‘A Star is Born’ fails to utilize Lady Gaga’s star power
Lady Gaga is one of the most talented women of her generation, and we’re lucky to see her emerge as an actor — especially in a competitive film for the upcoming award season.
“A Star is Born,” which was released earlier this month, is Bradley Cooper’s directorial debut. The film features Lady Gaga as its leading lady in a role previously portrayed by Janet Gaynor in 1937, Judy Garland in 1954 and Barbara Streisand in 1976.
Since its release, the film has been showered with praise from audiences and critics alike, and it’s projected to score a few Oscar nominations later in the season. It has received more praise than its predecessors and has officially launched Gaga into the same level of stardom as legends Gaynor, Garland and Streisand before her. She is even rumored to be starring in a Broadway production of the beloved “Funny Girl,” taking on another iconic Streisand role.
While it’s been thrilling to watch Lady Gaga’s career skyrocket over the last decade, her talent is being cheapened by displaying it through the exhausted trend of remakes. “A Star is Born” has been told three times before and has aged as a result. Though Lady Gaga’s performance is on par with her predecessors, it’s unfortunate she didn’t have more to work with than material adapted from a story written by a man in the 1930s.
Despite the woman singer being the “star,” referred to in the title, the story has always been more Jack-centric. This remake did not do anything new with that trend. The irony is reflected when Jack says, “Maybe it’s time to let the old ways die.” This version of the film, while still as moving as — and maybe even better made than — the previous versions, fails to let the old ways die, never expanding on Ally’s character or offering different perspectives on its core themes of stardom, addiction and love.
This is by no means a new phenomenon. We have seen a surge in remakes in the past few years, and they continue to be churned out regularly. It’s hard to group them all under the umbrella term of a “remake,” though, as some of them attempt to do something new with the material.
Sofia Coppola’s 2017 reimagining of the original 1971 adaptation of “The Beguiled” painted the original text and film adaptation in a new light, centering the film on the female gaze and perspective rather than that of the male character. This effort won her the award for Best Director at the Cannes Film Festival, a feat that had only once before been achieved by a woman director.
This reimagining of stories is relatively rare, though. The usual case is remaking a classic Disney tale, telling the story more or less exactly the same as it has always been told, but with contemporary technology. We saw this recently with 2017’s “Beauty and the Beast,” and will continue to see it in the upcoming remakes of “Aladdin,” “Dumbo” and “Mulan,” to name a few.
These films perform in the box office and consistently receive awards for presentation, but it comes from a lack of risk taking and our culture’s obsession with nostalgia.
There is merit and artistic value in retelling a story by making it new, whether by swapping the genders or perspective, or changing the general approach to the story in an attempt to say something new. The exhausting thing about remakes, though, is that so many fail to even attempt this.
“A Star is Born” is ultimately a success and deserves the praise it is receiving, almost directly as a result of the unbridled talent of Gaga — Gaga’s talent could have been used more. She works tremendously with what she has, but there was never a need to remake this movie, successful as the attempt may have been.
It’s time to let the old remake trend die.
Maybe this role will open up opportunities in the future for Gaga’s talent to be fully appreciated in the center of a story — where she is not overshadowed by a long, outdated narrative or co-star.
