English Literature: Film Analysis
Movie Summary
The following paper provides a film analysis of the movie "A Star is Born (2018)" that includes Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga as the main leads. It is a romantic musical drama film, released in 2018, produced and directed by Bradley Cooper, marking his directorial debut. Bradley Cooper played the role of Jackson Maine, an expert musician, and Lady Gaga played the role of Ally, a struggling artist. Jackson meets Ally in a bar where she is playing a tribute song, and Jackson thinks of her as a talented songwriter and a singer. He offers Ally to sing professionally where Ally also discloses to him her efforts that went all in vain when she tried to become one. They spend the night talking to each other, and Jack invites her to his next show. As Ally's career starts to come into the spotlight, their relationship seemed to be breaking even after getting married. Jackson also appears fighting his demons in the form of alcoholism and depression.
Social Issue Portrayed in the Movie
The social issue I am going to discuss here is mental health and alcoholism. This is widely seen in contemporary American life since there are evident gender, racial, social, and cultural factors that affect alcohol intake. This problem is manifested in American society and that too in many societal groups. A recent survey revealed that alcoholism is the third major health and social issue leading to deaths in America, accounting for up to 95,000 per year ("Alcohol Use in the United States").
American men are reported to drink more as compared to women (Sudhinaraset et al. 35). In racial groups, American Whites are observed to be the highest alcohol drinkers since the age of 12 and older; the percentage of the population of these drinkers has reported being 57 percent. Also, people who belong to high socio-economic status are linked to frequent drinking, just as in Jackson's case in the movie. He was a popular singing star and belonged to a high social class (A Star is Born). He was seen drinking alcohol in great quantities, and drug abuse was high too. He even did not care what people thought of him since he was too drowned in his own image and fame. Cultural norms, which are higher in Whites in comparison to African Americans and Latin, also influence...
The other races appear more conservative regarding alcohol drinking, while the Whites perceive completely fine to consume alcohol daily without any limitations. Even the community has a great influence, such as household members, neighbors, and friends that impact on the buying and consumption
behavior of a contemporary American. Family and peer influences shape the drinking behavior since they are the people an individual spends most of the time with. It would not be wrong to say that contemporary American people face
depression at a certain stage of their lives as National Institute and Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism reported that 85 percent of adults aging 18 or older drank alcohol at some part of their life ("Alcohol Use in the United States") and hence direct themselves towards heavy alcohol consumption.
Accurate Portrayal
The issue is accurately portrayed since the issue has not changed over several years. The movie is filmed in contemporary times, although it is a remake of the same old movie with the same name modern times are shown in picturization. The issue is still prevalent since Jackson is seemed to be struggling with his depression, maybe because of the loss of his mother when he was born (A Star is Born). He seemed to...
…There were noises at night when he beat her wife and
children were crying. During the day, when he woke up, and his hangover was over, he was back to normal and talked to his wife nicely. He even apologized to her from time to time but relapsed to his alcoholic behavior again. I came to know of this since my mother was friends with the lady, and the lady was troubled about his conduct and its effects on children.
Importance of Film in Showing That the Audience Might Have Been Unaware About
The movie is important in highlighting the social issue that was known to the American population for decades. The issue holds its significance since it has been highlighted in the movie and its effects on the movie participants. However, nothing much has been done in real America about this issue despite people knowing its life-threatening repercussion. American people know its after-effects on health; however, it has become their cultural norm, especially among the Whites, to consume alcohol daily. Therefore, they seem to be unaffected by what message the movie gives to them as they already know.
Contribution of Elements of Movie to the Overall Message
As the overall message is still an application and a depiction of the contemporary social issue of modern America, the movie elements have been following the message. The costuming of today's America, lighting, soundtracks that both lead actors/musicians enjoyed relevant to their musical backgrounds, dialogues in line with today's taste of movie audience, setting, and plot were all prominently planned. The dialogues are open between the two love partners as this is a good sign for the movie; the support of one partner can help the other overcome his difficulties in life, as was Ally's support for Jackson. The romantic dialogues depict that they were in love,…
