Michael Jackson's Ghosts is a 1997 Short Film (at 39+ minutes, the third-longest music video to date according to the Guinness Book of World Recordsnote ) directed by Stan Winston, produced by Michael Jackson, Stan Winston and David Nicksay. Mick Garris's screenplay is based on a story hashed out by Jackson and Stephen King (loosely based according to King).
The short is an allegory for the child molestation accusations leveled against Jackson, and the resultant scandal, over 1993-94. The mysterious "Maestro" (Jackson) has secretly been telling ghost stories and performing magic tricks for the young boys of nearby Normal Valley, but when one of the boys tells the adults of the town about it, they form a Torches and Pitchforks mob led by their Mayor (Jackson again) to run the "freaky" stranger out of town. Maestro responds by trapping them in his Haunted House with him and unleashing a parade of ghouls and dance numbers...It can be found here.
This film contains examples of:
- Allegory
- Maestro = Michael Jackson
- The Mayor and the other adults = Adults who find his Real Life behavior suspect; commonly interpreted as a direct Take That! in the Mayor's case. As the Wikipedia article puts it, he is "a comically arrogant, plump [and white] man who bears more than a passing resemblance to Thomas Sneddon", the Santa Barbara district attorney who tried to prosecute Jackson on child molestation charges in 1993-94, and actually would over 2003-05 when another accuser came forward with similar claims.
- The secret meetings with children = Jackson's Intergenerational Friendships with prepubescent kids, as well as his charity work on the whole.
- The angry mob assembling when one of the boys makes the mistake of revealing the secret meet-ups with Maestro = Jackson being accused of molestation by Jordan Chandler. Note that the boy in the film is chewed out by his older brother for spilling the beans, but their mother insists "He did the right thing."
- Berserk Button: Maestro would probably have gone a bit softer on the pranking if the Mayor hadn't kept referring to Maestro as a freak and similar terms. After we see the rage that the Mayor produces, Maestro keeps an almost perpetual Death Glare on the Mayor, though still has mostly Tranquil Fury until he breaks out the songs.
- Black-and-White Morality: Mayor = bad, Maestro = good.
- Body Horror: First, the Mayor is subjected to an Orifice Invasion, then is forced to perform against his will, and then is transformed into a hideous "ghoul" version of himself.
- Book Ends: Maestro is introduced by pulling a prank on the town residents. At the end of the film, a group of kids pull a similar trick on the Maestro.
- The Cameo: Mos Def is part of the angry mob that wants to run Maestro out of town.
- Concept Video: With some of the most talky of Talky Bookends yet!
- Crucified Hero Shot: After the ghosts dance on the ceiling, they float back down to the floor in this pose as "heavenly" music plays.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Maestro.
- The Dead Can Dance: The Maestro's minions.
- Deliberately Monochrome: The opening few minutes (until the mob enters the ballroom) are in black and white.
- Dem Bones: Maestro pulls off his own skin and strips to being a skeleton, whereupon he dances.
- Disney Death: Maestro fakes his death to throw off the Mayor in the climax.
- Disney Villain Death: Seeing that the Maestro isn't dead and has reassumed his Superghoul form to boot sends the Mayor fleeing through a window. A transcript of the film (which, sadly, has since evaporated along with Geocities) even calls this a "presumably very messy Disney Villain Death". No one seems to care either way in-story.
- Dope Slap: In the early going, a running bit has a little boy's older brother smack him this way for revealing stuff about the mysterious Maestro that he was supposed to keep secret. Their mother then does the same to the older brother, usually with the comment "Don't hit your brother!" After the third go-round of this, the mother is smacked by an unseen force, implied to be the Maestro's doing.
- Evil Sounds Deep: Michael uses his actual, deep-register voice when playing as the mayor, making Ghosts the only known recording that showcases him using that voice at length.
- Fat Bastard: The Mayor.
- Fat Suit: Jackson plays the Mayor in one of these.
- Gothic Horror: Contains enough tropes to actually be considered this.
- Impact Silhouette: The Mayor leaves this in the wake of his Super Window Jump.
- Literally Shattered Lives: Maestro smashes himself into the floor as if he were made of stone when the Mayor says he still wants him to go, crumbling into dust. This turns out to be a Disney Death trick, however.
- Misunderstood Loner with a Heart of Gold: Maestro, though the heart of gold is an Informed Attribute.
- Moonwalk Dance: Michael transforms himself into a skeleton and dances the moonwalk.
- Nightmare Face: Maestro pulls his face in grotesque appearances and transforms into a skeleton.
- Orifice Invasion: The Maestro possesses the Mayor by turning into a liquid form and pouring himself down the victim's throat.
- Protagonist-Centered Morality: Though leading an angry mob is an overreaction, it's not hard to sympathize with the Mayor for being concerned that a strange person who otherwise doesn't interact with anybody in town is not only meeting with kids but telling them to keep their meetings a secret, and to see Maestro's behavior as unnecessarily cruel. That the deck is clearly stacked in Maestro's favor — the Mayor is just a lot of talk, with no evidence that he could back it up with action (given how reluctant the mob is) — doesn't help.
- Ravens and Crows: A crow watches the approaching mob and later startles them in the ballroom before turning out to be a shapeshifted form of Maestro.
- Rearrange the Song: The original 1996 cut of the film used a slightly remixed version of "2 Bad" for all the dancing scenes. "Ghosts" and "Is It Scary" were added in the final cut.
- Rule of Three: See Dope Slap above.
- Serkis Folk: The dancing skeleton sequence is one of the earlier uses of this technique.
- Superpowered Evil Side: Maestro's "Superghoul" form, who subjects the Mayor to the aforementioned Body Horror torture.
- Super Window Jump: The Mayor exits the story this way, out of fear.
- That Makes Me Feel Angry: Nathan Rabin points out the use of this trope in his write-up:The dialogue in "Ghosts" is elemental to a perverse degree: No one ever obfuscates when they can communicate what they're feeling in the bluntest, most primitive manner possible. So we learn that The Mayor thinks Maestro is weird and strange and doesn't like him when The Mayor says, "You're weird. You're strange. [And] I don't like you."
- Torches and Pitchforks: Played straight.
- True Beauty Is on the Inside: The intended moral according to
Word of God. - Uncle Tomfoolery: Mos Def's character — think Richard Pryor in his "scared" mode.
