Bad 25

Look I’m sorry. I didn’t even really wanna watch this. I’m a completionist. The MJ docs are part of Lee’s filmography. And I know this was 2012. Y’all still knew enough. I know the allegations didn’t exist when Bad was made. If this was just an examination of the- yes undeniable- artistry I’d cut more leeway, perhaps. But there’s so much mythologizing of Michael as a person here, painting the media as always having it out for him. And it’s not like that was wholly untrue, especially in that period of time of Bad, but it still proudly plays into a narrative used to silence Michael’s accusers. They gladly brush away his obsession with childhood, they chalk up his artistry to the illegal- in their words- ‘discipline’ (ie abuse) that started from his childhood on and part of why he can never be repeated. It’s gross all the way down, and again if it was just about the artistic process of an undeniably important album maybe I could cut some slack. But naw. They knew better, and they prop not only Michael the artist but Michael the man up. And I just can’t go with it.