Michael Jackson — “Black or White” (1990)
Specifically, the last two minutes of what’s otherwise a laughably overblown epic that embodies everything that was wrong with MTV in the ’90s. But! But! The face-morphing technique used for the outro of “Black or White” was pretty jaw-dropping in 1990, taking an idea first used in Godley and Creme’s 1985 video for “Cry” (which does look a little ropey these days) and polishing it to appear entirely realistic. Like the liquid metal idea used in Terminator 2 at about the same time, face morphing soon started cropping up everywhere, and these days, while the technique has long since lost its power to amaze — we’re used to seeing far more remarkable things on screen — the outro to this video remains both visually impressive and conceptually interesting. And, of course, somewhat touching, given Jackson’s long, strange metamorphosis and his tragic death.
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