Cameron Crowe's Film Almost Famous

Cameron Crowe’s film Almost Famous, released in 2001, has been praised as a love letter to rock and roll. The film centers around William Miller, a 15-year-old aspiring journalist who has been hired by Rolling Stone magazine to write an article on the fictitious band Stillwater as they tour North America in the spring of 1973. While on the tour, William’s eyes are opened to the realities of the rock scene and he soon realizes that many members of the scene are obsessed with their image to the point that they let their personal relationships fall apart. William also realizes how false Stillwater’s supposed love for their fans is, as they trade one of their biggest fans, a groupie named Penny Lane, for fifty dollars and a pack of beer as soon

as she becomes a liability. In the sequence in which Penny flees from a restaurant because of being turned away by the band, Crowe uses the editing, the film’s soundtrack, and an aerial shot to call attention to the artifice of the rock scene, in which groupies and fans were kept around to boost the egos of musicians but were cast aside if they became a complication in a musician’s life.
The sequence begins at a restaurant in New York City, at which Stillwater and William are eating.

William tells the band that his article will be the cover story for Rolling Stone magazine, which excites the band so much that they break into their own rendition of Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show’s “Cover of the Rolling Stone”. Throughout this ecstatic exchange, the camera cuts between shots of William, members of Stillwater, and Penny, who has followed the band to New York without their knowing. The shots of Penny show her smiling at Russell, the member of Stillwater she has fallen in love with. She attempts to keep his attention on her while he pretends to be ignoring her presence. Penny becomes increasingly upset, all while Stillwater continues rambunctiously celebrating their victory. By alternating between Stillwater’s excitement and Penny’s sadness, Crowe juxtaposes the two extreme emotions being felt and draws attention to how unimportant Penny really is in the eyes of the band. She has supported them throughout their career and yet she has been excluded from the celebration of their success to the point that it is as if she no longer exists. This scene highlights the disjunction between groupies and musicians, with Penny’s sadness being accentuated by the joyous mood that is shown in the consistent cuts to the celebrating

band.
Russel’s fiancé eventually notices Penny, and Stillwater’s manager is forced to ask her to leave the restaurant.

As this occurs, Elton John’s “Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters” fades into the scene and continues until William finds an intoxicated and distraught Penny in her hotel room. The song contains lyrics like “But now I know that rose trees never grow / in New York City” and is about the gritty reality of New York and how much that reality contradicts with the public’s glamorous perception of the city. This can just as easily be applied to Penny’s current situation, as her story proves that the seemingly glamorous lifestyle of a groupie is not as amazing as it may appear to be. Instead, groupies are often forgotten by the famous men they adore and love. This is exactly what happens to Penny at the hands of Stillwater, who have chosen to trade her off because she may potentially ruin Russel’s relationship. The lyrics of “Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters” add to the gravitas of the scene, as they are representative of the realizations that Penny and William are both coming to about the rock scene and its artifice. Using a song that parallels the events taking place on screen essentially reiterates the importance of the scene in the minds of the audience, as Crowe saw fit to depict the message of the scene in more than one

way.
This sequence also makes it clear that Penny is not the only character who has come to a realization about the rock scene, as William is beginning to realize how artificial the band he admires actually is as well. After Penny runs out of the restaurant, William rushes after her. A tracking shot follows him as he races around the streets of the city in an effort to find Penny. The constant movement of the camera heightens the emotion of the scene, as it moves the audience along with William, making them more invested in his search. The camera then cuts to an aerial shot of William, one that is perfectly still and depicts him alone in the empty city street. This shot relays William’s emotions and the conclusion about the rock scene that he is beginning to reach. This shot causes William to appear very small, which is representative of how helpless he feels due to his inability to find Penny. This shot also emphasizes the empty space around William as he stands completely alone in a New York City street. Not only is alone physically, but he is also alone in caring about Penny, and in realizing how toxic and artificial the rock scene is. Crowe uses this shot to emphasize the fact that William is painfully coming to this realization, and that he is alone in caring more about those around him than about fame and success.
Almost Famous follows William’s journey from idolizing the rock scene to uncovering its artifice and toxicity. The sequence in which William rushes after a distraught Penny represents the moment that William, and the audience, finally realizes these truths. Crowe juxtaposes Penny’s distress with Stillwater’s excitement to highlight the dissonance between the band’s supposed care for their fans and how they actually treat them. The soundtrack enforces this, as Crowe has selected a song that is about a similar dissonance between perception and reality. He then uses an aerial shot to convey how William is the only one involved with the tour that truly cares about Penny and the feelings of those around him, thus proving that those in the rock scene are more concerned with fame than with personal relationships despite claiming otherwise.