several years. Even though during the 2005 trial all charges against him were dropped, following an acquittal. It is essential to recognize that at the time Michael Jackson passes away, he resembles what Toi Derricotte, the American writer, describes as: “Black, my white skin.” He was surrounded by his white children, which could be linked to what he desired to become when he was a young artist.

Beyond the Biopic

Michael Jackson’s life and death should be compared to that of Tupac Shakur. Both men fought to escape the system and the industry through their creativity. Shakur wanted to democratize speech by telling the truth and bringing Black people together so they could assert themselves in a divided society. While Jackson first followed the rules dictated by his Black mentors so as not to fear white people by communicating like a “white American,” he reached a point where it was difficult for him to set boundaries.

Today, the fortunes of these two men are held by the industry, with only a portion for their families. Although the word “small” is not appropriate for the legacy of the Jackson children, observers note that the portion taken by the Estate is unfair, as Paris Jackson and Tupac’s sister, Sekyiwa Shakur have complained.

While their lyrics aspire to the highest forms of human dignity, the weight of the industry and the struggle for identity lead Michael Jackson and Tupac Shakur through medication alcohol. This changed their perspective, moving them away from the freedom they once defended to plunge them into a lonely end. This comparison is not in the biopic, but the description of Michael Jackson’s life is a perfect example of the Black struggle in the industry. It recalls how difficult it was to be Black and famous in the United States from the 60s to the 90s.

Michael Jackson remains a precursor of pop music and ecology. Through his music videos, he was one of the first to use mass culture to warn of the climate emergency. Paradoxically, Michael Jackson opened the door for Black people in music, notably on MTV. But he locked himself in an unassumed identity and deep suffering.

By Houmi Ahamed