First and foremost: I MISS MICHAEL!!! Michael Jackson was my very first autistic hyperfocus, which means I’ve been blessed with being a fan for roughly 34 of my 40 years on this planet. (Somewhere in a box in a garage on the other side of the country there’s a Polaroid of a 10-ish-year-old me proudly posed on my knees next to our fireplace, surrounded by my carefully arranged Jackson 5, the Jacksons, and Michael Jackson CDs and records.)
The amount of both joy and grief that I—and many, many others—have been experiencing since the release of Michael is overwhelming. What the world did to that man is unforgivable. It makes me profoundly sad and angry.
I’ve seen the movie 50 times in the theater and every single time I leave feeling both heartbroken and inspired. It’s like pressing a bruise to feel both pleasure and pain. Since the movie came out, every day I’ve tried to be more like Michael; every day I’ve looked for every opportunity to bring more love, joy, and kindness into the world.
To have been alive during the same time as him, and to have been old enough to “get it,” is the great privilege of my life. (When I was growing up, it pained me—an actual physical ache—to not be closer in age to Michael. I wanted so badly to have been his peer, especially during the Jackson 5 era, which was my first favorite Jackson era. I would cry and cry over the unfairness and indignity of having to be 10 years old in 1996 and not twenty. For reasons I still cannot explain, I felt deeply connected to him. I still do.)
Orange juice and Oranges. Given Michael’s love for orange juice, learning, and reading—and for reading nonfiction in particular—I wonder if he ever read John McPhee’s Oranges, a book about oranges and orange juice. It’s such a fun, funny, interesting, informative, engrossing, and charming read. It’s also a quick read, partly because of how enjoyable it is and partly because it’s only 146 pages. I love it so much. It’s one of the very few books I’ve read multiple times, it’s the book I most often suggest to others, and it’s the book I most often gift to others (and everyone I’ve suggested it or gifted it to has had only positive things to say about it). I NEED to know whether he read it and if so what he thought about it.
If you’re not familiar with Michael and orange juice, even the most cursory of google image searches will quickly acquaint you with the topic.
I love that the film includes his love for orange juice. You see glasses of it in several scenes: on the coffee table in the 1971 scene at Quincy’s home; on the table in front of him during the 1981 meeting during which he meets Branca; in his hand while working on “Beat It” in his home studio; on the floor next to a bowl of popcorn during the transition from “Beat It” to “Thriller”; on a coffee table in his room at the very end of the “Now, I’m gonna call Don King and tell him you’re doing the tour” scene; during the first hospital scene when the doctor is discussing his injury with him; and on the tray of food Bill brings into his hospital room in a subsequent hospital scene. And, finally, during both the Victory and Bad tour scenes, you see on the drummer’s riser squeeze water bottles filled with orange juice.
Two of my favorite MJ x OJ memes that’ve come out of the current Michaelmania:
We need more cultural MJ paraphernalia. Specifically:
- A series of Michael Jackson postage stamps, each including photos of him during and iconography of his different eras
- Michael Jackson emojis representing his different eras
- An entire universe of Michael Jackson LEGO sets of, for example, his different eras, his signature poses/silhouettes, iconic performances, him with various animals, and the grounds of both Hayvenhurst and Neverland Ranch
Bring back physical ephemera!!! Stop with this receipt-paper-as-movie-ticket-stubs bullshit!!! No one wants it!!! We want well-designed, quality-crafted movie ticket stubs (and other physical ephemera), especially for special cultural events, like a huge movie release. They’re fun and make the experience more special. Look at these specially designed, collectible Michael tickets in South Korea and Argentina. American theaters, studios, and distributors: get your shit together!!!
I’m also a big fan of this person taking things into their own hands and creating their own commemorative movie ticket stub.
Seriously, enough with this flimsy, fading receipt paper bullshit!!!
Fan screenings. To no one’s surprise, America also shit the bed re: fan screenings. I can’t tell you how many videos I’ve seen online of theaters in other countries hosting special fan screenings where moviegoers were encouraged to dress up, and to sing and dance along during the performance scenes. Some also hosted karaoke of Michael’s songs before the movie played. Once again, we American fans were robbed. (I reached out to a local theater that hosts similar fun film-related events to ask if, since the movie is now streaming on digital, they have plans to host such an event for this particular movie, or would consider it. They said no.)
Exhibit A: China
Exhibit B: France
Exhibit C: Japan
Exhibit D: London
Get your shit TOGETHER, America!!!
Movie theaters aren’t freezing cold anymore. At least, not the big box ones. When I’m indoors in a space where I don’t have control over the thermostat, which is basically everywhere, I am almost always freezing cold, even if it’s 100 degrees outside. Like, I routinely carry a sweatshirt, socks, and gloves with me year-round because it’s more likely than un- that I’ll be that cold inside whatever establishment I enter.
While I don’t have many memories of movie theaters—not only is Michael the only movie I’ve seen in theaters more than once, the number of times I’ve seen this particular movie in the theaters is greater than the total number of movies I’ve seen in a movie theater throughout my entire life—every pre-Michael memory of a movie theater I have involves being freezing cold. I’m happy to report that wasn’t my experience at any of the theaters I watched Michael at.
Can you believe I didn’t need socks or gloves or even long sleeves or pants at any of the showings? That shorts and a tank top and Birks with no socks were just fine? And that multiple times I had to take off the sweatshirt I brought with me because it was too warm to wear inside the theater? This was not my experience at the independent and historical theaters I visited during the Portland Movie Theater Project, which were cold enough to require layers.
Affirmations and manifestation. It’s well known that Michael was a master of affirmations and manifestation, and I appreciate that the movie included this aspect of him and his life. I’m curious to know when and how and by whom he was introduced to the concepts and practices of both, and whether he had to overcome any resistance to the idea of either.
Movie theater etiquette. What in the fuck happened to movie theater etiquette??? Back when I was doing the Portland Movie Theater Project, the erosion of movie theater etiquette was the discourse of the day several different times on Twitter. I almost said so in my post about the project. I didn’t because I never once experienced anything but what you’d expect to encounter at the movies: people being quiet and watching the movie without distractions or disruptions. Not so with Michael!
A sampling of offenses I encountered, most of them more than a few times, too many of them in nearly every showing:
- Vaping. VAPING!!!
- People having full-on conversations throughout the entire movie. Shut!!! Up!!!
- Screaming young children and babies whose adults who brought them did not remove them from the theater; they just let them scream through the movie. Ditto to running up and down aisles and in and out of the theater.
- People not silencing their phones, even after they ring during the movie. In one instance, a person fully answered their phone during the movie and carried on a conversation right there in their seat???
- Flash photography??? In one showing, a person in the literal front row took flash photos on a digital camera during every single performance scene. That’s basically the entire movie. Absolutely unhinged behavior. I understand taking a cell phone photo or video here and there—I did so myself. I do not understand taking FLASH PHOTOS FROM THE FRONT ROW for most of the movie???
- Compulsive phone usage. And with the brightness turned all the way up!!! So many people spent so much of the movie checking and scrolling their phone that it legitimately concerns me. No one has an attention span!!!
- Laughing at inappropriate times, like the nose scenes and the belt scene.
What’s the point of paying to go to the movies if you’re not going to actually watch the movie??? Why are you there if all you’re doing is fucking around on your phone—with the brightness on full blast!!!—or talking the entire time or wandering in and out of the theater a bunch of times??? Shut up and sit down or stay home!!!
To clarify: I would have LOVED if my fellow moviegoers were into the music and sang or danced along. It would’ve been so thrilling to feel that connection with other fans (unfortunately, all of the screenings I attended were full of people who didn’t even bop their damn heads during any of the performances). What I don’t love is people having conversations about fuck-all during the movie.
Too many trailers. Thirty literal entire minutes of trailers before the main feature is ridiculous. You can show me three 90-second trailers max. There is no acceptable reason a movie should begin thirty or more minutes after its advertised start time.
Seeming contradictions of Michael’s life. There are several seeming contradictions of Michael’s life repeatedly portrayed in the film. The three I can’t get out of my head:
- His assertions (dare I say, insistence) in young adulthood that he’s “not a little kid anymore” and no longer “a boy in a kid band” and “not a child anymore” while also shown engaging in things often associated with being a child: living at home, watching cartoons, surrounding himself with toys and games, etc.
- His desire to be mysterious and the deep pain of loneliness and not being known (like, as a person, in personal relationships).
- His oft-repeated messages of love and non-violence and his signature style, which was heavily inspired by military dress—the military obviously being an inherently violent institution.
I also keep thinking about the four lines from Joe toward the very end that are dubbed over visuals of the Jackson brothers stepping onto stage for the last night of the Victory Tour: “I told you what to think” and “you think you’re better than me?” and “you’re not like everybody else” and “nobody outside this family will understand you.” How confusing and isolating and demoralizing those mixed messages must have been. (I do realize the real Joe Jackson likely didn’t say those exact words to Michael. I believe the underlying sentiment communicated by those lines of dialogue in the movie was a theme in Michael’s real life.)
Michael Jackson is every generation’s Michael Jackson. There will never be another Michael Jackson. No one will ever come close. He is a once-in-humanity soul. I’m so grateful to and proud of everyone who made this movie happen. I cannot wait for it to break its final record and cross that $1 billion mark (we’re about two weeks away), and I hope to see the American film industry properly recognize and award the cast and crew for their incredible work.