Michael Jackson’s “This Is It”

This was on Starz tonite and although I wasn’t particularly interested, I turned it on to fill in while I found something better.

Wow.

We ended up watching the entire thing (almost, it was in progress).

And I have a whole new appreciation for Michael Jackson. I’m also VERY sorry he died.

Let me explain.

I was kind of sorry when he died… You know what I mean, yah, he was crazy and he was essentially euthanized by his doctor. Put to sleep, you know. And it was bad and eh. He was so godsdamned crazy and all you ever heard was his crazy shit, that when he died, it was sort of an anticlimax.

But after seeing this collection of clips, I have been reminded of why he was such a superstar in the first place. First of all, the clips are MASTERFULLY edited to be a seamless stream of rehearsals that really show MJ’s creative process. I had a glimpse of this when I was trolling YouTube recently, watching the record breaking Thriller dance from DragonCon and then I stumbled across a rehearsal video from one of MJ’s tours. I was intrigued. That short video was enthralling, so I must’ve subconsciously clicked on this movie because of that.

For whatever reason I clicked on this film, I’m very glad I did. Everyone who was a teen in the 80s and danced to Billy Jean and Thriller REALLY needs to watch this film. It will erase the bullshit of MJ’s crazy and remind you of what a true genius and artist he really was. Watching rehearsals gives you more of how he was when he was working and you’ll see that he was totally a real person while he worked. Real life was not his strong suit for sure, but when he was on stage, he was REAL.

I think that Michael Jackson was only a real person when he performed. Everything else was just crazy crap that detracted from his genius.

After watching most of This Is it, I felt really sad that MJ was dead. I felt a loss that I never really registered from the lurid headlines and the stupid shit that killed him.

People, Michael Jackson was euthanized. No two ways about it. Yes, he demanded it, but there was no one there to say “DUDE! WTF? What are you doing??” Did anyone ever think that being anesthetized every night would deprive him of REM sleep? Did anyone ever think, “Hmm, lack of REM sleep will make you crazy!”? NO. No one did because they were all about kissing his ass and telling him “SURE! Whatever you want!”

It is a truly tragic tale of excess and no one being there to look out for him. And it’s really, really sad.

I shed a tear for Michael Jackson tonight, and I think that if you watch this movie, you will, too.

Apparently some of the footage in this film was the last footage ever shot of him. So very, very sad. :(