Respond to these rapid questions in our Blinded By The Light quiz and we will tell you which Blinded By The Light character you are. Play it now.
The young protagonist, Javed (Viveik Kalra), is watching the video for Bruce Springsteen’s “Dancing in the Dark” for the first time in “Blinded by the Light,” a new film from writer/director Gurinder Chadha (“Bend It Like Beckham,” “Bride & Prejudice”). In spite of the fact that Javed is obsessed with Springsteen’s music, the look on his face as he takes in the power of Springsteen’s raw meat-and-potato stage presence is a visual echo of the awe-struck look on Courtney Cox’s face as Springsteen pulls her from the audience in the same video (which was directed by Brian de Palma). It’s more than just excitement; what Javed is experiencing is on a much deeper level. The look on Javed’s face is overflowing with emotion, and it’s a perfect representation of what it’s like to suddenly become obsessed with something – music, a movie, a celebrity – and have that obsession hit you in exactly the right way at exactly the right time, especially as a teenager. It’s as if a house has been thrown on you from above. Alternatively, you could abuse a powerful drug. You’ll never be able to look at the world the same way again. That’s exactly what Bruce Springsteen did for journalist Sarfraz Manzoor, whose memoir Greetings From Bury Park: Race, Religion, and the American Dream was published this year. “Blinded by the Light” is based on the rock and roll genre (Manzoor co-wrote the script). At its best, “Blinded by the Light” captures the sensation of being a fan, the pure exhilaration that comes with it, and the sensation of your vision expanding to encompass vistas that are beyond your horizon line.
Taking place in the late Thatcher era in the small town of Luton in the 1980s, Javed’s family struggles to make ends meet in the midst of a crippling recession. They must contend with economic hardship, rising nationalism, and racist attacks. Javed’s mother (Meera Ganatra) is a seamstress who works out of their home, and his father (Kulvinder Ghir) is employed at a factory in the neighborhood. Layoffs are on the horizon. It is extremely difficult for Javed to live up to his parents’ expectations, and he hides not only his dream of becoming a writer from them, but almost every other aspect of his personality as well. He is not permitted to have a social life, a girlfriend, or to be self-sufficient. (At one point, Javed’s father informs him that “Pakistanis do not attend parties.”) “I was under the impression I was British,” Javed says. Javed’s best friend Matt (Dean-Charles Chapman) is swept up in the New Wave movement, and Javed finds himself writing lyrics for Matt’s songs while feeling frustrated and trapped in his own life.
In these early sequences, Bruce Springsteen is completely absent, providing an accurate representation of what it was like to be a teenager in the early 1980s teenage music scene. Perhaps your father had a copy of Born to Run or Nebraska in his collection. Springsteen, on the other hand, was a man of the past who had nothing to do with the “now.” Madonna and Prince, as well as Pet Shop Boys, Tiffany, and Michael Jackson, were all part of the “now.” Then there was Born in the USA, the 1984 juggernaut filled with catchy tunes but rife with political and social outrage, which swept the nation. ‘Born to Run’ is a raging album that expresses the heartbreak, hardship, and poverty of the American working class as Springsteen witnessed it all around him. (The xenophobes who consider “Born in the USA” to be their national anthem have obviously not listened to the song’s actual lyrics.)
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Roops (Aaron Phagura), a Sikh classmate, hands Javed a couple of Springsteen cassettes one day, sensing that the troubled Javed may be in need of some comfort. A gigantic wind storm wreaks havoc on Javed’s neighborhood while he is listening to the song “Dancing in the Dark.” As he listens to the song, his entire inner life explodes in a moment of revelation that is reflected in the outer world as a gigantic wind storm (the Great Storm of 1987). It’s almost as if Bruce Springsteen himself orchestrated the apocalyptic weather. With each listen to “The Promised Land,” Springsteen’s lyrics seem to float through the air, projected onto the sides of buildings and walls, the music becoming tangible in Javed’s world as the lyrics float through the air. Javed had no idea that music could be this powerful, that music — created by an American from a place called New Jersey — could speak so directly to him, the son of immigrants in a far-off land like England, until this happened. Javed takes on the role of Bruce’s evangelist. He dresses in the same manner as him. He seizes control of the school’s radio station. He has posters strewn all over his room. Because of this, his parents believe he has lost his mind.
Blinded By The Light Quiz
People make fun of teenagers for this kind of behavior, but the emotions associated with fandom are incredibly pure! The word “fanatic” comes from the Latin word “fanum,” which means “temple,” and refers to a place where zealots gather to worship. Every fan has a deity, whether it’s the teenagers in Robert Zemeckis’ “I Wanna Hold Your Hand,” who are attempting to score tickets to the Beatles’ appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” or the Japanese teenagers wandering around Memphis in Jim Jarmusch’s “Mystery Train,” who are obsessed with Elvis Presley and wandering around Memphis. As a result of his discovery of Bruce Springsteen’s music, Javed finds himself in unexpected situations, including a tentative romance with a classmate (Nell Williams), disagreements with his father, and conflict with his best friend Matt.
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Several scenes in “Blinded by the Light” are exuberant and feel like they could have come straight out of a movie musical. Entire village squares are engulfed in synchronized dance movements at once. Although it is cheesy, it is also contagious. There is something you are missing out on if you haven’t been a fan of something to such an extent that it has transformed your entire world. Springsteen granted permission for the film to make use of his extensive back catalog, which resulted in his songs dominating the soundtrack. Despite the fact that Chadha’s approach is open-minded and affectionate, the book is also filled with insightful observations about growing up as an immigrant’s child. There’s a particularly memorable sequence involving Javed’s sister Shazia (Nikita Mehta), who is not quite as obedient as she appears to be on the surface of things. “Blinded by the Light,” like “Bend It Like Beckham,” is a very clever film about the tensions that exist within an immigrant family, the pressure from the younger generation to assimilate, and the fears of the older traditional generation about losing their culture.
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All of the actors are excellent, but Kulvinder Ghir stands out as a particularly moving presence, bringing a powerful combination of gravitas, pain, and humor to his performance. This strong, self-assured man does not comprehend the Springsteen phenomenon. When he doesn’t understand something, he doesn’t care for it. He is concerned about losing his job. It’s excruciating to witness him being humiliated. The conflicts between father and son have an impact on the entire family. “Blinded by the Light” is an emotional father-and-son relationship drama, which is just one of the many positive aspects of the film. Bruce Springsteen’s music is the glue that holds everything together.
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My sister and I recently took my niece’s two children, ages five and three, to a local swimming pool. On the way there, they chanted from their car seats in the back, “Fire Song! Fire Song! Fire Song!” as we passed through the city. I assumed it was some sort of kid’s song that had been learned in pre-school. After further investigation, it was discovered that they were requesting “Dancing in the Dark,” which they call “Fire Song” (“You can’t start a fire without a spark”) from a previous album. After hearing the song on the radio for the first time, the kids became obsessed with it. They are well-versed in the language. They are wondering if “Bruce” will be able to come over and play a song in the backyard for them. One of the most bizarre aspects of this is that the “Bruce” moniker was not imposed on them by my sister. The kids made their own decision about who they wanted to be. The torch has been passed to the next generation.
For more personality quizzes check this: If Beale Street Could Talk Quiz.
