TAG

#bob dylan

3 pieces

A blank timeline with two marks close together, the rest of the line unmarked

The Anti-Biopic: On Refusing the Cradle-to-Grave Shape

The biopic is a genre with a default structure, and the default is almost always the problem. An argument for the biographical films that refuse the shape.

Lena Ashworth·18 Jan·5 min

An old microphone in close-up against a deep red stage curtain, light hitting the capsule

Film

A Complete Unknown: Why the Dylan Biopic Works When Most Don't

A year after James Mangold's Dylan biopic arrived in the middle of a tired genre, the film's decisions keep looking smarter. An argument for the underrated music biopic of the decade.

Jules Okonkwo·30 Dec·6 min

A bronze bust in a glass case, with a single crack running down its face.

Essays

The Biopic Is Laundering Its Subjects

The contemporary biopic has adopted a specific form that functions as reputation management. An essay on the mechanism by which the biopic launders its subjects, and what the occasional exception does differently.

Lena Ashworth·16 Dec·8 min