The simultaneously sexless and hyper-sexual persona of Michael Jackson reached a peak in December of 1983, when the video for “Thriller” was released. Directed by John Landis, Jackson opted to pay homage—with Landis’ counsel—to a number of horror movies (including I Was A Teenage Werewolf and Landis’ own An American Werewolf in London) and cliches.
With the introductory scene set in the 1950s, Jackson exudes the wholesomeness he was known for…in terms of “clean” entertainment. What’s more, the 50s are a decade Jackson looks right at home in as it allows for a kind of “eunuch sexuality.” Everything being buttoned-up and suppressed thanks to that Eisenhower and McCarthy influence on pop culture of the era. Ergo allowing for the perfect storm of repression and desire to explode as unexpectedly as the much-feared atomic bomb.
In Jackson’s case, that real-life bomb was his predilection for little boys. A dormant “monster” waiting to be unleashed at any moment (and yes, that can refer to the “one-eyed monster” down below). Whether Jackson was fully aware of it or not, “Thriller” seemed to be an early admission of that “preference.” As well as his ability to effortlessly fool others with his easily put-on “innocence” act. That much is clear while driving a convertible that runs out of gas, whereupon Jackson’s girlfriend in the short film, Ola Ray, disbelieves his true intentions, certain that he’s only making an excuse so that he can pull over and try to take advantage of her.
Naturally, he’s able to turn the tables on her gut instincts, with Ola apologizing, “I’m sorry I didn’t believe you” soon after as they start to walk down the street. Jackson, in a letterman jacket, flashes his coy glance and shy smile to ask if she’ll be “his girl.” When she happily (and foolishly) agrees, he slips a promise ring on her finger and chooses to add the caveat, “I have something I wanna tell ya. I’m not like other guys.” While, in the context of the video, this might be referring to his “werecat” tendencies, in real life it comes across as a nod to his sexual compulsions. Himself trapped in the mindset of when he was first traumatized and wounded—as a little boy—Jackson somehow sought to correct that trauma by inflicting more pain on others in the age bracket he was when his own abuse began.
Jackson as a werecat in pursuit of Ola in a 1950s movie is cut short when the scene pans back to reveal an 80s (a.k.a. “present-day”) version of Michael and Ola at the movie theater watching the plot unfold (an early indication of the postmodern love for all things “meta”). While everyone else is disgusted, Michael watches with perverse joy as he eats his popcorn, another symbolic nod to how he has a stomach for things which most others do not.
Horrified to the point of being unable to look at the scene any longer, Ola leaves the theater. Not wanting give away just how comfortable with gore and violence (among other “fancies”) he is yet, Jackson follows her out to comfort her. And then, of course, to mock her being so fearful by singing the lyrics to “Thriller” that begin, “It’s close to midnight/Something evil’s lurking from the dark/Under the moonlight/You see a sight that almost stops your heart.” Certainly the maids at Neverland saw a few sights of that variety. Jackson continues, as though singing from the perspective of, say, James Safechuck, “You try to scream/But terror takes the sound before you make it/You start to freeze/As horror looks you right between the eyes/You’re paralyzed.” Dance-walking next to her in a manner that would come again later in 1987’s “The Way You Make Me Feel” video, it doesn’t take too much longer for Jackson to show her that he, like the 50s incarnation of himself, is also a monster. Ready to feed.
Just as the “private life” Jackson so often was when the right opportunity presented itself. The right family to capitalize on in order to get close enough to a vulnerable boy. It’s also significant that the monster-predator in “Thriller” is extremely adept in the art of gaslighting, assuring Ola that everything she witnessed with her own eyes was all in her head. Nothing more than a “silly” nightmare. He similarly gaslit the boys he collected into thinking there was nothing wrong with or inappropriate about their relationship, while also reminding them constantly that their secret must never be shared.
In the present, the image of a grinning, yellow-eyed Jackson staring at the camera to let the audience know what he really is, and that he’s still going to get away with his behavior, is something that haunts in an entirely different manner than what Landis and Jackson had originally intended. Which does, indeed, lead one to surmise that, on some level, Jackson was making an “in plain sight” confession about his true nature.
