Is Jackson’s film fantastic or uncanny?
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Maybe it is both?
Jackson’s film is both uncanny and fantastic. It is fantastic in the way the film was directed to give the audience a sense of familiarity by depicting two teens going out on a date at the movies. We even see the male character ask his female companion to be his girlfriend and follow up by giving her a ring to symbolize their new relationship. This serene moment is then suddenly transformed into a supernatural nightmare as the male character transforms into a werewolf and chases after his girlfriend. Familiar becomes the unfamiliar and likewise, uncanny.
The second aspect of this film that identifies it as fantastic is represented when Jackson himself transforms into a monster and also begins to chase his date. He literally takes on the role of the male character he witnessed in the movie. Jackson’s date later wakes with a fright, believing this dream she had endured was very real, but is then relieved and returns to the safe incredulity of what actually took place.
As we observe the dead dancing and Jackson’s transformation into a monster we can identify these events as fictional, not as something factual. We can acknowledge that this world and it’s characters exists in the film but no where else. Lastly, we may interpret and identify this film as an allegorical representation of the uncanny.
I personally believe that Michael Jackson’s Thriller is uncannily fantastic, reason being is because it delves into topics of the supernatural thus creating hesitation and suspense in its viewer getting them to compromise their own logic and reasoning if only for an instance to entertain the notion or the idea that something incredible could potentially in fact hold credibility and show merit in the natural world that we reside in. Thriller was widely know to be phenomenal because of this alone it almost established new laws of nature where things aren’t as they appear by the implementation of subtle irony giving it that fantastically, captivating, uncanny vibe.
I personally believe that the Micheal Jackson “The Thriller” is more fantastic than Gothic. One reason I believe that it is to be true, is because we are left in this limbo between what is real and what is not and it uses the Gothic characteristic to enhance it, for example in the beginning of the video we see the cliché of the Gothic, a couple in love, with the car stalled, walking in the woods, etc. however we find out afterwards that is just a movie. Furthermore we can see more of this limbo in the second example, when the couple leaves the movie theater, and Micheal gets turned into a zombie, and ends up chasing the girl to a abandon house, and just as she is about to get attacked by the zombies she wakes up. Finally the last example of the fantastic that we can see is the end scene, where the lady has woken up from her dream, Micheal is taking her home, and the scene freezes to show the yellow eyes of Micheal. Here we are left to question, whether it is real or not.
I believe that Thriller is both uncanny and fantastic. The reason as to why it is uncanny is because in the beginning of the video you see how the boyfriend becomes a wolf, and to the girlfriend, what is familiar (the boyfriend) then becomes unfamiliar, making it uncanny.
At the same time Thriller is also fantastic because of the dead coming to life, and him turning in to one of them, transforming just like the boyfriend did in the movie he saw with his date. Jackson, scared his date and later on she was relieved when everything that was going on with the dead and with Jackson turned out just to be a dream, which makes Thriller fantastic as well.
The story of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” is uncanny in my opinion. She gets scared from the movie, and wants to leave. So they walk home and he starts to tease her. Then zombies show up shattering what she thought didn’t exist. She screams and wakes up only to find out that everything seems to be okay. Except Michael turns around to glowing eyes indicating it might not have been a dream after all. The girl’s perception of reality and home is shattered by Michael and the zombies. Just when she thinks she is safe from the horrors of the movie, she is being chased. Then when she really thinks she’s okay we see that everything is different and Michael really is an undead. The whole thing screams uncanny. It is almost uncanny to the audience as well. We are never quite sure what is the actual reality or not. The whole video switches from the movie, to the date, to the chasing zombies, and then to home where his eyes continue to glow. Which part was the actual video? That is what makes the thing so awesome to me. Of course, the music is nothing short of perfection. Truly something that will never go out of style.
Jackson’s film is both uncanny and fantastic. We see the fantastic side of the movie unfold very quickly when Jackson transforms into a zombie. The female character lived in the same world we did but experienced a very bizarre twist of fate where she had to deal with something outside of her comprehension of life. In other words she was hesitant and fearful of a reality where inexplicable events invade your comfort zone.
The uncanny side of the movie is parallel to the fantastic side of the movie. Jackson’s transformation has the sense of familiarity to the female character. On the surface she sees a shell of her date, whom we can assume had a comforting personality based on the way they interacted with one another. The past memories and feelings shared between the two characters is what links Jackson’s post transformation with his previous state. It is the feeling of familiarity that triggers fear through an unsettling and inexplicable way which is what the female character was experiencing throughout the movie.
Jackson’s timeless “Thriller” exhibits traits of both the uncanny and the fantastic. The familiar setting of an innocent date in the 1980’s, a walk along the woods, the clichĂ©d line “honestly, we’re out of gas,” alongside the theatre motif throughout the song convey a fantastic quality.
Jackson, famous for his very unique and vibrant dancing moves, help portray an uncanny tone, the dancing forwards the plot of the song.
Subtle moves like hand claps, pseudo zombie walking and light twirls sprinkled throughout the beginning set up the pace, they then steadily increase towards the crescendo and chorus. One should note that in this version of “Thriller”, Jackson delays the chorus right until the end, building up a tempo until he fervently breaks out into a frenzied dance alongside his undead companions.
The dated CGI emits a very uncanny and odd tone, especially when the main heroine shrieks in horror in revulsion to Jackson’s gruel transformation, it’s all very theatrical and extravagant.
The music video to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”, is both uncanny and fantastic. It was uncanny especially from the girls point of view. She becomes so unsettled and frightened from the movie scene that she leaves the theatre and as they’re walking home, the setting is dark and strange. Even the viewer can become unsettled because they feel something is going to happen. This is when the fantastic comes in. Zombies appear from out of nowhere and begin to surround the couple. Something you could never imagine happening in reality. The end scene when it appears to have all been a dream but then Michael’s character turns around and shows his glowing eyes is also very uncanny.
I believe that Thriller is both uncanny and fantastic. There in an obvious presence of the supernatural but almost a human like characteristic that makes us feel a moment of comfort but changes to fear. There were also moments that showed depth of illusion that maybe she wasn’t seeing what was in front of her because of how unrealistic the possibility was. And although to the viewer this occurrence is purely fictional it almost has a real life representation that maybe what the girl was experiencing was a symbolism for situations that could be occurring between this boy and girl. With the multiple moments of realism and supernatural could represent an emotional roller coaster she was experiencing.