Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction (1994 – philo-
sophical hitmen, dancing!). The show utilizes flash-
backs, alternate timelines, dance sequences, and even
a brief visit to the afterlife to develop both plot and
characters. There are many psychiatric themes to un-
pack and discuss in the series, including an explora-
tion of Vanya Hargreeves’ mental state and mens rea
as she comes into her power. This will make the series
particularly appealing to forensic mental health
professionals.
Cathleen A. Cerny-Suelzer, MD
Seven Hills, Ohio
Disclosures of financial or other potential conflicts of interest: None.
DOI:10.29158/JAAPL.003876-19
Leaving Neverland: HBO’s
Controversial Documentary
Directed and produced by Dan Reed. Premiered at the
2019 Sundance Film Festival on January 25, 2019.
Broadcast on HBO Network in two parts, March 3– 4,
2019.
In this three hour and 56-minute documentary, Dan
Reed tells a story through the eyes of two men, Wade
Robson (born in Brisbane, Australia) and James
Safechuck (born in Simi Valley, California), and
their families. Both men assert that they were sexually
abused by Michael Jackson when they were boys.
The first part of the documentary introduces the
story of each man’s family of origin and how they
met Michael Jackson. Their mothers were also intro-
duced, and each explained their background and the
initial positive effect of meeting the superstar. For
example, Wade Robson’s mother described the an-
ticipation of meeting Michael Jackson for the first
time as feeling like something “magical was going to
happen.” Throughout the documentary, videos of
the families and Michael Jackson were interspersed.
There were many commonalities between the two
men’s stories, including that both families were mid-
dle-class (Wade’s father had a fruit business and
James’s father had a rubbish business), and both boys
were very talented. Both had older siblings. Both
boys were enamored by the idea of Michael Jackson.
Wade Robson won a dance competition when he was
five, and the first prize was to meet Michael Jackson
at a concert in Australia. James Safechuck starred in a
Pepsi commercial with Jackson when he was 10 years
old. James Safechuck explained, “How do you ex-
plain Michael Jackson? He’s larger than life. There’s
no stars like that now, that kind of mega star.”
What is most notable about the documentary is
the juxtaposition of Michael Jackson as a larger-than-
life star and as an alleged sexual abuser. Wade Rob-
son described that, prior to meeting Michael Jack-
son, he had practically wall-papered his bedroom
walls with images of Michael Jackson when he was
four and five years old and watching videos over and
over to imitate his dance moves. He described first
meeting him as “other worldly” and as if he had been
“anointed.”
In Oprah Winfrey Presents: After Neverland, which
aired after the second part of Leaving Neverland,
Oprah Winfrey emphasized that, regardless of whether
the men are to be believed, the documentary is an ex-
cellent description of the concept of grooming. She
said that over the years, she spent 217 episodes of her
show discussing child sexual abuse and the idea of
grooming and seduction, but that Dan Reed did in
less than four hours what she could not do in 217.
1
Both men described how being seduced made them
feel complicit, as if they desired the sexual attention.
It was also noted in Oprah Winfrey’s special that
there was a context of litigation, but that the docu-
mentary was focused on grooming and the boys,
rather than being focused on Michael Jackson.
Grooming is the seduction stage that child molest-
ers use to gain access to future victims. Bennet and
O’Donohue explain that part of the difficulty in clar-
ifying the definition of grooming is that some of the
methods used by perpetrators can also be seen in
normal adult–child relationships, such as buying
them presents or taking them on an outing. They
proposed that grooming be defined as “antecedent
inappropriate behavior that functions to increase the
likelihood of future sexual abuse” (Ref. 2, p 969).
Examples of grooming given by Bennet and
O’Donohue that were also each reported in the doc-
umentary included inappropriately discussing sex,
showing pornographic material, inappropriate gift-
giving, “inappropriate nonsexual communication
with the child” (Ref. 2, p .969) (e.g., telling the child
he or she is the only one who understands the adult),
inappropriate touching of the child (e.g., excessive
hugging, tickling, sitting on lap), bribes for inappro-
priate contact, inappropriate isolation of the child
(i.e., separating the child from family), favoritism
Books and Media
395Volume 47, Number 3, 2019
