#also not to expose sw*ftie brainrot but i keep thinking about the themes of elvis and dear reader

[septembersghost]

i love your review of elvis. i had previously kind of resisted seeing baz's films, just having the impression that they were going to be Too Much for me, but when i heard he was tackling an elvis film, i thought the energies seemed to fit, even though i didn't know much about either man. but if his other films have that same effect of worming under your skin, i need to watch them all. i saw elvis four times in theaters and haven't stopped thinking about it/elvis for a single day since, it's outrageous. i think it makes so much sense to have an outside narrator of elvis' story drive the film. austin shows us the dynamic complexity of elvis through his every movement, but the film and the colonel and the audience are still crying to cage him into that still-life image, inserting distance between us and him. i think the film is always thinking about whether that distance is necessary to actually "love" a person you don't know, but that is the same question that paralyzed elvis with fear. his deep sense of isolation was always fighting against his love for other people and his longing to be on the ground with them, but he sensed that he couldn't let anyone see how much he was struggling lest they pull away. i keep thinking about how the first lyric we hear is "oh, let our love survive," and the film is like ... how much are you going to suffer to keep it going? and who tricked you into thinking you didn't deserve to be loved without giving so much of yourself away? it definitely works as a reflection on hollywood and culture, but it becomes more deeply personal and compassionate toward elvis the more you know about him. <3

chelsea! first of all, i never did take a moment to say how glad i am to see you again and to have you here <333

baz's signature is doing The Most and giving softly dreamy to intensely spliced energy to The Aesthetic, but he somehow manages this in a way that ends up being emotionally affecting and clings to you after viewing. (i think his only film i haven't seen is Australia.) he has a very specific signature and style influenced by his passion for dance/music/fashion, and it's fun seeing how he decides to express that and utilize it as an essential aspect of the storytelling, plus catherine martin makes such beautiful costumes for everything that are illustrative of character and design in such a rich way. i definitely understand why you might have thought his films would be a lot! but since you did enjoy elvis, i wouldn't hesitate to encourage you to give his others a try! moulin rouge remains a particular nostalgic favorite to me (i used to have a moulin rouge poster on my door as a teenager, i still remember my dad buying it for me in the mall. it was one of thee movies for me in high-school. my ex-best friend and i used to blast the soundtrack on repeat, one time during lunch in the classroom we used to hide out in, he jumped on a table to reenact ewan mcgregor singing your song. when i was first very ill, it was a movie i put on a lot. i'm sure this reveals something about me spiritually lol).

something with baz's style that comes through is the incandescent power of music and its deep connection to us. music is always almost like its own character, and he plays with interjecting those anachronistic pieces to give the stories a modernist edge while still staying rooted in their own times, which is very interesting! i loved the strong mix of elvis' own music with the honor to the gospel/r&b/black artists who influenced and inspired him, further mixed with artists he himself inspired and who are creating work now. it made those threads so potent and alive. you're right that the energies match well.

you described this beautifully, i honestly think reading this helped me sort through some of my thoughts and put parts of the film into better context! we have that distance because we're constantly observing, as an audience even when we do feel that sense of love and admiration/appreciation for an artist, there's also a certain complicity because we can never actually know them, and we do inherently want something from them. we can never be undemanding of them as humans, it's that tension where we cherish the art, but we're also by necessity consumers of it. we can't help but be part of the pressure and the noise, even when we try our best to exercise that with empathy for a person. there is an uncrossable distance.

austin shows us the dynamic complexity of elvis through his every movement, but the film and the colonel and the audience are still crying to cage him into that still-life image !!! exactly, and that's what i was referring to a bit in how the idea of an everlasting image haunts me at times, because that can never be a fully realized acknowledgment of anyone. the indelible iconography of it all becomes so much bigger than life that if we want to find the humanistic reality again, it takes some excavation. that's fascinating and heartbreaking to me.

the predatory nature of that framing device gives a lingering sadness to it too, where we are put both into the perspective of our place as audience members, but we also become emotionally connected to the person elvis was and have that reaction of sorrow. i kept wishing desperately that i could protect him from all the things. the ending as well, when it confronts that concept of "love" between an artist and their fans, and how massive that is, how it's intoxicating and enriching, but can also be corrosive. it's difficult and it's moving and it's complicated to navigate.

i think the film is always thinking about whether that distance is necessary to actually "love" a person you don't know, but that is the same question that paralyzed elvis with fear. his deep sense of isolation was always fighting against his love for other people and his longing to be on the ground with them, but he sensed that he couldn't let anyone see how much he was struggling lest they pull away. yes, VERY much so. he tried so hard to conceal that hurt and those struggles because people depended on him, but also because he depended on them too and understandably feared the loss of that love.

the use of suspicious minds as the film's overarching theme was perfect. it totally reframed its meaning and made it speak to both his inner and outer life, to the weight of that fame and love and need.

the film is like ... how much are you going to suffer to keep it going? and who tricked you into thinking you didn't deserve to be loved without giving so much of yourself away? it definitely works as a reflection on hollywood and culture, but it becomes more deeply personal and compassionate toward elvis the more you know about him. absolutely. it's a big question and often sadly a universal one regarding culture and consumption, the expectations put on famous artists to give and give continuously without breaking or showing the cracks (which is impossible and harmful), the demands when such a bright spotlight becomes searing, the strain that comes even from adoration because it's not wholly real. it also subtly questions our fascination with that suffering without exploiting it for visceral shock value. i really appreciate the way the film handled the ending, for example, giving us enough without ever being cruel or relishing in the tragedy for the sake of it. the compassion there is so central.

i knew a bit about him personally, and was familiar with many of his biggest hits, just by virtue of cultural osmosis and the long-held interest i have in older films/music, but the film made me want to do deeper dives into the personal story and the deeper cuts of the music, and i'm loving exploring that, which makes it even more wonderful to be able to share with you! thank you for posting about him and the film because it's what sparked my interest even further to watch it! i've caught up on a lot of movies over the past couple of weeks, but i think elvis had the biggest impact on me, both in thinking about it and the expanse of its themes, and emotionally in feeling both for him and for the magic that exists in the way music keeps living forever. 💗