Man in the Mirror is about how MJ’s brilliance came with a price
- Arijit Bose
- Oct 30, 2017
- 4 min read
With popularity comes the curse of being dissected at each stage to dig out hidden facets about a person. Michael Jackson – Man in the mirror, is a tell all commentary on how a troubled childhood along with some inner demons led to one of the biggest pop icons of all time’s fall from grace. The film is also a testimony on how Michael saw some close people stabbing him when he was gaining a foothold in the music industry as a solo performer.
The documentary ‘Michael Jackson – Man in the Mirror’, featuring longtime impersonator of MJ, Earnest Valentino was released in the UK on Channel 5 earlier this year.
The over one hour documentary delves deep into how Jackson who started off as a young talented and highly ambitious young lad broke away from what went down in the annuls of history as Jackson 5. The film captures real life moments and some of it is dramatised to capture the Jackson story.
For eg a short sequence where the byte of a close person says Michael stayed away from school from a week and told his teacher’s later Oh I was doing shows in New York. All this at a tender age of 6.
The documentary not just shows what made Jackson what he was, but also what backfired in the later years of his life. While Michael wanted a separate identity of his own, it is the constant control of his father that is shown as a cause of some of Michael’s insecurities.
The documentary highlights not just the relations that the pop star had to break away from the single status, but also speaks of the inherent confusion he had about his sexuality. It manages to bring a sharp contrast between Michael Jackson the star and Michael Jackson the lead in Jackson 5.
Using examples, anecdotes and real life situations like the inception of the Neverland ranch from Jackson’s life, the filmmaker is able to underscore how Michael wanted to be the kid always. At different points varied voices that speak up about the star talk of how Jackson could never let the Peter Pan within go.
While Jackson managed to rebel against his own, the narrative tells you how the real world never told him right from wrong and there is when the problem started. While Jackson managed to grow professionally, the maturity that a grown up man should have had was missing. In other words he was living in his own wonderland.
The film that came out in the early half of 2017 has a sharp take on the eccentricities of a man who was known the world over as the king of pop. Be it his sex life, the alleged charges of paedophile, his obsession with looks, the alleged love for all things evil and also how his addiction to pain killers left him hollow from within over years. He would at some point even start to con or to paraphrase it manipulate the media.
From a money churner to a broke guy, Jackson’s story is one that teaches you that behind that legendary status some of our icons enjoy in public, there is a pathos that is hidden. Many like Jackson are haunted by the demons of the past for which they cannot live without sedatives.
Some critical of the film however argue that the film is a pack of lies and Earnest Valentino should never signed up for the film.
The title Man in the Mirror, happened to be also one of Michael Jackson’s songs in the albums Bad and History: Past, Present and Future, Book I. The song was released on January 9, 1988. Produced by Quincy Jones it was written by Siedah Garrett and Glen Ballard.
It was nominated for Record of the Year at the Grammy Awards.
The song topped the Billboard Hot 100 for 2 weeks.
It became number 1 single in iTunes downloads in US and the UK.
This is not the first time an attempt to decipher Jackson’s life has been made. Man in the Mirror: The Michael Jackson Story was a 2004 Canadian-American biographical telefilm produced for VH1. The biopic starred Flex Alexander as Michael Jackson.
The film was seen as sequel to The Jacksons: An American Dream, which discussed Jackson family as children.
Earnest Valentino was born and raised in Florida/USA and is now living in Europe. He is working as a professional Michael Jackson Tribute-Artist.
Earnest Valentino is an officially recognized Michael Jackson-impersonator since the year 1988.
Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, and dancer. He was the best-selling music artist at the time of his death.
The eighth child of the Jackson family, Michael made his debut in 1964 with his elder brothers Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, and Marlon as a member of the Jackson 5.
Starting off in 1971 while at Motown Records in the 80s, Jackson became a dominant figure in popular music. Hits like “Beat It”, “Billie Jean”, and “Thriller” took him to new heights.
Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You”, “Bad”, “The Way You Make Me Feel”, “Man in the Mirror”, and “Dirty Diana”, became the first to change the course of his career.
Through stage and video performances, Jackson popularized a number of complicated dance techniques, such as the robot and the moonwalk . Thriller with estimated sales of 65 million copies worldwide and other albums, including Off the Wall (1979), Bad (1987), Dangerous (1991), and History (1995)not just got him some best-selling albums but he also raked in the moolah.
As a double Rock and Roll Hall of famer Jackson held his own.
His other achievements include multiple Guinness World Records including the Most Successful Entertainer of All Time, 13 Grammy Awards, the Grammy Legend Award, the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, 26 American Music Awards, 13 number-one singles in US more than any other male artist in the Hot 100 era—and estimated sales of over 350 million records worldwide.
Forbes ranks Jackson the top-earning dead celebrity, with earnings of $825 million in 2016, the highest yearly amount ever recorded by the publication.
Preparing for his comeback concert series, This Is It, Jackson died of acute propofol and benzodiazepine intoxication on June 25, 2009 suffering a cardiac arrest. Los Angeles County Coroner ruled his death a homicide, and personal physician, Conrad Murray, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter.
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