“No one is talking about ‘cancelling’ this movie”: Michael Jackson’s Biopic Receives Harsh Criticism from Famous Hollywood Director
Dan Reed was responsible for the four-hour documentary called Leaving Neverland. The documentary discussed the alleged accusations against the “King of Pop” Michael Jackson in detail. The world was at the loss for words after watching the film. Reed is now worried about a new project by the Oscar-winning British producer Graham King. The person who is often referred to as the God as well as worshiped as one by millions across the globe was not exactly like what he showed on the surface. He believes the “our idol can do no wrong” mentality is very dangerous and hurtful for those who suffered.
Thus, he is worried the upcoming biopic will glorify his misconducts and deem them somewhat acceptable as thousand will turn a blind eye to it. As they have been doing for ages.
Why is Dan Reed worried?
The upcoming biopic of the pop star and “legend” Michael Jackson will be portraying the grand life of the personality. Since the film is in conjunction with Jackson’s estate it is pretty unclear how much light will be shed onto the darker side of his life. No person is perfect, and neither was Micheal Jackson as opposed to what millions of people think. Despite being so talented, the world-class singer and dancer had many hidden chapters. Those chapters were kept in the shadows until Leaving Neverland by Dan Reed.
In the current climate of cancel culture where celebrities are held accountable for the smallest of their actions, Reed is in disbelief as to how people can respond to such grave matters with utter silence. As Dan Reed, appropriately puts it in The Guardian,
“In an era when full-throated outrage accompanies anything that smells of delegitimisation or insensitivity against a vulnerable group, it amounts to a deafening silence. No one is talking about “cancelling” this movie, which will glorify a man who raped children.”
He further goes on to explain the situation by pulling out the statistics and how the victims of such heinous crimes are the most vulnerable group. He understands that the vast majority of the people in the world grew up watching Michael Jackson as their idol, but he also goes on to question their morals. As he puts it in the article,
“if you know that your idol has abused children, should that not make celebrating his personality a little more problematic, to say the least?”
Dan Reed made it clear that “if a pedophile is rich and powerful enough, society will forgive him”. He is gravely disheartened as he said,
“What the total absence of outrage accompanying the announcement of this movie tells us is that Jackson’s seduction is still a living force, operating from beyond the grave.”
The pain and suffering one suffered due to the pop star’s alleged actions continue to haunt them. And will do so till the very end if society keeps getting them “get out of jail free” cards continuously.
How Dan Reed’s documentary changed the world’s perception of Michael Jackson
The bone-chilling four-hour documentary moved the audience and swept them off their feet at the 2019 Sundance film festival. The epitome of grace and excellence Michael Jackson’s perception quickly crumbled in front of them after his alleged actions were brought to their knowledge. The story of Wade Robson and James Safechuck shook the world. Both of them shared the side of Michael Jackson which was unfamiliar to many. Allegedly both of them were abused by the pop star s*xually when they were ages 7 and 10 respectively.
The motivation behind making the documentary was to provide a platform to the victims and lend them the courage to speak out no matter how big of a personality they may be. Also to prevent many more such cases from happening at all.
“What had motivated me – was not just the opportunity to expose Jackson by having his victims speak on camera for the first time.– Here was an opportunity to bring to the widest possible audience an insight into how children fall victim to any sexual abuser, the psychology of the predator and, above all, the grooming process. Maybe we could help prevent young children from falling prey to this most scarring, crippling of crimes. Of course the fact that the child molester in this case was one of the world’s most famous men meant that a lot of people would watch.”
Therefore, he is proud of all the actions he took to spread awareness and now is upset at society for not speaking up against the bizarre idea of worshiping a man who is accused of such alleged nasty crimes.
Source: The Guardian
