Spring It ~ Beat It ~ Tweet It
Inspired creativity transcends time, space and the artist himself. The innovative spirit of Michael Jackson is something to marvel at. It existed before he did, and continues to exist in the realm of pure creativity. “People ask me how I make music. I tell them I just step into it. It’s like stepping into a river and joining the flow. Every moment in the river has its song.”~MJ 1992 Dancing the Dream. This river is a continuum that draws from the wellspring of creativity which is God. In the 1987 Ebony/Jet interview Michael said, “No one can quite say what the creative process is. I have nothing to do with it, almost, because it’s created in space. It’s God’s work, not mine.”
Many aspects of Michael’s music videos, Beat It and Bad remind me of West Side Story, the Broadway play that was also an award-winning movie with music by Leonard Bernstein and choreography by Jerome Robbins. When you watch the ballet, Rite of Spring, you might also recognize that Bernstein and Robbins were inspired by the work of their predecessors, Igor Stravinsky (music) and Nijinsky (choreography).
It seems likely that Michael had an affinity for West Side Story. Someone once said, “The greatest tragedy about the Sharks and the Jets is that they didn’t have Michael Jackson around.” Now they do, thanks to a creative fan on You Tube!
ORIGINAL West Side Story dancing to Michael Jackson’s Beat It and Bad
The choreographed Beat It seems to portray elements that pay homage to the West Side Story dance fight between the Sharks & the Jets. Unlike that of these New York City gangs, and not surprisingly from the psyche of perpetual peace-making MJ, there is redeeming value in the inherent message of Beat It.
If you haven’t seen MJ’s ORIGINAL Beat It video, enjoy it now!
On another note, this is a hilarious, yet respectful PARODY on Michael’s music video, “Beat It.” The story line fight is between the iPhones & the iPads.