The way you make me feel

Watching We Are the Eighties on VH1 Classic and on comes the video for Michael Jackson’s “The Way You Make Me Feel.” Haven’t seen that particular piece of visual artistry since around the time it came out.

For those who’ve somehow forgotten, a short synopsis of the video is that MJ is hanging out in a scruffy neighborhood with his ghetto homeboys. MJ looks, you know, not all that macho. Nevertheless, he seems to somehow be their leader.

Then The Love Interest shows up, a very pretty young woman whom MJ proceeds to stalk while his homeboys block her from leaving the area. So she’s left to try to walk away from our protagonist while he does a lot of air humping.

And it’s really creepy to watch; the misogyny oozes from the screen and MJ doesn’t exhibit a shred of lust or affection toward The Love Interest, but some sort of seething rage.

Not the work of a healthy mind at all.