Research - Music Video Analysis 2

The music video “Beat it” was written and sung by Michael Jackson, and was directed by Bob Giraldi. The genre of the music video is Rock and R&B, the videos characteristics are targeted at the black youth and the streets and Jackson “contemplating the senseless violence”.

Throughout the song the relationship between the lyrics and the visuals is that Jackson is singing about the rivalry between the two gangs. The connection between the lyrics and the visuals is the song title “Beat it”; this is constantly sung by Jackson as these words describe the entire video. The lyrics “beat it” is amplified by the gangster visuals and how they are preparing for a fight. Jackson’s lyrics are constantly representing the visuals, because his lyrics resemble a gangster theme, and they are amplified by the cast who are shown throughout. A specific example of the relationship between the lyrics and visuals is the lyrics “Don't wanna be a boy, you wanna be a man” when this is sung the camera is on two men hanging off the end of a pickup truck and they are smoking which is to resemble a man not a boy. This is contrasted against the image they are getting due to the fighting being seen as a boyish thing to do. However the fighting is also a way for the gangsters to show how strong they are and how they do not want to be defeated, “No one wants to be defeated Showin' how funky and strong is your fight”.

The video opens on a cafe where there is only diegetic sound of people rustling in a cafe and a plate clattering into a sink, then as the gangsters leave, immediately when the cafe door closes a rhythm of low beats begins, this is produced by techno music and then becomes upbeat and has a faster pace, this music matches the video as the upbeat rhythm connects the gangsters to their personalities and to the music. In the centre of the video, around two minutes fifteen, Jackson appears through the door and walks into the bar where the first gang were, and the pace increases do to the chorus being repeated several times until the end. At three minutes ten, there is a solo guitarist and a beat from drums in the background and this is where the two gangs meet, and gives this an extra sense of excitement because it shows signs of intensity.

"Beat it" is a music video that was aimed at the black youth of today, this video was created to create awareness of the youth of the time and how the ever growing gangsters in the streets is continuing. During the video as Jackson is dancing to bring the two gangs together he is showing to be considerate to the rising influences of fighting and crime and showing that he is peaceful. Jackson's image in this video is being portrayed as confident, caring and cool, his attitude towards the violence shows that his personality is one which people to can look to for guidance and admiration. During the time of the videos release, Jackson had previously released "Billie Jean" which was only a few months before "Beat it". These two songs have a similar meaning because they are both show to have a story or an aim behind them. "Beat it" was to make people aware of the increasing black youth and the gangster background, and "Billie Jean" had a story directly from Jackson's previous music career with the Jackson 5 and how the groupies from those days wrote to the singer informing them of false accusations.

"Beat it" is mainly a narrative-based video as the true message of Jackson's song is in the lyrics, however the video is also partially performance-based because the video reinforces the message that Jackson tries to send to the viewers and fans. Both the performance and the narrative send strong messages and both combined are excellent for Jackson's image as it shows his caring personality towards the increasing awareness of the black youth and gangsters.

"Beat it" was one of Jackson's inspiring music videos as it was his first treatment to black youth and the streets. Overall Jackson's image in this video is showing his compassion to the world and the public. His narrative performance in the video enforces his message as it gives the people a taste of what he is trying to do, bringing music to every bodies lives. His dancing skills are shown in this video to express his to feelings towards the message, but also the choreographing of the video was to sell the star and his talent.