“If there’s one reason we’re here, it’s to say something so people wanna hear it,” says Jackson Maine in the newest iteration of A Star is Born. But what does this movie have to say? The legacy of this story changes with every version, but, at heart, it should be the tale of a beautiful romance between a woman rising to fame and her lover, a star who fuels her ascent then sinks into his own demise. Yet here we are: A Star is Born 2018, one remake of many, debut directorial film of Bradley Cooper, solid two out of five stars. This movie is about love, addiction, authenticity, industry, tragedy, and misogyny, all told by a white man with a networth of $100 million. It has its moments, but it’s not the wholesome tragedy of a beautiful love and a talented, powerful woman, however much it tries to be.
What does a woman find swoon-worthy if not being stalked? Perhaps not taking no for an answer? Well, rest assured, Jackson does both. When Jackson wants to sing Ally’s song on stage with her, first he just assumes he’ll get his way, “So, listen, we’re gonna sing that song, alright?…” but then she refuses “‘No, I can’t. I’m sorry,’” and he doubles down “‘Yeah, you’re coming.’” She keeps saying no,“‘Please, it’s not funny. Jack, don’t fuck around,” but he responds “‘All you gotta do is trust me. That’s all you gotta do. I’m gonna sing it either way, so…’” putting their trust on the line, and backing her into a corner by saying he’ll sing her song anyways–a song that he has absolutely no right to (2018). This could either be viewed as invasion of privacy and form of artistic theft, or as a way of venerating her work by performing it on a stage; however, even within that last viewpoint, he’s implying the superiority of his art compared to hers, by acting as if it’s a gift to force her song into his world.
Because her performance seems to work out in the end, Jackson is perceived as in the right, but it could just as easily have backfired. Concerts are intricately planned procedures, with technical delicacies and performance specifics. She could have easily voice cracked, panicked on stage, tripped over a wire on her way to the microphone, or just not been warmed up enough and had her voice come out strained. Not to mention, there’s no guarantee that the audience would have reacted as they did, especially seeing as they paid money to see Jackson Maine, and are now subject to some random girl on stage. Factor that in with possible jealousy resulting from the parasocial relationships many fans have with creators, and it could have been a complete disaster. This not only has the chance of embarrassing Ally, but if it went viral, it could have ruined any possible career opportunities for her in the future.
A part of movie magic is the sense of validity in instant connections between characters, especially in romance movies. This isn’t necessarily consequential, but it sometimes leads to situations in which the woman in a relationship’s boundaries are disregarded with the excuse of concern over her well being, even by the character herself. When Jack tries to convince Ally to come to his concert with him and she refuses, he pushes with a facade of faux concern, saying “‘Who’s gonna take care of your hand, I messed it up.’” Ally responds “‘Me.’” and Jack shoots back, “‘No, no! It’s my fault. I took you to that place’” (2018). If he was genuinely a friend expressing worry, there would be more of a gray area, rather than what appears to be blatant peer pressure, but they’ve only known each other for a few hours, so there’s absolutely no case for him knowing what’s best for her.
Following someone from their house to their work in an effort to convince them to get on a plane and go with you to another state is obviously creepy, but when Jack tells his driver to do just that, Ally says “You know, if I didn’t know Jack, I’d call you a stalker” (2018). In reality, Jack is being a stalker; Ally excuses it because the alienation inherent in paying someone else to do something for you makes the act seem less extreme. As if, just because it was easy for Jackson, crossing her boundaries is totally fine. In reality, that makes it a lot worse, because the ease with which he does this demonstrates the extreme power imbalance in their relationship.
The driver says, “He’s really looking forward to this” (2018), like that somehow negates the fact that Ally already refused to go to the concert. The driver’s position is one many men find themselves in: paid complicity. He doesn’t seem to view this situation as unhealthy, because he’s used to the unequal dynamic between his boss and the public, especially women, but even if he did, had he refused to do what Jackson said, he’d run the risk of losing his job. The music industry is a competition, and thus it’s built on self-interest, so it’s no wonder that so many people are complicit in the subjugation of women, when the only other option would risk their own positions of power.
Jackson’s actions draw back to the idea of consent in general, and how many times this male argument of ‘putting yourself out there and taking risks’ is used against women in much more traumatic situations, such as sexual assault and harassment. In reality, a perceived lack of confidence could just as easily be misinterpreted uncomfortableness or unwillingness. Having the foundations of their relationship built on Jackson crossing Ally’s boundaries does not make the most beautiful love story, and Ally’s submission to Jackson’s desires interrupts her supposed characterization as a strong, independent woman.
The way that Ally deals with Jackson’s actions while he’s drunk and high is so self-sacrificing it’s almost misogynistic. The only time she truly confronts him for his actions is when he walks out on her first performance with her new manager, goes on a bender, and she finds him at his friends house. It is the only time she says “I won’t do this again. I won’t come and find you.” She tells him, “next time you can clean up your own mess. You understand me?”(2018) in a satiny, non-confrontational tone, proceeds to agree to marriage a few minutes later, and then spends the rest of the movie cleaning up his messes. Jackson uses marriage as a way to distract her from his screw up, similar to how abusive partners often give their victims gifts after they hurt them. Not to mention, it doesn’t make any sense for her to agree to marry him immediately after their argument–most people would at least hesitate–except for the very shallow idea that women are so dazzled by the idea of matrimony that they throw all caution out the window.
This argument is the token resistance, after which Ally is free to be as unassertive and forgiving as Jackson needs her to be. Such as after they get in a huge fight where he exploits her biggest insecurity and she lets him go with the two most disingenuous lines ever heard in an apology: “I think I might’ve said some things. Just how I acted,” and “Sorry” (2018). What shocks me most about this is not even that he doesn’t take his words back, or that he does nothing to prove that he’ll try to change, but the fact that he doesn’t even say “I’m sorry.” He can’t seem to muster the basic humility within himself to apologize in a complete sentence.
Every action Ally does and every outlook she has is dictated by the men surrounding her. She starts out with the opinion that she has talent, but won’t actually make it in the music industry, just as her father says “with a voice like heaven. But you know what? It is not always the best singers that make it.” She believes that she is “a nobod[y]” as he says (2018). When Jack comes along, she simply goes with his outlook, which is that “if there’s one reason we’re here, it’s to say something so people wanna hear it,” and “I think you might be a songwriter” (2018). Later, when her manager starts putting forward changes in her routine and appearance, making her perform with dancers and changing her hair and outfits, she gives a little resistance, saying “I am who I am.” Eventually, however, she’s portrayed on stage with dancers, and she changes her hair color to ginger, with no real acknowledgement of the fact that she never wanted to portray herself in this way. The managerial conflict never gets resolved, the only further mention it gets is Jack’s judgment of it, which causes Ally to become defensive. She is put in this awful situation where she is made to do something she doesn’t want to by one man, and criticized for it by another; her opinion is never considered, not only by the characters, but also by the writer.
There is no point in the movie at which Ally is not getting dragged around by various men and their opinions on her life, except perhaps at the very end when she may finally have the potential for independence now that Jack is gone, but that never gets explored. In fact, she ends the movie by singing Jackson’s song, which he wrote about never wanting to love another. She sings “Baby I’ll just stay on your lips,” permanently binding herself to him and his whims even after he’s gone (2018). It implies a very upsetting future, one in which Ally might be so stuck on Jackson that she’ll never be able to find her own identity, take control of her own life, and take pride in what she’s created.
Why Bradley Cooper and his co writers went in this direction, I can’t be sure, though I suspect their thought process started with the creation of Jackson Maine and fit Ally around him: just assertive enough to be attractive, just submissive enough to be controlled. It’s the ultimate male fantasy: bad boy rockstar with a tragic backstory and a dramatic downfall, leaving a beautiful, mourning woman as his legacy. Jackson likely would’ve ended up dead either way, based on his life before Ally even came into the picture, but Ally provided a brief moment of stability, the destruction of which made Jackson into a tragedy rather than a slow, predictable decline. There’s not even other women in the movie, besides the drag queens who appear almost only within the first ten minutes, which just reinforces this incredibly specific and unrealistic representation of women. Ally is a plot device used by Jack to clean up his wrongdoings and take the blame for his shortcomings, and by Cooper as a tool for his self-aggrandizing escapism, all hidden behind Lady Gaga’s blinding glamor.
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