“When you’re lost, people take advantage” – a quote as relevant in todays’ society as it was back in the 1970s. Baz Luhrmann’s vivid imagination and direction with co-writers, Sam Bromell, Craig Pearce, and Jeremy Doner successfully highlight the true influence and inspiration of Elvis Presley’s success, portrayed by the talented Austin Butler, who shared both swift-worthy and haunting performances of the late singer and his love for “Brown America.” Elvis was famous for drawing and giving credit from his Black equals, otherwise known as his “brothers’ as he sang “If I Can Dream.” His hope was bringing all society together, just like Martin Luther King wanted, who Elvis respected, as the Black community suffered from the unfortunate circumstances of segregation and discrimination. He felt their music woke the soul within him and was a positive feeling during his impoverished, yet privileged childhood. From the moment Suspicious Minds played with reverb in the opening credits, the result of goosebumps, did not do justice of what is yet to come – but both the good and the evil moments, which clouded the musicians’ life.
We see Elvis’s spirit moved by the “music that made him happy,” - a musician who credited the origins and influence of his discography – from the rhythms of Big Boy Crudup to Mahalia Jackson, who sang at the East Street church with her congregation as well as his first introduction to Big Mama Thornton, who echoed Hound Dog at Club Handy, on Beale Street, who was portrayed by the talented and late Shonka Dukerh. Despite the slight lack of cultural recognition, the story explored Elvis’s career – a man with the strength of two (after his twin brother was stillborn), and the love he had for “ghetto” music and a pink suit, which imitated the pink Cadillac he wished for his mama. The story also illustrated his search for the love he craved the most: that of his mama’s, upon her passing and Priscilla Presley, played by Olivia DeJonge – his wife and the woman “he will always love” after her leaving towards the last years of his life. DeJonge successfully captured the essence of Priscilla throughout her performance.
Most significantly, the story explored Elvis’s relationship with the music industry and his mysterious manager, and narrator of the story, Colonel Tom Parker, played by Tom Hanks, where Hanks brilliantly convinced the audience of the characters’ foul and complex behavior. Parker, aka the snowman, the lying dutchman, was an orphan who immigrated to the US, and remained there with no citizenship, only to becoming well-versed in the method of swindling. He was a carnival cheapjack and a pro in emptying a “rubes wallet, while leaving them with nothing.” His approach involved the techniques of a trickster using the distractions of vivid costumes and methods, which at first come across as trustworthy. He applied those conniving methods on Elvis, in addition to emotional extortion by using phrases such as “my boy”, straight after Elvis experienced neglect, from the death of his mama, leaving Parker to take on a father-like role, without hesitation, nor invitation by showing false sincerity for the musician.
