Michael Jackson
media language and representation

•For many years after, Michael Jackson was the most luminous,

powerful, influential star in the music business, and no one else was

even close. A lot of this was intensified because of the 1983 hit single Billie Jean.

•Though it may not sound like it today, Billie Jean is one of the most revolutionary songs in the history of popular music.

•Billie Jean was ground-breaking because it introduced the idea that a single must be accompanied by a high-production video - thereby transforming a song release into an "event".

•Billie Jean transformed MTV from a mere diversion for young people into a cultural institution that society at large paid attention to.

•It also introduced MTV to the concept that white viewers would respond enthusiastically to videos featuring a black performer, something they had not previously believed.

•This was the first time that a song had been upstaged by the performance of a song, creating a situation where no one really had any interest in hearing the song unless they could simultaneously watch the song being performed.

•Billie Jean, which has nothing to do with the tennis legend Billie Jean King, was recorded on a specially designed set to capture the muted sound of the snare drum that Jackson insisted upon.

•It was produced by the legendary Quincy Jones, who wanted Jackson to change the name of the song and also to shorten the improbably lengthy 29-second introduction, during which Jackson does not actually sing.

•The song stayed at the top of the charts for more than two months and propelled the album Thriller to its iconic status as the biggest-selling record of all time.  

•Billie Jean is of historical significance in that it is most often referred to as the product which came to define the music video genre and the MTV generation.

•It was the first music video by a black artist to be featured on heavy rotation by MTV.

•It can be seen to reflect the changing social, cultural and political sentiments in relation to ethnicity in relation to music artists and society at large.

The product can also be considered in an economic context through the consideration of if and how music videos make money (through, for example, advertising on YouTube) and how this has changed over time. 





Alvarado identified 4 main types of racial stereotypes:
1.the humorous
2.the exotic 
3.the pitied(and vulnerable)
4.the dangerous




video analysis
linear narrative
Midus touch
40 days and 40 nights - Jesus quotation

Gilroy -



how does the music video genre use intertextuality and hybridity to establish meaning?


how do music videos serve the needs of the media producers?

how do music videos meet the expectations of audiences?


could you link genre theory including Neale?





wide shot - american city salubrious street corner
noir neon anchors film noir iconography
CU of newspaper establishes 
irony - fame. people want it, but he sees it as a bad person
homage to film noir


Goodwin-




To what extent can Michael Jackson's Billie Jean video be seen as an example of intertextuality?(9 marks)


In Michael Jackson's 1982 music video for 'Billie Jean' it includes examples of intertextuality. intertextuality is where one text references another. The most obvious reference is the link to the film noir genre. This is evidenced through the use of costume and the setting. Michael Jackson was wearing typical gangster style clothing. The setting also creates an atmosphere of 1920s gangster film.