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Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? Rocketman (2019) and Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)

Issue: Vol 20 No. 1 (2019)

Abstract:

In this RIFF article, the author provides a contextual discussion of two widely publicized music biopics, Rocketman (2019) about Elton John, and Bohemian Rhapsody (2018) about Queen. The films portray the life and careers of similarly canonized popular music artists and, through a blending of nostalgia and escapism, each film invokes popular music as a vehicle for personal transformation. Alison Blair explores how these films apply different storytelling devices to offer historical and contemporary insights into the broader intersection between popular music and sexual politics.

Author: Alison Blair

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References :

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Blair, Alison. 2016a. ‘Children of the Revolution: Bolan, Bowie and the Carnivalesque’. Unpublished Master of Arts thesis. Dunedin, New Zealand: University of Otago. https://ourarchive.otago.ac.nz/handle/10523/7067.

—2016b. ‘Cosmic Dancer: Marc Bolan’s Otherworldly Persona’. In Global Glam: Style and Spectacle from the 1970s to the 2000s, ed. Ian Chapman and Henry Johnson, 25–41. New York: Routledge.

Gill, John. 1995. ‘Dire Straights: Ziggy, Iggy, Marc, Lou’. In Queer Noises: Male and Female Homosexuality in Twentieth Century Music, 106–113. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

Gregory, Georgina. 2002. ‘Masculinity, Sexuality and the Visual Culture of Glam Rock’. Culture & Communication 5/2: 35–60.

Sexual Offences Act 1967. 1967. http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1967/60/pdfs/ukpga_19670060_en.pdf.