"Beat It" Analysis

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgvXaXfAQAw

In Michael Jackson's video "Beat it"we see Michael who is the main protagonist and appears to be the outcast. We also see two separate groups or perhaps gangs in opposition toward one another. Each group has somewhat of a different style and a different persona going. One group appears to be more "Bad ass" than the other which sets the tone in the opening scene when the guy who appears to be one of the leaders of the "Bad ass " gang objectively kisses a young woman and run's off with his fellow gang members, this perhaps creates the notion that the Bad guy always gets the girl and women are an accessory to compliment the bad guy image. This reinforces that the bad guys always look cool, and we want to be like them. Our culture projects this image so much so that many of us may think in order to be recognized or to fit in we have to take on these sort "bad ass" persona's when it is not really the case. But when we are seeing these images constantly on television, music videos and movies we tend to want to conform to it, when it is actually rather superficial. This says a lot about American Pop culture, and perhaps what Micheal was trying to convey in the video. In the section where the 2 gangs simulate an altercation with knives, perhaps Michael was demonstrating to us what we look like and how stupid it is to try to be the Macho man and get someone killed in a fight that in the end measures up to absolutely nothing. Perhaps in his attempt to break up the fight he was trying to convey to us that it is alright to walk away, its alright to surrender. Perhaps by acting as peacemaker, and taking a stand he was trying to put a new idea in our minds, possibly that just because you chose to walk away does not make you less cool, or a coward. That walking away and turning the other cheek actually makes you the bigger man and it is alright to express that. In Popular culture we are always trying to out do someone, we are always trying to see who dresses the best, who looks the best, who's the coolest, and who's the toughest. When it is not worth it at all. Maybe if we get these superficial ideologies out of our heads the world would be a better a place, and so much more harmonious.

-Jacquese