bluemoonwalker:I had street gangs on my mind when I wrote “Beat It,” so we rounded up some of the to
bluemoonwalker:I had street gangs on my mind when I wrote “Beat It,” so we rounded up some of the toughest gangs in Los Angeles and put them to work on the video. It turned out to be a good idea, and a great experience for me. We had some rough kids on that set, tough kids, and they hadn’t been to wardrobe. Those guys in the pool room in the first scene were serious; they were not actors. That stuff was real. Now I hadn’t been around really tough people all that much, and these guys were more than a little intimidating at first. But we had security around and were ready for anything that might happen. Of course we soon realized we didn’t need any of this, that the gang members were mostly humble, sweet, and kind in their dealings with us. We fed them during breaks, and they all cleaned up and put their trays away. I came to realize that the whole thing about being bad and tough is that it’s done for recognition. All along these guys had wanted to be seen and respected, and now we were going to put them on TV. They loved it. “Hey, look at me, I’m somebody!” And I think that’s really why many of the gangs act the way they do. They’re rebels, but rebels who want attention and respect. Like all of us, they just want to be seen. And I gave them that chance. For a few days at least they were stars. They were so wonderful to me - polite, quiet, supportive. After the dance numbers they’d compliment my work, and I could tell they really meant it. The truth of that experience came out on the screen. The “Beat It” video was menacing, and you could feel those people’s emotions. You felt the experience of the streets and the reality of their lives. You look at “Beat It” and know those kids are tough. They were being themselves, and it came across. It was nothing like actors acting; it was as far from that as possible. They were being themselves; that feeling you got was their spirit.I’ve always wondered if they got the same message from the song that I did.“ -Michael Jackson (32 years ago today Beat it premiered on MTV | March 31st, 1983) -- source link