Almost famous

Music is presumably one of the most powerful things in the world , it is the universal language,  connecting people and helping them find themselves and a peace of mind in this crazy world. Sound and music are important elements that manipulate and control emphasize on plot to create the director desired effects and feelings expressed by the film. Almost Famous by Cameron Crowe, based on his own experiences touring with bands and writing for Rolling Stones in high school; which is exactly what the main character, William Miller does in the film. In the beginning of the film, William's sister, Anita Miller, leaves home to become a stewardess, as she leaves she plays America by Simon&Garfunkel synchronously and says it explains why she is leaving. The lyrics of America "So we bought a pack of cigarettes and Mrs. Wagner pies And we walked off to look for America" speaks for Anita in that she needs to be free of the restricted environment she was brought up in and herself to a road of finding her place in the world and living life. Before she gets in the car, she whispers in young William's ear telling him to look under his bed and it will set him free. The scene then cuts to William pulling out a bag of records from underneath his bed and running his fingers along the records and finding a note from Anita that says “Listen to Tommy with a candle burning and you will see your entire future.” America fades off into a silence as he takes Tommy out to put on the record, the song begins to play, filling the silence with upbeat, loud rock n'roll suggesting the music fills the silence just as it is fills his heart and the empty places of boredom and ordinary.  The scene then cuts to close ups of the record player, William's face, and the candle to emphasize the change turning point to the film and his life by the end of the song he is in high school drawing band logos on his school folders, this quite literally changed his future, leading him to a life of music and passion for writing.

In the film William meets his mentor Lester Bangs and he guides him through the crazy life of drugs, sex, and most importantly, rock and roll. In one scene of purely synchronous sounds and dialogue, Bangs talks to William about his writing and school. Bangs asks William about school and William say "they all hate me." in which Bangs responds with “You’ll meet them all again on their long journey to the middle.” The middle can be interrupted in two ways; one, the middle as in the middle class, that although the "cool" kids at school think of themselves above William, none of that will matter in 10, 15 years, they will all just be ordinary, living life as the average american working nine-five jobs and paying off their house and car.  Two, the middle as in the middle of the earth, buried in the ground...death; that everyone meets their end one way or another, it doesn't matter how they lived or how cool they are, it simply does not matter.  

Later on in the film, William calls Lester as he is on tour with Stillwater trying to write for the Rolling Stones and Bangs says "the only true currency in this bankrupt world is what you share with someone else when you're uncool." he means when one is stripped away their ego and social status, they can then truly connect with another person on a profound level.  Everyone is all in the game of life in the bankrupt world together. When the band found out that William wrote the story of them, the singer, Jeff Bebe rants about how he knew he couldn't trust the writer. He was so focused on the perception of being cool to the fans, that he'd forgotten what it's really all about; the music and experience. He belts out "is it that hard to make us look cool!" and Russell replies "maybe we just don't see ourselves the way we really are". The irony is that William sees himself as being uncool and StillWater being the coolest thing he'd ever seen, yet they are feeling uncool themselves.  However the fans and the Directors at Rolling Stone loved the story and the band in that they are different and raw. "In America you can ease into middle age with the accoutrements of adolescence still prominent and suffer relatively minor embarrassment: okay, so the guy's still got his sideburns and rod and beer and beer gut and wife and three kids and a duplex and never grew up. So what? You're not supposed to grow up in America. You're supposed to consume." The real Lester Bangs says this in the clash, backing up the Bangs quote from the film about "the middle". Middle class and middle age,  that America is ordinary, and through rock n' roll, one can find a different lens to view the world through, to find common ground with, and procrastinate their journey to the middle for as long as possible.