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Poor Talents Paying Bills (Elvis
Presley) Elvis Presley, the King of Rock and Roll, is an American Pop Culture Icon who influenced his audience with his commanding voice and dazzling sex appeal. In the 1950's, Elvis devoted his career to singing and making music. In the sixties, however, he dedicated his time towards making movies and appearing in motion pictures. As many critics agree, Elvis had poor acting skills in his films, generally showing apathy and/or dull facial expressions. Yet, through entertainment media, Elvis was able to inspire a generation of youth to "take action" in American society from his "poor actions". Moreover, film in the age of mass media neutralized Elvis' "bad acting" by redirecting the audience's attention towards his dynamic singing and sexual physique, heavily appealing to the social trends of the 1960's decade. In the decade of the 60's, Elvis starred in over 34 motion pictures, averaging more than 3 films released per year. In these films, Elvis generally had the lead role, allowing the center of attention to fall on his shoulders. Unfortunately, Elvis had poor acting skills, usually displaying bland facial expressions or lethargy. According to the New Yorker magazine, Elvis' acting talents were thin: "Thicklipped, droopy-eyed and indefatigably sullen, Mr. Presley, whose talents are meager but whose earnings are gross" (Raaphorst). Thankfully, Elvis had extraordinary singing talents to make up for his poor acting skills. Knowing his strengths, Elvis and his producers began placing songs into his movies to gain a greater acceptance from his audience: "Statistically, he holds records for the most Top Forty hits (107), the most Top Ten hits (38), the most consecutive #1 hits (10) and the most weeks at #1 (80)" (Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation). Furthermore, Elvis' producers began to advertise for his movies by soliciting his singing skills. For example, on the cover of "Jail House Rock," the producer wrote "HIS FIRST BIG DRAMATIC SINGING ROLE", dramatizing the significance of Elvis' voice. Notably, though, Elvis did gain his viewer's praise from other notions than just his singing. Elvis accepted attention for his sexual physique, receiving compliments from the "delinquent youth" when exposing his naked chest in several films. Surely, Elvis influenced the "raging youth" of the 60's to "act up" when stating controversial and rebellious lines in different films, particularly in "Jail House Rock": "That ain't tactics, honey...That's just the beast in me!" (Raaphorst). By combining poor acting with an appealing sexual physique and rebellious attitude, Elvis was able to inspire a generation of youth to "act up" and "take action" in an active and liberated decade of the 1960's. In many of Elvis' movies, the producers directed the film's content towards many social issues that were appealing to the decade's trends, popularizing Elvis more than he already was. For example, the theme of rebellion and learning "from the old" appeared in "Jail House Rock." In the film, Elvis learns how to play guitar from the old man living in his jail cell. Yet, instead of crediting the old man after learning how to play, Elvis "walks" all over his teacher, disrespecting his elders. During a liberated 60's decade, this kind of "embarrassment" would be very appealing for the youth movement because the decade proceeding it was very conservative and restricting. Undoubtedly, by shifting the attention in Elvis' films to popularized social aspects, people would give greater support to Elvis, even with his flaw of poor acting. For example, in many of Elvis' films, he liberates his audience by including social aspects such as drinking, smoking and gambling. He goes as far in "Jail House Rock" to cash his paycheck at the bar as well as to violently kiss women. In a time of liberation and uprising, Elvis successfully redirects the audience's attention away from his poor acting skills to the popular social trends occurring in the 1960's, helping him become the American Pop Culture Icon that he was and is still today. Overall, Elvis Presley dazzled his movie audience with his courageous voice and his stimulating sexual physique. Although Elvis had poor acting skills, he was able to successfully inspire a youth generation to take action in American society. By redirecting his movie audience's attention away from his common acting skills, Elvis was able to successfully increase his popularity from his dramatic singing roles, his sexual attractiveness and his rebellious attitude. Truly, mass media neutralized Elvis' "poor" acting skills and transformed them into a "rich" lifestyle, enabling Elvis Presley to still live large today in the entertainment capital of the world--Las Vegas, Nevada. |
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Works Cited Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum. Cleveland, Ohio. 01 November 1999. http://www.rockhall.com/induct/preselvi.html. Yahoo!: Geocities. TCB Ring, Elvis in Hollywood. 31 October 1999. http://www.geocities.com/~arpt/hollywood/nsindex.html. Yahoo!: Geocities. TCB Ring, Elvis in Hollywood. 31 October 1999. http://www.geocities.com/~arpt/hollywood/nsindex.html. |
