What We Learned from The Trailer for “Respect”

It’s bound to happen that Aretha Franklin’s story will either be blown out of proportion just a bit or something will go missing when Respect is released in August, and one can bet that people are going to notice, especially her lifelong fans that have been able to find each and every piece of music she’s ever performed. With that in mind, there are certainly going to be those that will write down online what they feel is wrong with the movie and what was right, but the hope is that those that watching the movie will get more out of than the need to tell tales of how this or that didn’t happen and how they found inaccuracies all the way through it. Someone might need to publish another book on how to watch a biopic as an audience member and not as a critic if only to make people aware of how a biopic will eventually differ from the real-life story of a celebrity. But apart from that, the Respect trailer is making it very clear that we’re going to see the early life of Aretha Franklin all the way to her fame and fortune days. How far the story will go is hard to say, but it does feel as though her younger years will be covered quickly and show the more influential aspects that helped to define who she was and how she came to be one of the greatest singers of all time. Jennifer Hudson looks pretty good as Franklin and the rest of the cast appear to have been picked quite well for their acting abilities as well as their looks. As far as her voice goes, let’s face it there was only one Aretha Franklin, but Hudson is no doubt going to be doing quite a bit, if not all, of the singing, and her voice is definitely up to the challenge.

There is a lot to be said about Aretha Franklin and it’s fair to say that people have done everything but deify this woman since that might be one step too far, or not far enough in the estimation of some folks. But during her life, she managed to do so much for others that it’s not hard to see why some people would liken to her someone that only a step away from divinity. As one of the top singers of her time and one of the most respected of any time, Aretha was someone that blazed her own trail once she was able and wasn’t looking to let anyone tell her what to do when it came to her career. Again, how much of this movie is factual and how much is an exaggeration is up for grabs at the moment since there are plenty fop people that are well-versed in Aretha’s life that could likely tell anyone that was interested how things really were. From the trailer though it does look as though her life will feature certain moments that some people will question and therefore go online to discuss and debate with others. That’s pretty normal for a biopic since directors do take liberties now and then when it comes to telling the story of a person in their own voice and without taking everything into account as it pertains to reality. Sometimes it’s simply an attempt to spice up the story a bit and make it more interesting since the moment in time that the director is after might be vital, but the truth is sometimes a little too dull to show an audience.

A legendary singer such as Aretha Franklin didn’t have a perfect life as some might want to believe, and any that do believe it even after reading her biography might need a serious lesson in realism. But her life was interesting, that much is evident, and it’s bound to happen that we’ll see this unfold in Respect in a number of ways that will be aimed at entertaining as well as informing the audience who she was, what she was about, and why she was an important part of society. There have been quite a few biopics that have come along in the past couple of decades and there are still more that are being planned in the months and years to come. The general feeling towards biopics is that they’re designed to inform people about iconic celebrities and tell a story that’s not always one hundred percent true, but adds to the legend that these people eventually became. In some ways, there’s no harm in this since it entertains the masses and allows the celebrities to keep their status in the eyes of many. The only downside that can be found is when people start believing everything they see on the screen without bothering to read the actual histories of the individual.