Fame on Film, Almost Famous - Francesca Galarus

Almost Famous portrays fame in a very interesting way, from many varying perspectives. Each character has a different view on fame, which comes from their experience with it, opinions of it and whether or not they are famous themselves. For the purposes of this paper, I will focus on three characters’ views on fame – our protagonist, William Miller; Stillwater, the band, and Penny Lane. Each view on fame differs greatly from one another and I think that creates a unique dichotomy among the characters.

The film begins with William Miller as a young boy. His sister idolizes rock music and their mother greatly disapproves. One day his sister takes off with her boyfriend to become a stewardess and she leaves behind all of her records and this is his how love for rock-n-roll begins. Later, William expresses his confusion over this, because to him, a true fan would never walk away on a record collection like she did.

William’s mother’s wish is for him to become a lawyer, but that is far from his chosen profession. He wants to be a rock writer. This is a great example of how William sees fame, because the last thing he wants to do is have an ordinary job. He wants to write about music and the famous people who produce and perform it. He convinces his mother to let him pursue his “hobby” and starts by going to a concert after receiving an assignment from Lester Bangs, a rock critic who comes to be a mentor or sorts to William.

Wide-eyed and bushy tailed, William goes on his first assignment to interview Black Sabbath. The backstage bouncer refuses to let him in, saying that he’s “not on the list” and tells him to “go to the top of the ramp with the other girls.” Frustrated, he gives it a few more tries. Eventually, he gives up and goes to the top of the ramp and this is where he meets Penny Lane.

Penny and her friends take offense when William says that he’s not a groupie like them and they explain that they are not groupies; but band-aids. “Groupies sleep with rock stars because they want to be close to someone famous. We’re here because of the music.” From this statement, the viewer gets a sense of how Penny sees fame. Although we find out later that she and the guitar player Russell have a “special relationship,” she wants to be viewed as above being star-struck and simply as Stillwater’s biggest fan. At this point another band-aid emerges from backstage and gives out passes. Again, William is refused entry.

To his luck, Stillwater pulls up on their tour bus. He persists and tells them that he writes for a magazine and wants to interview them. Their response, “A rock writer, the enemy, we play for the fans and not for the critics.”

William continues by addressing them all by their first names and subsequently complimenting them on their new song and saying how much he loves their band. After they discover William Miller is a huge fan, they start to trust him he gets backstage purely through flattery. Crowe may have been making a statement here by saying that all you have to do is stroke a famous person’s ego a bit and you can get anywhere.

From the concert, stems an offer for William from Rolling Stone magazine to write about Stillwater. After pleading with his mother and promising that he will only miss one test; she permits him to join the tour.

William goes to Lester for advice and the number one thing he tells him “don’t make friends with the rock stars.” He says that they will give you all drugs, beer and girls and that it sounds great, but it’s all so they can get a sanctimonious review. He says that “friendship is the drug that they feed you” and if you give into it, it just becomes an “Industry of Cool.” Coming from Lester, this means a lot because he is very much like William in that they are not cool. It was most likely difficult for Lester not to do this when he first started out, so he knows that it will be hard for William as well, which we find out later is, because he likes them so much.

On the night before they leave on the tour, Penny takes William to a party at the Hyatt hotel, where Stillwater and many other bands are staying. When they arrive, Penny seems right at home. It’s obvious that she has done this before. She walks starry-eyed William down the hall oblivious to the mayhem surrounding them. At one point, William stops to watch musicians playing in their room and Penny keeps talking to him like he’s right behind her. It is during this scene that we come to know about Penny and Russell. As William tries to stop them, another band-aid tells him that he was Penny’s excuse for coming.

The next day as soon as they get on the bus, William tries to interview Russell and he tells him to relax and enjoy the ride. So when they get to the concert venue, he tries again and Russell tells him another time. It goes on like this for the entire tour. The members of the band include William in everything, doing exactly what Lester warned him that they would do and effectively, hold the key interview over his head. They include him in the pre-show ritual, show him the country and do “everything to get him laid.” Because he is so young and such a huge fan, they think that they can use him to get what they want, which is to “look cool.”

Meanwhile, Penny and the girls are blinded to the fact that the guys are using them. They honestly believe that they are there for the music and that alone. They use the phrase, “it’s all happening” constantly because to them, this is exactly what they want from life. They don’t admit it, but they too, just want to be close to someone famous. They idolize them and in return, the men do things like sell them to other bands for $50 and a case of beer.

Russell explains this away by telling William that no one wants to go home and he can’t keep Penny around because he has a girlfriend. He tells him that he’s been cheating on her because you can meet “pretty amazing people on the road and they help you forget the stress of your real life at home.” He says that fame puts pressure on you and causes stress, but all he does is play music and party, so it’s difficult for one to see why he is so stressed out. At one point, Russell asks the band, “Didn’t we get into this to avoid responsibility?”

Penny Lane doesn’t see it this way, as she believes that they are truly in love. Even though most of the time it seems like Penny is jaded because of her age and all the experiences she’s had, she really is just a star-struck young girl. One time, William asks her if she has any regular friends. Her response, “famous people are just more interesting.” She tells William that if she knew him in the “real world,” things would be different. She mentions the “real world” a lot and admits that she needs a new crowd and says that she’s leaving for Morocco. William asks her when and where this real world occurs because he’s starting to believe that this is all that she knows.

One thing that Penny says truly shows how she views fame. She tells William: “I always tell the girls – never take it seriously. If you never take it seriously, you never get hurt. If you never get hurt, you always have fun. And if you ever get lonely, just go to the record store and visit your friends.” From this quote, you can tell that Penny likes to think of herself as someone who never takes anything seriously, but in reality, she takes it all very seriously and gets attached to Russell. Another important thing to note is that she calls music in the record store her friends. Obviously, she is a music lover, but also a little delusional, because she only sees famous people as her friends. It’s not like she says, “go home and visit your family.”

At the end of the movie, William finally puts Stillwater in their place regarding Penny when he says: “You guys are always talking about the fans, the fans. She was your biggest fan! And you threw her away.” This proves that the members of Stillwater were so blinded by their success that they couldn’t even see their ultimate fan right in front of their face. They almost let her die while they were celebrating their cover on Rolling Stone.

At first, William’s experience with Stillwater seems like something that we all want. It is filled with glamour, fun and constant sex, drugs and rock-n-roll. I think that Cameron Crowe started the film out this way for that purpose because this is how most people seem to view fame.

However, as the film goes on and William gets more and more engrossed into the lifestyle, the viewer begins to see fame for what it really is and how ugly it can get. He finally sees the band for who they truly are - four young men “trying to come to grips with fame in the harsh face of stardom.” As much as they don’t want to admit and try to hide it, they are amateurs and they don’t want to be seen for what they are. They constantly bicker, make the wrong decisions and “throw away brain cells like confetti.” Crowe wants the viewers to see this, because people seem to think that life gets perfect when in fame, but in reality may cause more stress and drama than it’s worth.