The Notion of "Dylan-as-the-One" in Dont Look Back
by Derek P. Rucas
In Jeanne Hall’s article “Don’t You Even Just Watch? American Cinema Verité and Dont Look Back” she states that, “Dont Look Back…[is] ‘a revolutionary step and a breaking point in the recording of reality in cinema.’” and that, “…the Drew Associates recorded the exploits of…musicians…in ‘crisis moments,’ treating them all ‘equally’ (if not ‘objectively’) as celebrities, and finally subordinated them to the real star…” (Hall 223) However, the notion of equal and objective treatment and the “reality in cinema” is problematized while examining Susan Knobloch’s article “(Pass through) The Mirror Moment and Dont Look Back: Music and Gender in a Rockumentary.” Although D.A. Pennebaker claims that Dont Look Back expresses an impression of “reality” during Bob Dylan’s tour of England in 1965, this observational style of filmmaking is indeed contrived to portray Dylan (as Knobloch puts it) in the role of “Dylan-as-the-One.”
This notion is first realized with the depiction of Joan Baez’s character. Pennebaker minimalizes her presence throughout the film. One might assume that she is a friend or even a girlfriend that Dylan brought on tour. This is conceptualized because Baez is lacking vocal presence. When she does speak, the dialogue does not lend to the text and is therefore of minimal importance. Pennebaker utilizes the filmic strategy of the male gaze to fetishize Baez by framing her face in extreme close-up while she sings a song in Dylan’s hotel room. The camera eventually pans away from Baez and frames Dylan typing on a typewriter. This technique objectifies her for the male audience to look at, while reinforcing Dylan’s “Dylan-as-the-One” authoritative status.
This subordinate/dominant relationship is also purported with respect to Dylan’s fans. Hall contests this by stating, “…in Dont Look Back Dylan is neither ‘hostile’ nor ‘nasty’ to fans…Indeed, he is consistently patient and polite to them—even in situations where one might well grant him the right to be testy.” (Hall 227) The meaning of “hostile” and “nasty” are subjective. Knobloch refutes this claim by acknowledging that Dylan’s fans are “happy enough” (again, another quasi-term.) Pennebaker expresses this by showing Dylan speaking with his female fans. The shot starts on a girl that is speaking to Dylan. Pennebaker slowly pans away from the girl and frames Dylan speaking to one of her friends who is in closer proximity. The camera pans back to the first girl, who now looks disappointed and remains silent. Whether Dylan’s intent was malicious or not may be further disputed, however Pennebaker did decide to leave this piece of footage in the final cut. The hierarchal fan/celebrity relationship depicted here indeed promotes the “Dylan-as-the-One” ideology.
Hall acknowledges, “The notion that we might have greater access to the truth ‘just by looking.’” (Hall 226) This notion is void when Pennebaker makes the conscious decision to edit out part of the scene where Dylan and Donovan have an acoustic guitar play-off. When Donovan is playing his song, we can hear Dylan on the audio track verbally overriding his performance. Now it is Dylan’s turn to play. During Dylan’s performance the room is silent while he drives out a harder, improvised acoustic version of one of his hit songs. Upon completing the performance, Dylan lightheartedly asks Donovan, “You wanna hear—you wanna do another song?” Pennebaker visually edits this part out, but you can still hear the duet on the film’s soundtrack. Knobloch asserts that Pennebaker reduces Donovan’s status to “seer” and not “doer”, thus supporting the film’s rhetorical stance.
Dont Look Back is a contrived film where Pennebaker supports the notion of “Dylan-as-the-One” as described in Knobloch’s article. This is first acknowledged with the minimalization of Joan Baez’s voice/role and the objectification of her character. Pennebaker reinforces this stylistically with the use of camera techniques such as extreme close-up shots to fetishize Baez. Hall’s statement about Dylan not being “hostile” nor “nasty” is contested in the mis-en-scene when Pennebaker consciously decides to pan from Dylan to a female fan who has been ignored by the musician. Pennebaker has also contrived the text when portraying the pseudo-feud between Dylan and Donovan and editing out Dylan’s lighthearted sentiments toward the guitar play-off. These elements lead to Pennebaker’s ideological notion of “Dylan-as-the-One” while seemingly portraying the “truthful” experience of traveling with one of America’s top folk stars during his 1965 tour of England.
Bibliographic Information
Rucas, Derek P. "The Notion of "Dylan-as-the-One in Dont Look Back." Film Articles and Critiques. 1 Nov. 2003 <http://www.angelfire.com/film/articles/dylan.htm>.
transcribed by Derek P. Rucas
