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Michael on Oprah (1993) Vs Martin Bashir Documentary (2003)

StarlightXX

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Now I know bringing up the Martin Bashir doco is controversial and could upset fans. I’ve been watching the Bashir doco for what it’s worth - one has to admit there are some beautiful shots of Michael and Neverland Ranch.

Then one compares the doco with the Oprah Special ten years earlier - a similar show on showing the “private” side of Michael in his home.

On comparing the two, I say the Oprah Special is superior - not only did it show Michael in a more positive light but the production was higher quality and the editing was masterfully done (compared to the cheap, choppy editing and clammy Bashir voice-overs of the other doc).

What are your thoughts?
 
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There is an interesting thing when you compare these 2 Special Interviews.

The first one (Oprah Winfrey, 1993) boosted his career even more, whereas the second one (Martin Bashir, 2003) irreparably destroyed his career.

It is also funny that Michael Jackson (a guy with more than 30 years in the music industry/business under his belt by that time) was so easily manipulated by a British journalist named Martin Bashir.
 
mj_frenzy said:
There is an interesting thing when you compare these 2 Special Interviews.

The first one (Oprah Winfrey, 1993) boosted his career even more, whereas the second one (Martin Bashir, 2003) irreparably destroyed his career.

It is also funny that Michael Jackson (a guy with more than 30 years in the music industry/business under his belt by that time) was so easily manipulated by a British journalist named Martin Bashir.
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I don't find that funny at all
 
Disclaimer: I have not seen the whole Bashir interview, I just cannot stand it. My opinion is based on parts I have seen. I have seen Oprah interview multiple times. The vibe of these interviews is totally different. Whatever Oprah did later, during that interview she seemed to be on Michael's side. She was asking silly questions, but that's her style. Michael also appears comfortable, in command, top of his game. Overall the interview give a very positive vibe. On the other hand Bashir was very manipulative and condescending towards Michael, and Michael appears very defensive in the whole interview. It smells of garbage, clearly Bashir was out to get him, and hence I cannot stand it.
 
mj_frenzy said:
It is also funny that Michael Jackson (a guy with more than 30 years in the music industry/business under his belt by that time) was so easily manipulated by a British journalist named Martin Bashir.
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Michaels Lover said:
I don't find that funny at all
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Exactly! Its not funny. Just imagine Michael's state of mind and desperation at that point to agree to something like that. And how betrayed he must have felt afterwards. I almost want to cry thinking about it.
 
If I had to choose one I would choose Oprah because I just hate Martin he just really upsets me. He's so rude to Michael!
 
Michael Jackson did not even realize that Martin Bashir had manipulated Diana (Princess of Wales) in order to get that 1995 Panorama Interview.

Martin Bashir acted at that time in a manipulative and deceitful way (for example, by forging bank statements) in order to blackmail her into doing that 1995 Panorama Interview.

It was also naive of Michael Jackson to agree to Martin Bashir's idea to have Gavin Arvizo lay his head on his shoulder and hold his hand during the filming of that particular segment of the 2003 Interview.
 
Mister_Jay_Tee said:
Yes, and it only took 20+ years for that to be revealed.
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Exactly. And the story isn't over yet. The BBC has been ordered by a judge to hand over the relevant emails but there is an expectation that some of the emails will be redacted.

Mister_Jay_Tee said:
But shame on MJ.
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Makes no sense, does it?

As for the question, I haven't watched either interview in full and have no plans ever to do so.
 
Been a while....

Having watched the Bashir documentary live back in 2003 on ITV, if you remove the Arvizo and Germany section it would have been a very good show.

The first half at Neverland was beautiful and MJ seemed at peace.

In Germany he was manic and clearly on something, not a good look and the less said about Arvizo the better.
 
I don’t know. One is an interview, the other a documentary, so it’s hard to compare anyway. I’d say the Oprah interview is certainly more professional and shows Michael in more positive light.

In the end it’s all about context. If Oprah had wanted to show Michael in a bad light, she could have done it, just as Bashir could have done a wonderful and positive documentary. It’s not Michael who changed that much in the 10 years, it’s the interviewers who were different people with different goals.
 
I wish it was the other way around. I wish michael did the documentary with oprah & the interview with martin batshit. I think it would've made a hell of a difference!
 
StarlightXX said:
Now I know bringing up the Martin Bashir doco is controversial and could upset fans. I’ve been watching the Bashir doco for what it’s worth - one has to admit there were some beautiful shots of Michael and Neverland Ranch.

Then one compares the doco with the Oprah Special ten years earlier - a similar show on showing the “private” side of Michael in his home.

On comparing the two, I say the Oprah Special is superior - not only did it show Michael in a more positive light but the production was higher quality and the editing was masterfully done (compared to the cheap, choppy editing and clammy Bashir voice-overs of the other doc).

What are your thoughts?
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9/11 fucked Michael over big time, a tour was originally planned in 2002 which would have massively boosted sales for Invincible and generated hundreds of millions for him, he wanted to make big business acquisitions and those would have gone forward sooner. Instead his tour got cancelled, this was the first step in his inevitable fall. The second thing was David Geffen being responsible for talking Michael out of being with all of his trusted handlers in the years prior and being surrounded instead by crooks who were talking him into shady shit designed to line their own pockets and not benefit him at all, by the time Michael was in the Invincible age he had basically nobody in his life that he could reliably trust, like the Rabbi, Uri Geller etc. Uri Geller is the one that talked Michael into working with Martin Bashir, other people tried to prevent him from doing so but no longer had his ear.
 
Blues_Away2023 said:
Been a while....

Having watched the Bashir documentary live back in 2003 on ITV, if you remove the Arvizo and Germany section it would have been a very good show.

The first half at Neverland was beautiful and MJ seemed at peace.

In Germany he was manic and clearly on something, not a good look and the less said about Arvizo the better.
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Not to mention the final interview in Miami. Michael, at that point, was annoyed with Martin Bashir and it showed. Compared it to the beginning of the documentary where he seems happy and open and willing to discuss anything. Now in Miami, he was annoyed, gave short answers, rolled his eyes a few times and even looked around while being spoken to, showing his apathy. It was a taut final interview.
 
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Oprah interview. Mike is in command of the interview at all times, it's a shame the interview doesn't focus more on his career. Sadly this is true for most of his interviews (aside from Ebony 1987)

The bashir interview just makes me uneasy, to see that parasite take advantage of a man with a clear dependency on heavy medication, who needs help.

Seeing Mike so out of it makes me really uncomfortable, he spent most of his career carefully crafting his public image and this interview was a huge sledgehammer to it.

Mike did give a few interesting answers during the footage you were never meant to see but they're few and far between.
 
I don't know if he was under medication at that time, but he was clearly never comfortable during the interview. He rarely made eye contact with Bashir. And since that moron was out to get him, he never tried to make Michael comfortable. In other interviews also he was asked confrontational questions about his appearance or behaviour (e.g. Barbara Walters), but Michael always gave a coherent response. It is difficult to imagine under what kind of pressure and bad advice Michael agreed to it. One more way it shows that he was surrounded by bad people in 2000s :cry:
 
Oprah, only because it is somewhat positive (pre accusation). If her interview was done post 93 she would have done the same as Bashir imo.

At least MJ had his own cameras rolling for take 2. Unfortunately, the damage was done. It's insane how Bashir's doc caused so much destruction in MJs life.
 
Oprat Vs Bashit?
Living with MJ was better for the footage and insight into MJ, his home etc. Just a shame what Bashit's intentions lead to.
 
Oprah, in my eyes, is far superior. Still disrespectful, but at least there is some legitimate intrigue and curiosity in the questions. It gives off the impression of an interview that was meant to be genuine, but Oprah flew off the rails.

Bashir, comparatively, felt like a hit piece from minute one. Even the cool clips were captured via deception.
 
Completely different period in Michael's life.

MJ was still king in 93 and his image not tarnished until later that year.

2002-2003 MJ was a sad man who had lost touch with reality and labeled as a has-been. His image had really deteriorated by this point.

Like I said, the opening of living with MJ was great , I loved seeing how genuinely happy he looked riding the go carts with Bashir and him showing us his giving tree etc.

I remember at the time of release many people were saying that during the first half MJ came across as very good and normal , he was just misunderstood.

Unfortunately, the second half really damaged his reputation even further.
 
Blues_Away2023 said:
Been a while....

Having watched the Bashir documentary live back in 2003 on ITV, if you remove the Arvizo and Germany section it would have been a very good show.

The first half at Neverland was beautiful and MJ seemed at peace.

In Germany he was manic and clearly on something, not a good look and the less said about Arvizo the better.
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I don’t think Michael was really wired when in Germany. The outing at the zoo was tipped off to the media and it was clearly an unexpected and stressful experience for Michael and his kids - I think Michael overdid his laughing at the gorillas to cheer his kids up and destress the situation a little.
 
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Blues_Away2023 said:
Completely different period in Michael's life.

MJ was still king in 93 and his image not tarnished until later that year.

2002-2003 MJ was a sad man who had lost touch with reality and labeled as a has-been. His image had really deteriorated by this point.

Like I said, the opening of living with MJ was great , I loved seeing how genuinely happy he looked riding the go carts with Bashir and him showing us his giving tree etc.

I remember at the time of release many people were saying that during the first half MJ came across as very good and normal , he was just misunderstood.

Unfortunately, the second half really damaged his reputation even further.
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I also say the Las Vegas segment was good, too. He looked at peace with himself in his hotel suite, playing on the skateboard arcade machine, being with his kids, shopping in the antiques store, etc.
 
StarlightXX said:
I don’t Michael was really wired when in Germany. The outing at the zoo was tipped off to the media and it was clearly an unexpected and stressful experience for Michael and his kids - I think Michael overdid his laughing at the gorillas to cheer his kids up and distress the situation a little.
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I think the balcony incident and seeing his interview with Bashir whilst feeding Bigi made me question if he was on something, he seemed extremely hyper.
StarlightXX said:
I also say the Las Vegas segment was good, too. He looked at peace with himself in his hotel suite, playing on the skateboard arcade machine, being with his kids, shopping in the antiques store, etc.
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Yeah the Vegas segment was also good, the ho ho ho green giant bit 😆 I somehow loved.

When he started to sing smile acapella was one of my favorites parts of the whole thing, I thought we would have got to hear him singing more throughout, that was my biggest disappointment with it.
 
Might be a stupid question. Has anyone attempted to edit a “clean version” of the Bashir doc? Meaning taking out the balcony / feeding / holding hands with Gavin segments and some of the negative voice overs? I’d be curious of what that would have / could have looked like.
 
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