The Edge of Reality: Remediation and the Reenactment of Historical Music Performances in pop/rock Biopic 'Elvis' (2022)

Abstract

The last decade saw a rise of the production and popularity of biographical music pictures. With box office successes like Bohemian Rhapsody (2018) and Rocketman (2019) the biopic is booming. However, academic research on this genre is limited. The available studies moreover tend to focus on the biopics’ historic (in)accuracy. Yet, biopics are cinematic texts and should therefore be examined as such. An intriguing element of the music biopic, are the reenactments of historical music performances. This filmic practice allows the spectator to experience events from the past somatically and emotionally. To create a realistic experience for the spectator, reenactments started to rely upon the remediation of the (audio-visual) documents of historical performances. At the same time, they became interwoven into the films’ story world. Within this dual function lies the main question of this thesis: “How do the reenactments of historical music events in Elvis simultaneously create an “realistic” experience for the viewer and contribute to the films’ narrative?” This question will be answered through an in-depth audio-visual analysis of four historical music performance reenactments in biopic Elvis (2022). Elvis (dir. Baz Luhrmann) tells the (his)story of Elvis Presley through the eyes of his manager Tom Parker and relies upon the remediation of multiple historical media documents (e.g. photographs, television broadcasts, documentaries) making this a suitable case study. The analysis will 1) focus on the relationship between the old medium the reenactment is based on, and how this is translated into the new medium considering camerawork, editing, mise-en-scène, voice-over/dialogue and music and 2) consider the narrative connotations and associations that are established. Additionally, literature from film studies, musicology and performance studies will be combined, to give insight in the remediation and restructuring of history in the contemporary biopic as cinematic text and move beyond the limiting debate of historic accuracy.