The Death and Rise of Michael Jackson

On my day off yesterday I took my six year old son to see the new movie, “Megamind: and was very surprised at the ending of the movie.  As usual in these animated movies, the ending usually has the main characters dancing to a popular song that continues during the credits.  Well imagine my surprise when they had “Bad” by Michael Jackson playing to finalize the film.  While it was totally fitting to the movie it’s something that just would not have happened three to four years ago.  When Michael Jackson was alive the last years of his life we didn’t hear a lot of his songs in movies, let alone a kid’s movie.  It seems with his death people have started loving Michael again.  Maybe it’s me but the best thing that could have happened to Michael Jackson was to die before his time in a dramatic fashion.

I’ve always been a huge Michael Jackson fan.  It probably has something to do with me growing up in the 1980’s when he was officially blowing up.  I stayed a fan through all the nonsense in the man’s life but the general public gave up on him in the late 90’s (at least in the United States).  After the first child molestation charges, people formed their own opinions and stopped caring about him.  Most people assumed he was guilty because he paid the kid off for it all to go away but is that the case?  I recently read several books on Michael (can you believe how many have come out in the short time he’s passed?) and almost every book I’ve read says that he wanted to fight the charges back in 1994.  His lawyers and wife at the time (Lisa Marie Pressley) thought it’d be better just to pay the kid off and let this thing pass.  While it did pass it didn’t paint the best picture of him, people viewed him as a pedophile.

I was a little skeptical too at the time but deep down I just couldn’t believe it.  That’s why when it happened again later in his life and charges were brought against him and we saw the court trial I was happy to see that he was innocent.  This leads me to believe that he wasn’t guilty back in the day either.  The cases were very similar and I really truly believe that the people after him were simply after some cash and saw an opportunity because of the lifestyle he chose to live.  The man was a big kid and liked to surround himself with children.  He was an easy target and because of his fame people tried to take advantage of that.  While it’s a little strange to surround yourself with children the man had a really messed up childhood and I think deep down considered himself to be just a big child.  With this crazy paparazzi world, people were quick to form their own opinions without the full knowledge of the situation and though he was proven innocent in the court of law, people still believe he was guilty and the “pedophile” claim stuck with him until his death.

A full year and a half later though, it seems all has been forgotten or at least has went to the background.  People are finally enjoying his music again and a whole new generation now has the chance to experience his music and life.  My six year old son who’s way too young to remember Michael’s good days loves his music and videos.  Michael’s popularity is as big as it was in his heyday of the 1980’s and he’s been dead for a year and a half.  Maybe if the general public didn’t form their opinions on tabloid stories and accusations of money hungry parents he’d still be here right now.  I’m not saying that these allegations and bad press led to his death but I’m sure it didn’t help.  The amount of stress the man had to deal with had to be enormous.  Maybe it’s me but Michael Jackson dying was the best thing to “revive” his career.

On a side note, Megamind wasn’t half bad.  I’d give it a 7/10 and for a kid’s movie it kept me thoroughly entertained.  See the 3-D version though as it was really cool.  The story was pretty good and the voice talent they assembled was really good.  The ending was the worst part but for an animated kid’s movie you can do a lot worse.