I was recently interviewed
for an article about the factual accuracy of musical biopics, written by Tom
Fordy for the Telegraph. Following on
from last year’s Queen film, Bohemian
Rhapsody, which was criticised for manufacturing and being loose with the
truth (notably in relation to Freddie Mercury’s diagnosis and disclosure that
he had AIDs), there was a rash of articles that explored the printing of musical
legends. With the recent release of the Rocket
Man about Elton John, similar thought pieces have made a return.
Fordy asked me to talk about the ‘truth’
of the Sex Pistols-related film Sid and
Nancy and the Joy Division films Control
and 24 Hour Party People. One
thing that I wanted to get across, which is in the piece, is that music films
rarely do a good job of dealing accurately with bands. They are oriented
towards star turns by individuals, including the ability of an actor to assume
the persona of a lead singer or musician. What they do not manage to capture is
intra-band politics. Hence, Gary Oldham delivers an astonishing performance in Sid and Nancy, where he embodies the
spirit of Sid Vicious. Andrew Schofield’s limp turn as Johnny Rotten could
hardly be called nuanced, however. Similarly, the various Joy Division films
have worked hard at capturing the tics of lead singer Ian Curtis, but have
spent far less time on the other members of the band (this seems particularly
unjust, as Joy Division are one of the rare bands in which each member’s
contribution is equally vital). Bohemian
Rhapsody offers a partial exception to this rule, with its attention to
detail spreading beyond the lead singer. The fact that Queen members Brian May
and Roger Taylor acted as consultants to the film presumably helped here, as
did the fact that the group had already developed ways of portraying themselves
on screen, notably in the video for ‘The Miracle’, in which four young children
do a great job of being Queen.
Another thing that I talked about
with Fordy, but which did not make it into the article, is that this analysis
of historical accuracy should be extended to documentaries. It is presumed that
they get closer to the reality of singers and musicians than acted portrayals,
but I’m not sure this is always the case. On the one hand, musical biopics such
as 24 Hour Party People or the Todd
Haynes’ Bob Dylan film I’m Not There have
done a better job of capturing musicians and scenes than most parades of
talking heads could ever do. On the other hand, a documentary can be just as
partial as a biopic. They will be oriented towards one version of the truth or
one member of a band. Take, for example, the three attempts that director Julien
Temple has made to tell the Sex Pistols’ story. He has spoken of the
Rotten-oriented The Filth and the Fury (2000)
as being a ‘corrective’ to his earlier film, the Malcolm McLaren-instigated Great Rock ‘n’ Roll Swindle (1980).
This did not stop him from having another crack at the Pistols, however,
providing a more London-based setting in The
Knowledge (2008). Each film has its moments, but they are also indicative
of the fact that the Sex Pistols’ story is too rich and diverse to be
contained. A further point about documentaries is that their tendency to place
social context around music can be just as falsifying and mythologizing as the
manufacture of narrative events in biopics. About ten years ago I heard a great
talk by Richard Witts, in which he took apart the documentary Factory: Manchester from Joy Division to
Happy Mondays, indicating that its scene-setting footage of Salford, which
was supposed to visualise the milieu in which the members of Joy Division
emerged, was in fact taken from an era prior to their births. It had originally
been employed to illustrate ‘before’ and ‘after’ images of slum clearance, but
the film implied that those slums were still there.
And
there’s a final thing that I didn’t mention to Fordy at all. When analysing the
‘reality’ of music films, the focus tends to be on truth to history, truth to
personality or truth to sociology. There is less discussion about truth to
music. But which films best manage to capture the spirit of a song? Musical
biopics are not the place to look. With their orientation towards narrative and
character they lose the ability to deliver a good tune. Documentaries can edge
closer to the marvels of music. As I have written elsewhere, there is something
exciting about hearing music talked about. It sets up a thrill of anticipation
for the moment that the song in question finally arrives. Ultimately, however,
the films that best communicate what music feels like for us – the fans - are
not the ones that concentrate on its makers. It is the reception of music that
comes across most effectively. Therefore, if you want to see a movie that
conveys the musical impact of Elton John, you would be better off watching the
bus scene in Almost Famous than
digesting Rocket Man.
And which moment
of film best captures the essence of Queen? It’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ in Wayne’s World of course.
