Film Analysis of A Star is Born 2018

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 intake of alcohol. 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 be coping with infant trauma since he also mentioned in the movie that he attempted suicide when he was 13. A child of such age could not be depressed unless he saw something extremely miserable when he was young, which appears to be his mother's death in the movie's case.

A person who is addicted to alcohol does not seem to care about himself and the others as its effects entirely intoxicate him. The same was seen in the movie where Jackson did not seem to be caring about himself, his career, and his fans. However, there is a reality seen in his behavior where a kind, funny and loving person like Jackson can be a victim of alcoholism since he was fighting with his mental health condition disturbed by his childhood loss and further losses in life (Wells). Mental health can affect a person regardless of his socioeconomic status, character, talent, age, or background, as seen in the movie.

Effect of Issue on One Group or Many Groups

The issue is explored in the movie is alcoholism, and it affects many groups. Jackson is the main lead actor affected by this issue, and his girlfriend and wife later, Ally. Even their relatives, such as Jack and Ally's friends and family members, are affected by his alcoholism. This would be validated by the movie's examples where Ally's father was seen condemning his shameful behavior on the stage as he came drunk, peed in his pants, and passed out (A Star is Born). His father was affected by his drinking habits. Similarly, Rez, the record producer, accused Jack of his disgraceful alcoholic life patterns that ruining Ally's life. Rez was affected by his alcoholic intake as well.

Main Message about the Issue That the Movie Gives

The main message that the movie wants us to take away is the struggle that a depressed person is undergoing. This hardship can even lead the person to take his own life, which Jackson did when he promised Ally that he would attend her concert when she became very famous. This also showed that he was struggling with his deteriorating career graph when he was quite famous till the time when he was lesser known as compared to Ally. Although he had tried suicide when he was 13 years old; however, his crashing career might be why he did take his life on Ally's concert night (A Star is Born). The movie wasn't us to focus on the mental health issue, leading a person to high drinking patterns and vice versa (Olson and Gerstein 9). It has been reported these days that excessive alcohol consumption affects the mental health of a person adversely, which has been the case in Jackson's case as he was consuming alcohol for the past many years. When it became unbearable for him, he put an end to it.

Application of Movie Today

The film seems to apply to modern American times today as it depicts an alcoholic person's condition and the effects of his disturbing behavior on his friends and family. One in every eight people in America has identified an alcoholic, which accounts for up to 13 percent of the US population (Ingraham). The film does romanticize on certain occasions, but the issue persists throughout the movie. Jackson seemed to be utterly dependent on his drugs and alcohol when he wanted to be free of his worries. He was aware of his behavior as depicted in the scene where he apologized to Ally when going back home from the rehabilitation center after two months (A Star is Born).

It is realistic, and my saying so would be validated with my personal experience, or to be precise, my observation of my neighbor, an alcoholic. His family and kids suffered from his disrupted behaviors when he returned home late after drinking too much in his friends' company. It would again certify here that peers influence a person's alcohol consumption pattern. His wife and children were scared as he did not care about them when he was under alcohol's effects. 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.