Fame On Film - Gina Carrano

(sorry for the delay in posting this, I had some computer problems over the weekend.)

For the “Fame on Film” project, I chose to analyze the movie Almost Famous. As I embarked upon the assignment, my first thought was that I’d never before done schoolwork that actually seemed less like work and more like fun. Almost Famous is one of my all-time favorite movies; in addition to a great soundtrack and interesting characters and storylines, it also stars two actors I admire very much—Frances McDormand and Jason Lee—and it pays tribute to the terrific writing of Lester Bangs.

Although I’d seen Almost Famous many times before, the movie took on many new meanings and symbols when I specifically analyzed it in terms of its statements on fame. I quickly realized that nearly every character in the movie aspired to some sphere of fame. On the surface, it would seem that the only people actively trying to get famous were the members of Stillwater, the band that main character William Miller followed on tour. But taking into account the different spheres of fame we discussed in class, it seemed like every character was trying to be admired in some form.

William Miller is a perfect example of this. At first glance, he doesn’t aspire to fame in the traditional sense; he certainly isn’t trying to be as famous as the rock bands he wants to write about. The great divide between him and bands like Stillwater is emphasized throughout the course of the movie, as much is made of William being “uncool.” At the beginning of the movie, when William’s mother reveals to him that he was skipped two grades in school, making him two years younger than his classmates, we see that William isn’t even considered cool among his peers. Later on, rock critic Lester Bangs tells William, “They [Stillwater] make you feel cool. And I met you—you’re not cool.” William expresses agreement with this idea, indicating that he does not expect to achieve the same sphere of national fame and adoration as a rock critic as they’ve achieved as musicians.

In addition to not wanting to be perceived as a wannabe celebrity, William also takes great care to identify himself as a journalist—a professional there to do a job, rather than a fan who hangs around celebrities to get close to them. When he first meets Penny Lane outside of the Black Sabbath/Stillwater show, he makes it abundantly clear that he’s there to interview the band, not because he’s a “groupie”—a term which causes much protest among Penny Lane and her friends, as they prefer the slightly more euphemistically correct “Band-Aid” to describe their admiration for rock stars.

Because William was so keenly aware of the differences between himself and other groups (the band, the groupies), one might think he didn’t place much importance on fame. But it was actually often evident that he did want to be admired in his own way. In the scene at the end of the initial Stillwater concert he attended, as the band leaves the venue, he addresses all of them very familiarly, even calling some of them by nicknames, as if they’re longtime friends. This shows his desire to be liked and respected by the members of the band. Maybe he doesn’t want to be loved by them at the same level the Band-Aids do, but he does want them to accept him.

When he actually goes on tour with the band, he goes out of his way for them multiple times; for instance, he allows the band’s guitarist, Russell Hammond, to reschedule the interview he had planned with him multiple times at Russell’s convenience and his own frustration. William is so set on getting the band, particularly Russell, to like and respect him that he misses his junior high graduation to stay on the road with the band. And in the first draft of his article on Stillwater for Rolling Stone, the magazine’s staff complains that his piece read “like what [the band] wants [him] to write,” further showing that Stillwater’s fame impresses William enough to seek their approval, even at his own journalistic peril.

Speaking of journalism, this movie shows us that even rock critics aren’t immune to wanting to attain some level of fame. When Rolling Stone’s editor first contacts William to ask him to follow Stillwater on tour and write a piece for the magazine about it, William is so eager to get his byline in America’s most prominent music magazine that he is willing to lie about his age to get the assignment.

Even William’s mentor, Lester Bangs, enjoys recognition. Although Bangs appears to eschew fame and celebrity throughout much of the movie—like when he is the guest at a radio station and encourages the DJ to ditch a mainstream Doors track in favor of the more avant-garde, lesser-known Iggy Pop and the Stooges—he is clearly appreciative when William seeks him out outside the radio station and identifies himself as a fan. He even goes out of his way to help William, first by hiring him to write a piece about Black Sabbath, and then by dispensing guidance and advice when he’s on the road with Stillwater. Maybe Bangs just sees some of himself in William, and would have helped him either way. But his relationship with William shows that on some level, even he wants to be adored and renowned.

Stillwater’s quest for fame is much more obvious than William’s or Lester Bangs. It is pretty clear that all the members of Stillwater want to be big-time rock stars and attain the same sphere of fame as icons like Led Zeppelin or Bob Dylan. An interesting picture of their attitudes towards fame is painted in their relationships with each other and other people on the road. The band members feel a great deal of insecurity about how famous they actually are, and are always seeking validation as a result. When they first see William outside the venue at which they’re about to perform, they don’t pay him much mind when he tries to talk to them—until he calls Russell, the guitarist, “incendiary.” They’re on a quest for fame, and he is verbally co-signing their success; all of a sudden, wanting to hear more, they turn back and invite him to attend the show as their guest.

There is also a lot of insecurity at play in Stillwater’s relationships with each other. Out of the four of them, Russell is generally the one to garner the most admiration and acclaim. Stillwater’s other members, particularly the lead singer Jeff Bebe (who feels as the frontman, he should get all the attention) are jealous of Russell as a result. The band’s resentments towards Russell intensify when their record company sends over t-shirts that have Russell’s image front and center, with the rest of the band’s faces a blur behind him, and come to a head when they believe their plane will crash while flying home from their tour. As they’re staring death in the face, the truth comes out, and Jeff angrily tells Russell that he always acts like he’s better than his bandmates, and lords his superiority over their heads, teasing them with the prospect that he might leave them in the dust to go solo.

Although he never comes out and says it, Russell does hint to William that he believes he is in fact the band’s most talented member, but his insecurities manifest themselves in his relationship with the band’s head groupie (or “Band-Aid”) Penny Lane. Despite being engaged, Russell has a close relationship with Penny on the road that is both romantic and sexual in nature. He and the other members of the band have groupies because they want to feel adored, and in part because it is a rite of passage in rock’n’roll, thus making them feel more famous if they do it, too. The dynamic of Russell’s relationship with Penny also makes him feel more powerful, as exhibited when he “trades” her to another band, Humble Pie, for $50 and a case of beer. This is a prime example of the pull the famous have over the fame seeking.

Everybody who traveled on the road with the band aspired to their own spheres of fame, and Penny was no exception. She had carved out her own niche of renown as the first “Band Aid,” and was well known and respected among her group. She was even known among the bands, which seemed to be what motivated her lifestyle. She truly did love the bands she followed, and wanted, even for a moment, to inspire their members the way they inspired her. On some level, though, she always knew they were using her. Almost overdosing on Quaaludes after seeing Russell with his fiancé was merely the breaking point at which she couldn’t lie to herself about it anymore.

Despite all this, the movie didn’t make the famous out to be completely heartless. In the end, Russell had an attack of conscience, fueled by William’s impassioned declarations on their near-fatal flight home about how badly he’d treated Penny. Ultimately this was one of the primary statements the movie is making about fame—even rock stars have hearts. They may use people sometimes, and indeed Stillwater may have used William throughout much of the movie, both to get on the cover of Rolling Stone and to feel cool and validate their fame in their own minds. But Russell’s conscience overcame him and he made things right with Penny and with William, when he called the Rolling Stone editors and told them the “honest and unforgiving” article he wrote about Stillwater was, in fact, true. The truth may not have made the band look as cool, but it sure made them look a lot more human. Humanity can also be likeable, and in the end every character in this movie just wants to be liked.