Digital artwork by Daniella Urdinlaiz

What is authenticity?

In Dominic Lees' article "Cinema and Authenticity," several answers to this question are explored. The Fidelity Model suggests that authenticity is achieved through the pain-staking accuracy of tiny set and costuming details invisible to audience members (Lees 200-202). Extreme research is used to ensure authenticity in other cases, and, Lees suggests, sometimes popular beliefs determine what is considered authentic. 

Lees argues that authenticity in historical fiction film is achieved through a combination of these things. Almost Famous used all of these things-- popular ideas about the time period were evident in the film: sex, drugs, and rock and roll. Research was done to ensure that actor portrayals and fashion choices were true to the time period. Tiny details were executed with precision: jeans were scavenged from thrift shops across the country. 

If that is all that authenticity requires, Almost Famous hit the nail on the head. 

The trailer focuses on William being manipulated by the band and accepting his "uncool" status 
(Click through for full screen)

The poster focuses on the beautiful and the cool

Unfortunately, what Cameron Crowe did to maintain authenticity within the production of the film, he undid after it was made. 

The Goldstein article illustrates this problem:

"the $60-million film is also a rarity in today's bottom-line-oriented Hollywood: an intensely personal story focusing on Crowe's turbulent family life and his early days as an impossibly young rock journalist. It's almost a contradiction in terms: an intimate big-budget movie" (Goldstein, emphasis added).

The authenticity of Almost Famous was used as a marketing strategy. In other words, authenticity has a lot to do with intent. If Almost Famous had been created in order to get to the root of humanity and still met the entire authenticity requirement lined up by Dominic Lees, the film could be considered authentic. 

The trailer combines a variety of shots, each focusing on William’s relationships with those around him and how he does not seem to fit in and hint at his decision to be true to himself. This does not necessarily undo the authenticity of the film, but since Crowe used the misfit trope to drum-up viewership for the film, its authenticity is tarnished.

The poster is a different story; it is a close-up shot of the beautiful Penny Lane with rock star Russell Hammond reflected in her sunglasses. The two people represented in this poster do not represent the authentic themes of the film. This shows that Crowe’s intent was not one of authenticity, but one of popularity.

In his interview with Patrick Goldstein, Cameron Crowe eliminates the possibility that his intentions bolster the themes authenticity. He tells the story of his first autobiographical article, the retelling of his first experience with sex. Crowe then relates the success of this article to Almost Famous, saying "I thought, maybe I could do a movie about really personal things, and it would be like my sex article. It would be the thing people liked the most" (Goldstein, emphasis added).

In the end, Cameron Crowe didn't write and direct Almost Famous in order to stay true to himself; he wrote it with career success in mind, rendering the authenticity of the film as a whole null and void.