I have an interesting and borderline self-contradictory position on this topic.
First of all, let me clarify that I am an extremely new MJ fan. I never heard his music growing up, except for ABC in a PBS Kids promo and a badly botched version of Bad in a children's play. I first really heard him a few years ago. He soon became my favorite music artist, but it's only
this year that I actually started looking into him more deeply - learning about him, watching videos and performances, etc. (Sadly, I used to be afraid to learn more about him because of the bad things I had heard, but I'm so glad I overcame that and learned the truth about who he was.)
Also, let me say as an aside that, while I may have extremely different opinions from you, Michael's Essence, I still enjoy your posts very much! You offer a very interesting perspective that I appreciate. I hope you don't leave.
The Way You Make Me Feel is one of my favorite MJ songs. In fact, if I absolutely
had to choose one song from him to declare my favorite, there's a good chance that would be it. It actually has something of a deep meaning for me, because something about the song just seems to capture such a pure sense of taking delight in another individual. You could argue that the lyrics are kind of shallow, but the
emotion conveyed by the song, to me personally, is almost the essence of pure, simple love. It's hard to explain, and I'm sure to some it will seem silly. But to me, this feeling of encapsulating love that this song gives me is so strong that I've occasionally associated this song with God Himself. That might seem absurd, and maybe it is. But for whatever reason, that's just the vibe this song gives me, even if the specific lyrics shouldn't generate such a response.
I also think I'll mention that the Bad era is without question my favorite MJ era (though I love 'em all, of course). It has "edginess", but I think the edginess is paired with MJ still fundamentally being a "good boy" in the end. The Bad short film is entirely about standing up for what's right, after all. And I love that combination.
But as for the video itself...well, that's where things get a little more complicated for me. I totally love this video in most ways, but yet, I totally can see where the idea of it seeming like it looks like stalking or harassing come from. That's not to say that I
completely agree with this assessment, but I can't honestly say I
completely disagree with it either. I can see that this interpretation was NOT the intent of the video in any way, and the video certainly can be interpreted in the playful, innocent way that was intended, and it can be argued that that interpretation makes more sense, but, to put it simply, I see how this video can be taken the wrong way.
The point is, I can see where this video is
questionable. NOT outright wrong, but can be interpreted in an unfortunate way a little too easily for my liking. It can also be interpreted in a completely innocent, playful way, which I'm sure was the intent, but the point is, I can't say the other interpretation is unreasonable - in fact, it's unfortunately pretty easy to see.
My ultimate assessment of the video is actually rather positive. It's one of those cases in which it's actually worth it to look past (which is
not the same as refusing to acknowledge, or approving of) what is "questionable". If I choose to interpret everything in the video in the most innocent light, I see a lovely, simple story of a man eagerly pursuing the object of his affection, and
not against her will at all. The intended story, which mostly comes through, is simply one of Michael considering this woman to be very much worth pursuing and doing so, and of her receiving his affection positively, in the midst of some playful "tug-of-war". There are some missteps that get in the way of that and can cause a bad interpretation, but I think it can be seen that that's not the real intention of the video, if that makes sense. Though I must be clear that I can't blame people for not being able to look past that.
In fact, okay, more melodramatic spiritual stuff, but to me, the video along with the song can be taken to encapsulate in general the idea of pursuing something eagerly because of how deeply worthwhile it is to you, and to me, this can, again, even be applied to God Himself. Once I was sitting in church, a little frustrated thinking about my attempts to pursue God. But then, this song and video came to mind as a symbol of what that should be like. Michael loves the girl deeply and takes delight in her, and so he delights to pursue her. And the girl, in turn, delights to be pursued. Perhaps both God and His follower can play either role in the story, of the pursuer and the pursue-ee. It can also symbolize a diligent pursuit of something extremely loved and worthwhile in general, in other contexts.
And I know what some might say, that it's strange that I would admit this video can be seen as problematic and then turn around and maintain that it can also be an analogy for our relationship with God Himself. But first of all, like I said, you have to look at the intent behind the video and the emotions it is trying to convey. Much like the song itself uses lyrics that could be considered shallow and simplistic, but yet conveys love so well to me that it takes on a deeper meaning, the video may not in a superficial sense do all the right things, but somehow the actual intention and meaning is still conveyed well. And second of all, when it comes to parables, including the ones Jesus used, the earthly thing being used as an analogy need not be perfectly good and yet can still be used to demonstrate God in some way, through the power of how well-crafted analogies work.
tl;dr I love the video, and I think its true intention is good, but I can see how it
can come across as problematic, and I wish the video had been done in such a way to make those interpretations less feasible. Ultimately, my opinions seem kind of like a mess because I can see both sides. I
want to be firmly on the "it's not problematic" side, but I can't, because I do see how this video can be interpreted negatively; even though I don't
believe that interpretation, for better or for worse, I can certainly
see where it comes from. To be clear, this video can easily be interpreted in the intended, totally innocent way. I'm just saying that I can see where the "less innocent" interpretation comes from, and it's unfortunately not unreasonable.
Someday, maybe I will be able to straighten out my opinions more and they won't seem like a total self-contradiction, and can be expressed more concisely. But for now, this is what I have.
