Ana Saavedra

Professor Suzanne Leonard

English-221
3 April 2016
Almost Famous
Almost Famous (Cameron Crowe, 2000) is a semi-autobiographical film written and
directed by Crowe. The film tells the coming of age story of William Miller (Patrick Fugit), an
aspiring rock journalist, who is about to graduate high school at 15 years old in 1973. Rock
journalist Lester Bangs (Philip Seymour Hoffman) becomes Williams mentor and gives him an
assignment to write a review of a Black Sabbath concert. While trying to complete it he meets
some groupies, who call themselves band-aids, and begins a friendship with Penny Lane (Kate
Hudson). He also meets the band Stillwater, which is made up of Russell (Billy Crudup), Jeff
(Jason Lee), Ed (John Fedevich), and Larry (Mark Kozelek.)
Ben Fong-Torres (Terry Chen), editor of Rolling Stone Magazine, reads some of
Williams freelance work for underground rock publications. Thinking William is older, Ben
hires him to write a story on Stillwater, and instructs him to go on the road with them. William is
then thrown into a world of music, touring, sex, and drugs. Throughout the film William has a
hard time trying to interview the band members, particularly Russell, for the article, witnesses
the tension between Russell and Jeff, falls in love with Penny Lane, who loves Russell, deals
with his worried mother, and loses his virginity to three band-aids. At the end of the film,
Williams article becomes the cover story of the issue.
In this paper I will apply three theoretical schools to Almost Famous: feminist, queer, and
critical race. These theories were chosen primarily due to the main cast being made up of
predominantly straight, white, cisgender men. I will analyze how the film presents the main cast,

and what it is saying about women, members of the LGBTQ+ community, and people of color,
as well as their involvement in the rock music industry.
A feminist analysis of Almost Famous should focus primarily on the character of Penny
Lane. Portrayed by Kate Hudson, Penny Lane is the creator of the band-aid, a female who
tours with the band but is not a groupie. Band-aids are there for the music, to inspire new music,
and they dont sleep with the musicians in order to stop exploiting [their] bodies and [their]
hearts (although every single band-aid breaks this rule.) Feminist theory could be applied to the
to-be-looked-at-ness of Penny and the band-aids. As William and Russells love interest, we
gaze at Penny from the voyeuristic point of view of both male characters. The camera not only
focuses on her, but also constantly on the men as they look at her.
During a scene in a restaurant, we see how William and Russell observe Penny, who
came alone. Throughout the scene, Penny is shot from a slightly low angle in medium and
medium close up shots. This section of the scene starts with a close up of William seeing Penny,
followed by a medium shot of Penny from Williams point of view as she makes eye contact
with him. The camera then shoots a close up of William looking at Penny before returning to a
close up of her. Then it shows a close up of Russell as he locks eyes with Penny for the first
time, followed by a medium shot of Penny from his point of view. For the next minute and a half
the camera shifts between Penny and Russell, Penny and William, and Penny and Russells
girlfriend, always showing Penny from the other characters perspectives. A few times, the
camera shows Jeff talking and singing, or long shots of the table they are all sitting at. At the end
of the scene, Penny is being told to leave by Stillwaters manager due to Russells girlfriends
discomfort caused by Pennys lingering gaze on those sitting at the table.

The movie does not punish the male gaze, even though the mens actions lead Penny
Lane to almost die in a possible attempted suicide in the scene following the restaurant one. Still,
William saves Penny by calling for medical help and is rewarded by learning Pennys real name,
which she confesses to be Lady Goodman. Even though William does not end up with Penny, his
story gets published, and his mother and sister, who have not spoken in years, reconcile because
of him. Although Russell does not end up with Penny either, the band continues to have a
successful music career after they make the cover of Rolling Stone, and fixes his friendship with
William.
Unlike Penny Lane, the rest of the band-aids dont have a big role in the film other than
being there to inspire the mens music and satisfy their sexual needs. The objectification of the
female characters by the male ones is clear in a scene where Russell and his manager Dick trade
all the band-aids for $50 and a six-pack of beer during a card game with another band. When
Penny finds out about this, she wipes her tears and asks William, What kind of beer? before
smiling at him. This is part of Penny Lanes performativity.
Penny Lane can be seen as a near perfect example of the manic pixie dream girl trope.
She is charismatic, mysterious, idealistic, devoted to the music, and free spirited. Still, it is clear
that this is a performance she puts up for the band, particularly for Russell, who confesses to
have never learned her real name at the end of the film. All of these show that, even though the
film expresses some feminist and postfeminist ideologies through the band-aids, who comment
on the use of birth control and express how every decision made by the men regarding them are
actually decision made by themselves, the film is viewed from the perspective of males, and the
male gaze is very present throughout it. This is not surprising due to the story being based on the
male directors life and to a main cast made up of mostly males.

Overall, feminist theory encourages the viewer to see the objectification of females by
male characters, as well as to understand the position of power men hold in the music industry.
The control of the male gaze, its voyeuristic tendencies, the objectification of women, and a
womans to-be-looked-at-ness are other issues feminist theory brings attention to.
When applying queer theory to Almost Famous, I was consciously aware that the viewer
sees the world of Rock n Roll through the eyes of a 15 year old, straight, cisgender boy.
Compulsory heterosexuality and heteronormativity are both endorsed strongly by the interactions
between the band-aids and the band. These ideologies are also endorsed by Jeff and Russell who
continually tell William about how the band helps them get chicks, a term one of the Rolling
Stone editors finds offensive when proof-reading Williams interview.
Lesbian tendencies are only seen in the film at one point, but it does not break the
heteronormative narrative. This takes place when William is about to lose his virginity to three
band-aids. During the scene, two of the band-aids share a peck on the lips in front of William.
Although it is obvious that an orgy involving three females and one male is about to take place,
the females are not queered because they decide to do this in order to provide pleasure to
William, and their background as band-aids ties them to being there for the male band members
pleasure.
Ed, Stillwaters drummer, is the only character who openly states he is gay, breaking
compulsory heterosexuality. This is his only line in the entire movie, and it is performed during a
scene on a private plane when the passengers believe they will crash and start fighting and
confessing each others secrets. Right after Ed comes out, the pilot and co-pilot are able to
stabilize the plane. Once compulsory heterosexuality is challenged, the rest of the characters
stare in silence as the atmosphere changes, showing that homosexuality is not something they

consider normal or natural. Eds coming out is used as comic relief to end a tense scene, which
can lead to viewers seeing the decision to make Ed a member of the LGBTQ+ community as a
form of tokenization.
Small nods to different gender identities and androgyny are shown only twice, both
involving glam rock musician David Bowie. Bowie is known for his eccentric ways that
challenged gender norms. The first nod happens in Stillwaters tour bus when Larry is seen with
a magazine featuring Bowie in the front cover. The second nod towards Bowie takes place as
Stillwater and their crew arrive at a hotel in Cleveland. The camera shows a male fan holding
one of Bowies albums and negatively criticizing his new material. Another male fan is seen in
the lobby wearing Bowies signature lightning bolt makeup look and displaying a more
androgynous style. David Bowie then enters the hotel, hidden by his jacket and security guard.
His bright red hair is the only visible feature of the star. This causes excitement in both fans and
among the rest of the people in the lobby. Although two nods to Bowie are seen, only the second
scene challenges heteronormativity due to the excitement of two males produced by a male
musician, as well as the second fans Bowie-inspired style.
A queer analysis of Almost Famous brings attention to the fact that, although queer
characters are present throughout the film, we are not always aware of their queerness and push
heteronormativity onto the members of the rock community, mostly due to male characters
constantly talking about music getting them chicks. Queer theory also encourages the viewer
to compare queer and straight characters, and provides an understanding that, even though
queerness is part of rock music, particularly in glam rock, heterosexuality is the norm in the rock
community.

Almost Famous tells the story of an up-and-coming band during what Lester Bangs called
the last years of rock music. Since Rock n Roll is heavily influenced by African-American
music, I decided that critical race would be the third school used to analyze the film. Historically,
Rock n Roll began in the United States in the late 40s and early 50s. It is a combination of
Western swing, country music and many African-American genres including blues, boogiewoogie, jump blues, jazz, and gospel music. Interestingly enough, I did not notice a single
African-American in the movie, including at concert and party scenes. The only moment where a
black influence is expressed is when an eleven-year old William goes through the vinyls his
sister left him at the beginning of the film. It is then that William sees the cover of Jimi
Hendrixs Axis: Bold as Love, which features a drawing of the African-American musician,
before moving on to the next vinyl. Still, Hendrix is not mentioned or insinuated at any other
point of the film. In a way, the movie is telling the story of Rock n Roll and its development into
the different genres of rock music without acknowledging the role African-Americans had in the
creation of it.
Almost Famous, written by Cameron Crowe, was based on his personal experience as a
teenage writer for Rolling Stone magazine in the early 70s. By telling his story as a young white
man on the road with a rock band made up exclusively of white men, it would not be a stretch of
the imagination to say that the film was made for a white male audience who could easily
sympathize and relate to William. Not only in the film, but in reality, rock music is seen by most
as a white male industry, with Elvis Presley being one of the biggest faces of Rock n Roll in its
early days of popularity. In a way, early rock music was commandeered from a mixed group of
people by a music industry ruled mostly by white men, leading to a more exclusive community,
one that can be seen very clearly in Almost Famous.

The only character of color in the film was Ben Fong-Torres, the Asian-American editor
of Rolling Stone magazine based on the real life rock journalist of the same name. Ben plays a
large role in the movie as the person who hires William, sends him off in this journey, and
awards his article the cover of the magazine. As his boss, Ben has a lot of power over William,
demonstrating it as he erases Williams chance of getting published when Russell lies to the
articles fact checker and says the article is all fabrication. Still, the reason why this character of
color holds so much power over the main protagonist is because he is based on a real person of
color. Maintaining Ben Fong-Torres as the editor of Rolling Stone in the early 70s and an AsianAmerican man, and then casting an Asian-American actor to play the part gives the movie the
same realistic feel as having someone play Bowie and mentioning real bands like Led Zeppelin,
Humble Pie, The Who, and many others. Still, the positivity of casting an actor of the same racial
identity as the real Fong-Torres to play him does not make up for the lack of people of color in
the film and the erasure of their involvement in Rock n Roll.
Critical race theory helps the viewer see the lack of racial diversity present in the rock
community featured in Almost Famous. This analysis also encourages the viewer to question the
lack of characters of color in the cast and among extras, telling the story of rock music as one
exclusive to white culture, which is not historically accurate, as well as to challenge the idea that
the rock fandom is exclusively white.
Overall, the three theories seemed very suitable to this text due to the films male centric
story, objectification of women, tokenization of a queer character, mostly unchallenged
heteronormativity, lack of characters of color, and erasure of people of colors involvement in
Rock n Roll. Critical race theory particularly helped me notice the ideology that the rock
community is mostly exclusive to white people. Although I was aware of the all-white main cast,

I was surprised to notice the lack of people of color in the film, especially among extras. If it
would have been possible to chose a fourth theory to analyze Almost Famous, Marxist film
theory would have been a good lens through which I could analyze Williams labor as a writer,
Stillwaters labor as entertainers, and the band-aids labor as supporters of the band. Still, the
feminist, queer, and critical race theories provided interesting insights on the ideologies Almost
Famous is expressing when it comes to women, queerness, and people of color.