I mean between Ray, Bohemian Rhapsody, The Dirt, Walk the Line, hell even The Greatest Showman which is a much more G-rated version of that formula, These movies keep going out of their way to tell the same story.Let me see if this rings a bell:Down on their luck aspiring musician who is trying to make it or discovers their musical talent has a troubled life, usually with abusive parents, and realizes music can be their ticket out. By being discovered, or auditioning and with an insane amount of luck, they find that one guy that can make their dreams come true and then their career is born.Sound familiar, yet?Let's keep going.First official concert arrives and everyone loves them, realizing that their path to fame is imminent, the movies shifts into a montage or a quick journey of their rise of fame. Buy some mansions, fancy cars, tons of sex, expensive alcohol and drugs, showing the audience how their life has shifted with fame and riches.But Oh No.The musician(s) of the film, is/are letting fame and wealth get to their head. Relationships with loved ones are going wrong, alcoholism and drug addiction set in, abuse to spouses often happens. Basically their life turns into a mess. Not only that but the band members can't get along, the music has less heart and soul and more selling out in it, and sometimes, sales begin to dip.You know, classic struggles of fame stuff.Endorsement deals that alienate the other hard-working people in their career to feed a growing lust for money, some tabloids, paparazzi fights, couple of arrests, and the shrinking of their fanbase later, and it turns out they still haven't hit rock bottom yet. No, they often have to almost die first before that happens. Then after said near-death experience, they have realized the error of their ways.Ah yes....mmm hmmm...character development...uh huh........redemption arc........yeah cool cool...umm musician is the hero again....yeah ok........CUT AND PRINT.Now we come to the end of our hero's tale after some apologies and making up with band mates and off to the GRAND FINALE, where our hero(es) put on the performance of a lifetime and everyone falls in love with them again and they live happily ever after. Or the hero dies and everyone realizes how much impact they had on the world and how much the hero will be missed and everyone loves them again.Just the same old, same old ending with these music films.Let's not forget the mid-credits montage of what happened to all of the important people portrayed in the film.The worst part about it is that many music biopics twist and warp the events that happened to said musician, just to fit this plot formula.Now there are exceptions such as 8 Mile, where despite it being a music biopic that's officially a fictional drama, it actually feels like we are seeing into this musician's actual life in an honest and non-fabricated way. Just a story of a rapper coming out of his shell and dealing with the hardships of his live through his own determination and strength. A great depiction of a story based on his own life experiences rather than Eminem just cramming that whole portion of his life in just 15-20 minutes for a less fictional biopic for the whole "inspiring backstory" portion of the story and the rest just follows the music biopic formula like all the rest.Basically, many times when a music biopic is made, especially about someone who had a huge impact, instead of trying to make an original and honorable depiction of a person's life, they slip into this recycled, safe, overdone formula that's been done a million times whether it's the actual musicians behind the scenes wanting to make themselves seem like heroes or others who simply want to make a money grab that tugs at the heart strings.As an avid lover of creativity and originality in film, I can't stand to watch music biopics unless they are of fictional musicians because otherwise, it just feels fake and formulaic.That is all.If you have any thoughts, let me know. via /r/movies https://ift.tt/2O9VFLy
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