Somewhere in a basement bar off the Las Vegas strip, a middle-aged man with a jet-black, dyed quiff and sideburns will be profusely sweating off his fake tan, furiously thrusting his hips while mouthing “A Little Less Conversation” to an audience of 15 bachelorette attendees. Unbeknownst to those in attendance, rather than paying a few hundred dollars to be underwhelmed by a grandiose pastiche, director Baz Luhrmann’s very own Elvis Presley biopic was debuting around the world, and for just $10 a pop.

If the hip-swiveling, rubber-legged jives weren’t enough to make Elvis impersonators and their audiences sweat, then Austin Butler’s all-encompassing execution of the King of Rock and Roll will certainly make their eccrine glands perspire at the thought of being out of a job, and make the ill-advised ladies scream uncontrollably, reminiscent of those across the boulevard at the hotel International 50-years prior.

While Elvis has been receiving some mixed reviews, some scathing, others glowing, one thing is for sure: Luhrmann and co-writer Sam Bromell pay perfect homage to the roots of the Jailhouse Rock singer, and the community that influenced him.

Elvis Took the Music of His Youth to a Different Audience

Austin Butler as Elvis Presley in the Baz Luhrmann movie Elvis
Warner Bros. Pictures

Spending his childhood and adolescence in Tupelo, Mississippi, and Memphis, Tennessee in predominantly Black neighborhoods, an impressionable Elvis became fully immersed in the culture of the people in his community. From the soulful Pentecostal churches to listening in to Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup sing the blues in Tupelo juke joints, these early experiences shaped his burgeoning musical education, but also symbolized the innately indiscriminate nature of youth, assimilating these musical expressions left and right.

“They might put me in jail for walking across the street, but you’re a famous white boy. Too many people are making too much money off you to put you in jail,” B.B. King (portrayed by Kelvin Harrison Jr.) protests to an Elvis chastised for bringing music into disrepute due to his “excessively Black” showmanship to white audiences, including the racist powers-that-be. There was criticism from both sides of the aisle toward Elvis when he brought the great rhythm and blues of Black culture to the masses.

Related: Elvis: Why This Biopic in Particular Has Gotten Huge

Certain biopics in the past have been guilty of glossing over or dumbing down key societal issues experienced by the subjects; for instance, Freddie Mercury’s homosexuality in Bohemian Rhapsody is merely reduced to an underplayed fling, and in Race, the racism experienced by Jesse Owens is minimized to background murmurings. So, it was a refreshing stance taken by Luhrmann and Bromell to not flagrantly evade the matter of racial segregation, nor the heritage of Elvis’ music. Enlaced throughout the 2-hour-39-minute runtime are Elvis’ recurring flashbacks of Arthur Crudup, as well as regular appearances from Sister Rosetta Tharpe (Yola), one of the founding bastions of Rock and Roll.

The Imitation and Flattery of Elvis Presley

Elvis Little Richard and Sister Tharpe in Elvis
Warner Bros. Pictures

As the supremely articulate Oscar Wilde pointed out, “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery,” yet Elvis’ resemblance on stage to that of his Black exemplars was, by some, deemed as cultural theft (or 'appropriation,' as it tends to be termed). In their eyes, he had stolen a part of a people’s identity, and as a white man, he was automatically an enabler, therefore was given a platform to introduce this music to a previously untapped, white audience.

However, Elvis doesn’t allow for any form of deviation, constantly reminding the viewer what went amiss during Elvis’ heyday; that his soaring success as the nation’s sweetheart was down to the gospel choirs, the juke joint performers, the deliberately forgotten people by those in the racially prejudiced police force and the white men in their designer suits, sitting behind their escritoire at record labels, not by Elvis himself.

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“You could make a hell of a lot more money than that kid could ever dream of,” B.B. King exclaims to Elvis as they stand and admire another promising young talent, Little Richard (Alton Mason), and that line is plausibly the most poignant in the entire film. Little Richard possesses all the vitality and pizzazz of Elvis, yet he’s just “another Black guy” making music that is simply indigestible to the racist, white pop culture of the time. When Elvis performed it, his whiteness acted as a buffer between the racism of his contemporary audience and the culturally Black source material.

Elvis Singing on the Shoulders of Giants

Elvis played by Austin Butler
Warner Bros. Pictures

Whilst Elvis is unequivocally both a legend of the music industry and a cultural icon, he himself was almost paradoxically like those tribute acts. Not necessarily an impersonator, but an immensely talented musician heavily influenced by his surroundings, and due to the lack of acceptance of Black artistry at the time, his aptitude and ravishing good looks made him the ideal face of this supposedly ‘newfound’ genre of Rock and Roll.

Elvis both respects and dissects the titular 'king,' but also serves as a lesson in dispelling the falsehood that he was the founding father of Rock and Roll, whereas if it wasn’t for the likes of B.B. King, Sister Rosemary Tharpe, and Arthur Crudup, there may have never been an Elvis. In an ironic twist, this film about one of the most revered white musicians of all time actually shines a meaningful lot on some great Black musicians.