"Blinded by the Light" An exhilarating 80's youth movie where Bruce Springsteen's lyrics update a boy's world.

The power of words to overcome hate and family discord

The motif of a boy born into the working class who struggles in life is now a tradition in British films. Older examples include " Kes " (1969) by socially conscious master Ken Loach, and " Billy Elliot " (2000), in which Jamie Bell plays a boy who dreams of becoming a ballet dancer.

What the two films have in common is that they depict the difficulties faced by a white boy born into a working-class family in a mining town as he makes life choices that transcend class. In this film, the protagonist is placed in an even more difficult environment by being the son of Pakistani immigrants.

Furthermore, the historical background also weighs heavily on the protagonist. The story is set in the 1980s in Britain, a time when Prime Minister Thatcher aimed for a small government, cut welfare and medical costs, weakened union power, and caused workers to lose their jobs due to corporate rationalization. Far-right groups gained power all over the country and developed anti-immigration movements. Such political situations are interspersed throughout the play.

“Blinded by the Light” (c) BIF Bruce Limited 2019

Javed's family has also been subjected to hate campaigns, with the apartment building they live in even being vandalized with graffiti reading, "Pakistanis get out." They have been subjected to relentless attacks with heartless words (the rampant hate campaigns against foreigners in Japan are a very similar situation today).

In the midst of all this, Javed expresses his resentment towards his father, who tries to hold him down with old values, and his dissatisfaction with society in his own poetry. However, these words do not have power just by being written. Words only have power when they are released outward. At the urging of his Japanese teacher, he writes reviews of Springsteen albums for the school newspaper and works as an apprentice at a local newspaper in order to pick up the opinions of local residents, turn them into articles, and deliver them to the world. It is Springsteen's lyrics (words) that encourage him in these actions.

Discussions on social media today tend to be limited to battles of dominance, with hateful words generating more hateful words. This could be called a negative chain of words. In contrast, Javed transforms the words he received from Springsteen into his own words of blessing, embodying a positive chain that spreads throughout the world. With the power of his words, Javed frees himself from his small town and grows to the point where he can loosen his rigid and shriveled relationship with his father.

The words of the main character that moved Springsteen himself.