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Baz Luhmann's Elvis Is A Sanitized Biopic Of The King [1]

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Date: 2022-07-02

I just watched Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis, and I must say, this is a way sanitized version of the King than the edgier truth of the man’s life.

Like much of his oeuvre, Luhrmann’s biopic is the same over-the-top, commercial spectacle told with an hysteria of melodrama that we are familiar with in his other films. From the outset it is clear that Luhrmann has intended a vehicle to introduce new audiences to Elvis’ music, as his legacy begins to fade, which explains why the Presley family, including Priscilla and Lisa Marie, have cooperated with such enthusiasm.

Priscilla is of course the person who turned Elivis former home in Memphis—Graceland—into a garish tourist attraction cum theme-park.

But any biopic of this type lives and dies on the performance of the central impersonator—in this case, Austin Butler. Watching this young man step into the King’s shoes, reminded me of a previous incarnation of the role, Kurt Russell’s 1979 portrayal in John Carpenter’s TV biopic, Elvis. Russell’s Elvis is a fading star caught alone in the opening sequence talking to his own shadow.

Butler’s Elvis, on the other-hand, is the musical-Neo; the rock “Chosen One” gifted with innate, natural talent. His moment of epiphany? The gospel singing at the black church opposite the jukebox joint where he spends his burgeoning teenage years. Nothing is mentioning of the white “hillbilly” music and other aspects of American southern musicianship that played equally important role in shaping his musical sentiments.

On the other side of the equation we have Colonel Tom Parker, played here by Tom Hanks with all the subtlety of a hypnotist from a Weimar-era silent movie—complete with a fat suits and bulbous prosthetic nose, not to mention his indistinct “foreign” accent.

Within minutes, Luhrmann has established this light vs dark dichotomy between Elvis and the Colonel, giving him the rest of the film to restage this dichotomy with increasingly absurd spectacle and melodrama.

Ultimately what I felt about this film, is that I’m tired of Luhrmann’s over-the-top sensibility and then they whitewash unpalatable aspects of Elvis’ life, such as the way in which record labels were able to disseminate black music through this white conduit. We see Elvis reimagined as a friend of BB King, attending clubs in Beale St, shedding tears at the death of Martin Luther King and crediting Fats Waller as the true King of Rock.

This all makes for a silly, sanitized experience that does more to obfuscate than reveal the true character of Elvis Presley.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/7/2/2108079/-Baz-Luhmann-s-Elvis-Is-A-Sanitized-Biopic-Of-The-King

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