Tag: michael jackson history

Episode 4 – Michael Jackson and Monochromatic Cinematography

Posted onAuthorKarin Merx

Abstract: In this episode Elizabeth and Karin talk about the function of black and white (monochrome/chiaroscuro) cinematography in the short films, Bad (dir. Martin Scorsese, 1987) and Stranger in Moscow (dir. Nicholas Brandt, 1996). Taking their academic essays on two of Jackson’s most monochromatic short films as source Read More …

From Throne to Wilderness: Michael Jackson’s ‘Stranger in Moscow’ and the Foucauldian Outlaw

Posted onAuthorKarin Merx

In 1993, a horde of Californian ‘police and prosecutors spent millions of dollars to create a case whose foundation never existed’.1 Their fruitless efforts were to incriminate Michael Jackson, a black artist who was the most commercially successful in the world. Jackson, who was in Russia on his Dangerous tour, wrote the song, Stranger in Moscow, in response to the severity of his accusations, the eagerness of the media to sensationalise them and the willingness of the public to believe them. This essay examines how Michael Jackson’s Stranger in Moscow, relates to philosopher, Michel Foucault’s concept of ‘power’.

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