“Almost Famous” is a 2001 American drama-comedy, coming of age story set in the 1960s. The film is a brilliant tribute to rock and roll, written and directed by Cameron Crowe (Crowe, "Almost famous").
In the beginning of the film, Anita Miller, big sister to main character William Miller, is seen leaving home in an effort to break free from an overbearing mother. She leaves her brother with her classic rock n’ roll record collection. She also leaves him with the promise, “Someday you’ll be cool.” This event jumpstarts William’s passion for rock music. He spends hours listening to classis 1960s rock anthems, and eventually begins reading and studying major bands (IMDB, "Almost Famous").
This event brings about his passion for writing
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about music. Hiding his age and inexperience, William manages to convince and underling of Rolling Stone magazine to give him an assignment. The fifteen year-old was assigned the fictional band Stillwater. He traveled with the band, being thrown into the vast new world of rock; sex, drugs, and iconic music (IMDB, “Almost Famous”). Main character William Miller, played by Patrick Fugit, is the center of Almost Famous. William falls in love with rock music, thanks to his big sister. William is often seen taking notes on a notepad, implying that he is somewhat of a textbook nerd. He asks band members intriguing questions: “Do you have to be depressed to write a sad song?”, “Do you have to be in love to write a love song?”. He seems to be an innocent kid, ignorant to the harsh real world. William changes a lot throughout the film, leaving the band more experienced and worldly. The film is an epic coming of age story for young William (IMDB, "Almost Famous"). Anita Miller, played by Zooey Deschanel, is somewhat of an extra to the film, even though she helps shape the main character by giving him her music collection.
At the beginning of the film, big sister Anita seems rebellious, but later on, she is pictured more as a free spirit with great taste in music. Anita is a textbook example of what happens with overprotective parents. Anita was shaped by Elaine Miller, her and William’s mother. Played by Frances McDormand, Elaine is a classic overbearing, overprotective, neurotic, conservative mother. Her shining moment in the film is when she drops William off at his first Stillwater concert. Elaine rolls down the window of her car, yelling into the parking lot after her son, “Don’t do drugs!” ("20 Facts You Might Not Know About Cameron Crowe's Almost Famous on Its 15th Anniversary", …show more content…
2015). Another crucial character to the film is Penny Lane, aka Lady Goodman. Kate Hudson was cast as one of the main characters of the film. Penny Lane is basically a “groupie”, but she calls herself a “Band Aide”, along with many other women in the film. Penny is a free spirit, and somewhat of an old soul. She helps William throughout his journey with Stillwater by simply being his friend. She gives him someone to talk to ("Stillwater Secrets & Lies"). Russel Hammond is also a major part of Almost Famous. He is the lead guitarist and front man for the band Stillwater. Russel is also a very complex character, and has a drug problem. His character represents a classic stereotype of a 1960’s rock star. Throughout the film, the guitarist strings William along for a good interview, dodging his questions. In the end, Russel does the right thing in giving the young journalist an interview. Russel’s shining moment exists at a party, where he became overly intoxicated and took acid. “Tell the Rolling Stone that Russel Hammond’s last words were, ‘I’m on drugs!’” says Russel, standing on a rooftop, about to jump into a pool. Russel was played by Billy Crudup ("Stillwater Secrets & Lies"). Many parts of the film are symbols and of rock and classic references.
For example, while on acid at a party, Russel cries out, “I am a golden god!” This is a reference to Robert Plant of the band Led Zeppelin, who is purported to have said the same thing (sober) while looking over Sunset Strip from a hotel balcony. Also, when Penny Lane is driving William to the hotel to meet Stillwater, there is a reflection on the windshield that resembles the cover of ‘Pink Floyd”s album Dark Side of the Moon. Another symbol is the shot of the crowd at the first Stillwater concert. This image is based on Neil Young’s Time Fades Away album cover. The photo on the T-shirt that Stillwater are disappointed about is a close replica of the cover from Bad Company’s 1977 album Burnin’ Sky (Crowe, "Almost famous")
The film was written and directed by Cameron Crowe, as a chronical of his days as a music enthusiast and journalist. It was written in 2001, to not only offer tribute to rock n’ roll, but also to capture the spirit of every major music fan. This film is important because it depicts a more innocent time of rock, and helps those that were there remember ("Be Honest And Unmerciful: Cameron Crowe Talks ALMOST FAMOUS",
6399). Although the film has its inappropriate scenes, it is a movie that every music lover should see. “Almost Famous” earned an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, as well as a Golden Globe for Best Picture. This picture is an epic tribute to the spirit of rock and roll ("Stillwater Secrets & Lies").
Kevin Smith has make the grueling trek from an unknown, extremely low-budget filmmaker to a well known and respected filmmaker thanks to the help of his vision to stick to the basics. His films are about normal, middle class life adding elements of humor, drugs, and the daily struggle of blue-collar workers.
The Coal Miner’s Daughter, an influential film, first shown in 1980, was voted an Academy Award Winning Motion Picture. This film depicts a young girl’s life who lived in a coal mining town, had a journeying life, and become a famous country singer. This motion picture was not produced purposing pure societal entertainment, but rather the accurate portrayal of Loretta Lynn’s personal life. The film Coal Miner’s Daughter, illustrates Loretta Lynn’s life’s obstacles of family struggles, influential friends, and emotional tactics of life’s exertion.
“Frank Sinatra’s Gum”, a memoir by Kelly Simon, tells the story of searching for herself against the peer pressure at the junior high age. Self-identification and individuality is dramatized prior, during, and after Simon meets the famous Frank Sinatra. As society is trying to shape her life, she is fighting back by keeping her mind open to gain her locus of identity.
An African- American euphemism for making love, rock and roll spurred from all genres of music, but mainly that of folk, country, jazz, pop and rhythm & blues (Yorke, 11). It is a type of music that generally involves heavy pounding of the piano, a loud drum beat, saxophone backgrounds and boisterous shouting by the singer. It was a new blend of music emerging from 1948- 1951 as a result of a generation’s need to express their own identity. Originally, rock and roll was performed by black artists because it was a result of the incorporation of a more upbeat background to rhythm & blues. Examples of such artists would be Little Richard and Chuck Berry; both were coined “the fathers of rock and roll” even though they started out as rhythm & blues artists (Szatmary, 16). In context of “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” the characters most likely to support rock and roll are Maggie, and Mae’s children. This new upbeat, new- age, gibberish was a symbol of independence, escapism, and rebellion for youths of the early1950’s (Brown, 4).
Everyone always says the story is always better than the movie, let’s say it’s always the truth. ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ is a theatrical play about two men Jack and Algy. Jack is a man from the country who lies saying his name is earnest when he goes into the city, he is very in love with Algy’s cousin Gwendolen. Lady Bracknell is Gwendolen’s mothers who very much does not like jack what so ever. Algy is a man in very much debt who ends up falling in love with Jacks ward Cecily, he also has some lies about who is. The whole point of lying about who they both are was to get away from the everyday lives they lived and not worry about being found out. In 2002 this famous play was turned into a movie, sadly though a lot of scenes were
Ebert, Roger. Rev. of Almost Famous, dir. Cameron Crowe. Rogerebert.com. Chicago Sun-Times, 15 Sept. 2000. Web. 29 March 2011.
Aside from its acting, the other major influence which Mean Streets had upon American film-makers was through it's use of a rock n' roll soundtrack (almost perfectly integrated with the images), and in its depiction of a new kind of screen violence. Unexpected, volatile, explosive and wholly senseless, yet, for all that, undeniably cinematic violence. The way in which Scorsese blends these two - the rock and roll and the violence - shows that he understood instinctively, better than anyone else until then, that cinema (or at least this kind of cinema, the kinetic, visceral kind) and rock n' roll are both expressions of revolutionary instincts, and that they are as inherently destructive as they are creative. This simple device - brutal outbreaks of violence combined with an upbeat soundtrack - has been taken up by both the mainstream cinema at large and by many individual `auteurs', all of whom are in Scorsese's debt - Stone and Tarantino coming at once to mind.
believe the film is saying, and what effect music has had on projecting the films overall message.
Think about your favorite movie. When watching that movie, was there anything about the style of the movie that makes it your favorite? Have you ever thought about why that movie is just so darn good? The answer is because of the the Auteur. An Auteur is the artists behind the movie. They have and individual style and control over all elements of production, which make their movies exclusively unique. If you could put a finger on who the director of a movie is without even seeing the whole film, then the person that made the movie is most likely an auteur director. They have a unique stamp on each of their movies. This essay will be covering Martin Scorsese, you will soon find out that he is one of the best auteur directors in the film industry. This paper will include, but is not limited to two of his movies, Good Fellas, and The Wolf of Wall Street. We will also cover the details on what makes Martin Scorsese's movies unique, such as the common themes, recurring motifs, and filming practices found in their work. Then on
Jeannette Walls was born into a poor family who often had to live homeless and without food. The environment in which she grew up in is what gave her the characteristics she possesses. One trait that describes Jeannette is that she is very adventurous. Since she was constantly exposed to new surroundings, she became curious of them. While she was homeless in the desert, she would play a game with her father called Monster Hunting. She grew to not be afraid of anything, since she could fight off these so called “monsters.” Also, Jeannette is very decisive. To get away from Welch, a poor town in West Virginia, she made sure that she would get enough money to move to New York. She did this by getting a job to save up money for a bus ticket and for college. Along with this, Jeannette is very ambitious. She worked very hard to get accepted into college by working for the school newspaper, since she wanted to become a journalist. On the other hand, Melba Patillo was born into a middle class family who lived in Lit...
Both Miller and Lorraine created a theme of achieving goals, Willy Loman just wanted to earn the respect of the people around him while Walter Younger wanted to get rich quick and support his family. American politician Reubin Askew once said, “We must stop talking about the American dream and start listening to the dreams of Americans.” What this means is people like Willy Loman and Walter Younger like to talk about the American dream and how it is their right, but they won’t go anywhere unless they actually go out and follow their own dreams. “Yes, [he is] a fine man—just couldn’t never catch up with his dreams that’s all.” (30). Both Willy and Walter think they have it all figured out, but they are sadly mistaken. Willy believes that to succeed in life all you need to do is be well liked, but all it got him was a lack of respect from coworkers even younger than he. Walter was sure he had found the answer to his families problems by investing in a liquor store; as a result one of his co investors and alleged friend ran off with all the money Walter had invested. Both Walter and Willy have the idea that all of the pressure in on their shoulders and no one else understands what its like. “Man, I’m a volcano, a giant surrounded by ants. Ants can’t understand ...
Before the band’s formation, she had written songs for years, but she did not play guitar, possessing a love learning, but hatred for school, making her a strong contender to become a graduate of LA punk’s first generation. “I grew up in punk rock,” she proudly shares. Arriving in 1977, right before her sixteenth birthday, she immediately found the community she had longed for during her rebellious early teen years. She watched her roommate Belinda Carlisle play drums in The Germs with bassist Lorna Doone and eventually start the Go-Gos. She witnessed the Runaways’ first gig in the living room of the LA scenester Phast Phreddie. The house belonged to his parents at the time. She was friends with Joan Jett, Jane Weidlin, Pat Smear, and every punk around, so no one was going to tell her she couldn’t start a band. “Growing up in punk rock, there were a lot of women playing things,” she says. “It didn’t occur to me to not be in a band. By the time I started the Screaming Sirens, I had experience in every aspect of punk rock, from working the door, booking clubs, PR, and writing reviews of shows. The next step was for me to be in a band. I was a singer pretty much because I didn’t have the equipment. That’s all. I didn’t have the money to get my own microphone, and I didn’t play anything, so I was a
Miller uses the misapplication and failure of the "American Dream" to captivate the audience and make them feel sorrow for both Willy and Biff Loman. It is heart breaking to see this sixty-year-old man finally come to the realization that he is really not who he thought he was. In addition to that, the fact is pointed out by his own son, who turns out to be wiser than him. Unlike Willy, Biff finds out who he is, and that the American Dream is not for everyone.
Looking at a story, the key word, story, we looked at the little albert study. Albert B, or Little albert was a boy who back in 1920, that was studied by a behaviorist John Watson. It was study in which a loud noise, like a loud bang on a bar, happened behind Little Albert, when he was given some type of small furry object or other objects. Watson showed that the research went very well, when in reality, that may not have been the case, and the identity of Little Albert is not fully known.
My senior year of high school was faced my most prominate academic frustration. I was taking a college literature class and we were assigned to write a seven page analysis paper about an underlying theme between three of the books we read that semester. I was not sure where to start or even how exactly to piece my paper together. This was my first analysis paper and I not sure how it should be written. Between the resources the were available at the college in the tutoring lab and the ability to get help from not only the professor but also the library and the resources there I was able to successfully write the paper. The tutors in the tutoring lab were able to help me collect my thoughts and order them into a way that is fluid and sensible.