"Billie Jean"
Jackson’s socially conscious aspirations are apparent in “Billie Jean”, directed by Steve Barron. In it Jackson has a sort of Midas touch, the sidewalk lights up with each of his steps as he is pursued by a private investigator through a neglected inner city. Trash litters the abandoned streets and a homeless man lies passed out in an alley. Jackson tosses a quarter in the vagrant’s direction and his dirty street clothes are transformed into a polished white tuxedo. However they were submitting this video to the politically-averse MTV so the social commentary ends there. Barron instead focuses on visualizing “the ‘cinematic’ feel of the music track and its narrative of a false paternity claim, by creating through a ‘studio-set’ scenario, sharp editing and various effects an ambience that complements rather than illustrates the song” (Mercer 302). The slick, professional presentation of “Billie Jean” was the antithesis of Rick James’ hypersexual “Super Freak”. When MTV rejected James’ video on the grounds that it was obscene, James accused the network of racism. Carolyn Baker, founding head of MTV’s talent and acquisitions, denies this. She claims that she was the person who turned the video down and says, “As a black woman, I did not want that representing my people as the first black video on MTV” (Tannenbaum and Marks 138). The respectability politics at play here are problematic, especially since MTV wasn’t exactly known for its wholesome image. One is left to wonder why a black man’s sexual fantasies, which were no more obscene than Duran Duran’s “Girls on Film”, were so threatening? But the fact remains that Jackson had the more professional video, so he was an obvious shoe-in for the mantle of “first black artist on MTV”. Except it didn’t happen quite as easily as it should have. As Tannenbaum and Marks report, “MTV says they loved ‘Billie Jean’ and were happy to play it; CBS says MTV turned down the video and played it only after the label threatened to pull its videos, which comprised a substantial part of MTV’s playlist” (143). However it happened, the video eventually went into heavy rotation and with it came a wave of videos from other black artists.
