Music Video Analysis: "Beat It" - Michael Jackson

Beat It is a 1982 song by legendary American Pop singer Michael Jackson. The video, which launched Jackson's stardom to international audiences, was directed by Bob Giraldi and set the tone for what would become Jackson's trademark style.

The video's visuals and narrative are tied directly to the lyrics of the song. Jackson sings advice about a confrontation - a person or group of people have angered another group (These groups are likely gangs, as depicted in the video). The angered group tells the other(s) not to show their face(s) around any more, and the song continues advising them not to antagonise the situation and to just "beat it".

The vide reflects this by showing two street gangs, apparently rival ones, marching through the city to have a fight. Acting upon the lyrical advice to avoid confrontation, Jackson himself eventually stands between the two gangs as thy are about to fight and convinces them to stand down.

The visuals are also tied directly to the music, in a style that would become known as the definitive Michael Jackson music video manner. Significant portions of the video involve highly choreographed dancing (Notably the gang's fight is really more of a dance number with weapons) to the rhythm and melody of the song. Even in shots where there is little call for dancing, we still frequently see actions in time with the music - such as Jackson shaking his arm for emphasis to the rhythm.

Furthermore, the video is edited in such a way that the majority of the cuts, particularly in the early scene in which word of the impending fight spreads through a pool hall, are at the change between bars.

Jackson himself is general shown either dancing, or in pose designed to suggest he will be dancing soon. This reflects his image as a heavily performance-oriented singer. As a result of videos like this and Thriller, Jackson would eventually become as well known for his over-the-top dance numbers as for his songs. Notably, this video create the Jackson-Trademark "mass dance number" which would be a frequent motif in subsequent iconic Jackson videos, such as the video to Smooth Criminal.

Overall then, this is a hugely influential music video - both for Michael Jackson himself and for the medium generally. One of the most significant and well-implemented efforts to marry stage musical class performance with a narrative in a music video of its day, it still stands up today as incredibly well produced.

Watch it here.