The Spire

Julia Kane ‘27

Opinions Editor

While vastly different individuals, Michael Jackson, Bruce Springsteen, Anthony Bourdain, and Ronald Reagan share a peculiar commonality: being the focus of a film. In recent years, there has been a notable emergence of biopics released to theaters, which some celebrated and others criticized. Biopics, or biographical movies, can depict a particular section of one’s life or its entirety. By casting actors with name recognition, such as Timothee Chalamet as Bob Dylan or Jeremy Allen White portraying Bruce Springsteen, this film genre draws a significant crowd, including fans of the actor, the celebrity they portray, and casual movie-goers with limited prior knowledge. While biopics have had success through booming ticket sales and Oscar nominations, many have received negative reviews from the public. It is acceptable to dislike a movie, but I believe some of the controversy surrounding such films is unwarranted, as fans love to speculate about how the subject would have felt, or complain about details they feel were left out. 

One complexity that can influence a biopic’s success is whether the subject is alive, raising concerns of consent for their depiction and how they would feel about the movie’s likeness of themselves. As the film Tony, starring Dominic Sessa as renowned chef and traveler Anthony Bourdain, has recently hit theaters, devoted Bourdain fans have adamantly disapproved of the film’s creation. When A24 posted a teaser to advertise the film, comments were inundated with biting criticism, including “he would have hated this,” which gathered over 13,000 likes in support. Such comments could have grounds in Bourdain’s hatred of forced happy endings, superficial elements of fame, and the spotlight on his youth years only. Coupled with the grief that persists from Bourdain’s tragic death in 2018, fans have a difficult time coming to terms with their idol’s absence and whether he would approve of the film’s premise and creation. To me, it highlights the complex, somewhat parasocial relationship between fans and celebrities. How do fans know what Bourdain would have liked, when all they knew of him was “Kitchen Confidential” and “Parts Unknown” rather than a friend? While I agree that it is critical to work with tangible evidence when making biopics and to do thorough research on their life, I believe they can be a respectable tribute to public figures if they do not claim to be all-encompassing. For example, “Bruce Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere” may have initially appeared to be a highlight reel of the Boss’ life and career, but director Scott Cooper took a different approach. Zeroing in on his album “Nebraska,” the film surprised viewers with its melancholic representation of Springsteen’s struggles with depression, isolation, and a challenging relationship with his father. If you are looking for a polished, glamorous version of Springsteen’s life, the movie may not be for you, but I thoroughly enjoyed the raw emotion and honesty, especially in a world that is heavily filtered to give the illusion of perfection. Springsteen himself applauded White’s masterful performance and was actively involved in the film’s creation, often appearing on set during filming.

 While every biopic takes a different approach to its subject and the period of their life it zooms in on, I do not find them inherently negative. If made with care and precision, along with the help of the subject and their friends or family, they can be a beautiful tribute to a beloved figure who impacted the lives of many. For those who are no longer alive, it is impossible to speculate as to how they would have felt about their likeness, and everything about someone’s life cannot fit into a two-hour film. Therefore, it is not always an injustice to “miss” parts of their lives, but rather lets viewers into a small window of the subject’s life, as seen in Bourdain and Springsteen’s biopics. To honor their subject rather than commercializing their life, biopics must be done thoughtfully, and recent iterations have given me hope for the portrayal of cherished figures through film.