Watching the movie Bohemian Rhapsody showcase Freddie Mercury’s creativity, sent me into a frenzy of thoughts. So, before I write any further, I must add a disclaimer:
This is not a review of the movie. It’s more of a reflection, inspired thought, stream of consciousness piece centered around creativity in this day and age, inspired by Bohemian Rhapsody, just saying.
After watching “Bohemian Rhapsody”, I completely and fully understand the plethora of reviews that are out there. This movie did an expectational job at depicting this amazing man’s life, the band’s life! To be able to watch on the big screen creativity at its finest, is a reminder that the human spirit can create beauty out of happiness, sadness and romantic experiences. I encourage people to flood the internet with reviews, the more people that watch this movie and give their own interpretation, the better.
My take away from the movie isn’t the magnificent cinematography or amazing storyline. No. The reason that I’m making such a big deal of having watched Bohemian Rhapsody is because like a stated before, it depicted creativity. It is something that is lacking these days. We are currently at a time where we merely mimic another people’s artistry. Case in point, Instagram. If someone is able to birth original content on Instagram, it will most likely be appointed the new challenge by the people. Which will then saturate the internet with endless duplicates of the original content per usual.
YouTube is another prime example of vocalists using this platform only to regurgitate other people’s talent. On YouTube a singer is more likely to get hundreds upon hundreds of clicks on their video, not for singing an original song they wrote, but for singing a famous artist’s song.
Even famous singers have followed suit, more than ever, songs are being tweaked here and there in a desperate attempt to make it sound somewhat original. More often than none, I will hear a song, with different lyrics and I have to stop and think back until it clicks.
“Wait! I know what that song is!”
And it’s certainly not the song I’m listening to. I’ve heard so many people actually defend biters, excusing their behavior because we are supposedly taped out of ideas.
Their line of defense is, “Everything has already been done. What choice do we have but to recycle ideas!
I say, “Nonsense!”
It is impossible to run out of ideas; the mind is endless. Netflix is surely an example of that. Regular television just kept dishing out the same format, same shows, different characters, different titles. Then Netflix came along and changed EVERYTHING! Now other streaming services have followed suit and are now providing innovate shows. And isn’t wonderful. I’m sure Netflix wasn’t the first to provide creative content. I actually think YouTube was the first. But what I think Netflix did that was so grand, was give original content the green light. Hollywood feared taking chances, where Netflix wasn’t. Netflix is a perfect example of allowing writers to explore the realm of imagination.
So why hasn’t music followed suit. Of course, there are artists that are heavily devoted to their craft. But we are currently at a time where we need creatively the most, and there isn’t a lot of it out there. I’m accustomed to the music industry manufacturing artists. Same style, same look. But recycling music and pretend it’s your own, that’s going a bit too far. Art is sacred. Art comes out of thin air and is made tangible by the artist through either song, story, dance or drawings. Art should be respected and admired. Artists allow themselves to be vulnerable enough to let their mind wander into the depths of imagination which isn’t always pretty and can even be quite scary at times. Now by no means am I casting shame on the methods that most, not all musicians use when putting a song together nowadays. All I am saying is that it was such a delightful, exuberating treat to watch how in movie, Bohemian Rhapsody the band Queen came up with the musical aspects of their songs. It was literally watching art unfold, how they would spill coins on a drum to produce a unique sound or stomp their feet in unison while creating a new beat. One might argue that having modern equipment prevents us from going through such lengths in producing new and provoking sounds. But what if all this ease that comes along with music also comes with a price.
For generations, if someone wanted to feel rebellious and alive, they would simply listen to Rock and Roll. Or if they wanted to chill and be happy, they would put on some Reggae. But present day’s outlet doesn’t seem to be centered around music anymore, it’s centered around social media. The problem with social media is unlike music, it exasperates a person’s negative feelings, where music provides a release. But, much of today’s music is tremendously manufactured. This has always been the case throughout time, but not like now. So, I only ponder is today’s music lacking heart, creatively, angst. Is it still able touch people’s souls like it use to?
All these thoughts arose from watching the movie and that is precisely what makes “Bohemian Rhapsody” such a fabulous film. Not only do you get to see the inner workings, the building blocks of iconic songs, but also Freddie Mercury’s life, which is so spellbinding. But the best part is, that when you leave the theater, most likely a million thoughts will be running through your head. And isn’t that what a great story is suppose to do? What a treat it must be for a director and writer to know when their movie manages to impact audiences, even after they’ve watched it. Horror flicks thrive on that. A person leaving the movie theater after watching a scary movie and sleeping with the lights on afterwards, is a good indication that the movie did what it set out to do. And boy, did “Bohemian Rhapsody” do just that. This movie introduced an icon to a new audience. It showed the complexities of the inner workings of an artist. Many have found fault with the movie. I have read up on some controversy that it stirred up for the movie not diving more into Freddie’s personal life. I however, was thrilled because I had all but forgotten what a great artist can really achieve. So, I personally did appreciate how the movie focused on the artistry of the band. There are so, so, so many movies out there, biographies that dissect the lives of prominent figures. Motion pictures that show our idols as flawed, broken individuals. Newsflash, don’t we all know that most stars are deeply flawed. Why focus on the negative on a continuous basis? I do understand the fascination of trying to understand what leads these legends to create such art. But I think finding out too much, takes away the mystic that that very person tried so desperately to maintain. Artists go through so much mental and emotional pain. Why add to their life or legacy the bitter truth and expose what lengths they took to get there? I feel that the artist should decide how much they want to expose. Several people believe that fame comes at a price, that stars belong to the people and the people have a right to know about the intricacies of their obsessions’ lives. What the rest of the world fails to realize that in order to make great art, the heart has to be open, exposed to pain and tragedy that a normal person might never experience at all or might not be able to handle it all. Hence the importance of great music. Musicians (great ones) can take you to space, a place you have never been before, without you ever having to leave your bedroom. And I am tremendously glad that “Bohemian Rhapsody” took us there. We hardly do that nowadays, when it is one of the most important components of the human experience, to fully experience art. We did not come to the world just to eat, fuck and die. We also came to create, to inspire, to experience life. And Freddie Mercury did just that.