Elvis

I am not a huge fan of music overall. I mean, I like it, and I listen to it, and I have favourite songs and artists and Apple Music lists and all that, but music is not an integral part of my life, per se. And for the most part, religion and growing up in a third-world country where there was a lot of censorship going on are to blame.

When I was a kid, I had to rely on my mom when it came to music because she was the only one listening to it in our household, and she had a very peculiar taste. I still love listening to the songs she used to play on a huge black stereo every day and singing along with some of them, mostly Persian singers.

When it came to what we used to call “foreign singers,” there were always two names she mentioned: George Michael and Elvis. She had a crush on both of them, I think. When it came to Elvis, there was always a tenderness in her voice when she talked about him and how young he was when he died and such a waste of talent and beauty that has been. Somehow talking about Elvis used to make her sad, and maybe that’s why we didn’t listen to his songs as much. But Elvis always had a God-like picture in my head; I don’t know why.

Fast forward to 2023, and a friend told me, “Have you watched the movie, Elvis? You should! It’s underrated.” And that’s how I ended up on the couch, stepping into the world of a man worshipped by many throughout the years and oh my, what a journey!

First of all, let’s talk about the obvious! How freakin’ beautiful this man was! I mean, Austin Butler has done a tremendous job, and he will probably win the Oscar for it. Still, even he has not been entirely successful in capturing the charisma and sweetness of the man himself! The movie addresses different issues, from race to how politics and all that was happening in those years contributed to Elvis’s life. I had no idea about all the drama with his manager and how unhappy he was. And it was painful to see how such a talent, I don’t want to say, was wasted but got limited, suppressed; he could have done more. I don’t know what can be more than being Elvis Presley exactly, but you know, it seems he could be more, and he wasn’t allowed.

The movie, the way I perceived it, is about betrayal. And how people can destroy dreams, futures, and legends for their own sake. Ironically the costumes in his Las Vegas shows make him look like an eagle with golden wings but we now know his wings were tied.

There is a scene in the movie that genuinely got to me. Elvis drops off her daughter to his wife, Priscilla, before getting on a plane. They are having an intimate, heart-to-heart conversation about how he thinks he is a failure. He says:

I’m gonna be 40 soon, ‘Cilla. Forty! And nobody’s gonna remember me. I never did anything lasting. I never made that classic film that I could be proud of… I’m all out of dreams.

Damn! And he died two years later. And I think it’s safe to say that 46 years after his death, the whole world still KNOWS who Elvis Presley was. The last footage of his concert, which is also played at the end of the movie, is heartbreaking. You can see defeat on his face. On that beautiful, beautiful face, now filled with remorse and sadness for witnessing the death of his dreams. Alas!