You can be the most skeptical person in the world, but you cannot deny that the story portrayed in the movie is actually very beautiful. We human beings are highly dependent of our memories and thinking that a simple song can bring a whole scene in a person's brain is amazing. We are used to connect particular scents and smells (a perfume, the small of a special food, and so on) to important people or to remarkable experiences in our lives, so why would it be impossible to happen with music? Particularly, I think that the power of a melody is even more strong, because the language of music is one that can't be translated, can't be measured, can't be described. It is something that you feel, and you feel only.
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Believing in Gabriel's story or not, it is also undeniable that music, especially the band "Grateful Dead", had a great impact on Gabriel's personality. At the same time that he heard this band and identified himself with the lyrics and all the atmosphere it created, he also builded up his character and "being a fan of Grateful Dead" is part of what he was.
Besides the theme of music as being an important part of our lives, the movie talks about the pressure of society about people following the rules and being an important and successful "graduated" person. Having a diploma was - and still is - considered as the only way to be happy, rich, and respected.
Of course, being a musician, such as Gabriel wanted to be, had no value at all. People who spend their time and money to create songs that eventually may change or mark someone's life are just some lucky ones that were conceived with this "gift" by God and can be free from the pain of working in a dull office. Lucky bastards, right? The society's opinion towards musicians - that they are not professionals like all the others - may have destroyed the dreams of millions of others that wanted to live a life just the way Gabriel wanted to. In this sense, Gabriel's father is not the only one to blame. Even so, at the end he was freed from his prejudice and could see the beauty of simply letting the music guide him through paths that he was not able to walk on his own.
I really thought about you when Gabriel confronts his father about his future. I think it's not just the musicians who suffers from what you call "society's opinion", this is something spread in all Arts. Painters, writers, even actors, are professions which people give up because it's not what society easily allows to be achieved (or even tried). It's a common struggle that you can be whatever you want, but only if you have a degree, a job, and get money from it.
ReplyDeleteTotaly agree with you, Rachel. I have a friend that wants to become a fotographer, and the only way she could ever start on her dream was to take a degree on Design. But what I liked most about the whole movie were the songs. Through music the characters learn what is important; the moments to remember, the moments to change, and the moments that stay with you.
ReplyDeleteIt really makes me sad when we have to face what people expected from us in the future. Although we want to do what makes us happy, we know that it is something really difficult to do. However, this movie made me think about my family, as Rayane said about things that make us remember moments. I also have tastes, music, colours that make me come back in the past and feel the happy moments again.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed how Henry, the father, had to overcome his own pride in order to reconnect with his son, actually, to reconnect with himself. He carried the burden of Gabriel’s departure for almost twenty years, and in this process, he lost his own identity. He became something that his family couldn’t recognize. Both, father and son, struggles through the movie to find their identity that was once lost, and through music they were able to reconnect.
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