"Thriller"
While “Thriller” is not as overtly political as a video like “Beat It”, it retains Jackson’s penchant for mediation, displayed here in the form of parody. Before a single note of the song is heard “Thriller” engages with an extended parody of a werewolf film in a sequence dripping with self-reflexivity. The video begins with a 50s-style horror scenario, Michael, in a letterman jacket, gets lost in the forest with his girlfriend. He then transforms into a werewolf, a reference to director John Landis’ 1981 film An American Werewolf in London. It is then revealed that what has just been seen is a film-within-a-film as Jackson is then seen watching himself on the screen and gleefully munching on popcorn in a crowded theater with his “real” girlfriend. The girl gets scared and gets up to leave. Jackson follows her out and the external shots of the theater feature posters for John Landis’ first feature, a horror-comedy called Schlock (1973), as well as a few Vincent Price horror features: Roger Corman’s The Masque of the Red Death (1964), Andre DeToth’s House of Wax (1953), and John Brahm’s The Mad Magician (1954). Jackson’s inclusion of Price in the song performing a rap is another reconciliatory effort. Mercer describes Price’s performance has having an “almost camp quality” highlighting the juxtaposition between the “refined exaggeration in Price’s voice” and “the discourse of black American soul music” (306). At nearly 14 minutes in length, “Thriller” is a celebration for Jackson. He conquered the music world in 1983, opening the door for other black artists like Prince and Whitney Houston.
