Wiped out after my trip to the ATL, I drugged my fatigued butt to the theater to see This Is It! So here are my thoughts. The movie wasn't as emotional as I had anticipated. The similarities between Michael and Elvis were striking--at least to me. And I would like to know into whose hands has the Beatles catalog fallen? Okay, so these thoughts may appear random and unrelated to a rational, analytical thinker. But stay with me, you'll see my point.
The concert, billed prophetically as his last, would consist of the platinum hits that made him the undisputed king of pop. Although Michael had not performed on stage in ten years, he was still very much a brand. I suppose the evidence of his brand power was witnessed in the dancers' reactions to him. The dancers would probably have been in their mid-teens when the pop idol performed last. The point being, he did not have a lot of new material. What he had was star power; and, I might add, he was still quite relevant. One does not sellout 50 concert dates and without being relevant. So back to the point--the material was not new. He still had the same moves of the past 30 years; the same yelp, the same woo-who.
So this brings me to the Elvis similarity. One contributor to Elvis' insecurities was the lack of renewal. He—Elvis--was the undisputed king (of whatever he was king of), which was due in large part to his gyrations. There was no other white man on the planet doing that stuff, not even the flamboyant Jerry Lee. Why did he--Elvis--not reinvent himself and keep his show relevant? Certainly Michael was much was cognizant of the need for relevance than Elvis, but I wonder would he have made the transition?
Finally, the question begs to be asked. In addition to Poppa Joe's bizarre words, "Michael is worth more dead than a live", was the absence of the normal expression of grief. Who does that? The family's breadwinner is reported to be dead and you come out with a less than mournful reaction to the unexpected death of your child? I apologize if I appear to be judgmental. Perhaps I just don't want to believe Peter Pan is dead. May be, may be. But I tell you one thing, I have seen too many movies to take anything Hollywood does or says at face value.
After we swapped notes on This Is It! my unemployed friend, using the excuse of being utterly disgusted with my lack of Michael knowledge, announces that she will just have to go back to see the film--FOR THE FIFTH TIME!
So where is the Beatles catalog?
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