plant, a stick is thrust between the
spokes of Javed’s runaway ambi-
tions. Does he follow his dreams
and head North for university in
Manchester or stick around and
help support his family by taking a
soul-crushing factory job? It’s here
that Blinded by the Light takes
a step back from the exuberant
positivity of Springsteen’s Ameri-
can dream iconography to exam-
ine the realities of following your
aspirations. Springsteen may have
gotten out of Asbury Park, but he
didn’t have a struggling immigrant
NJ STAGE - ISSUE 61
family to take care of.
Chadha’s film recognizes too that
not everybody shares the same
dreams, and that we should under-
stand we don’t have a monopoly
on how we should live our lives.
Javed’s initial obsession with The
Boss gives him a newfound con-
fidence, but it also turns him into
something of a narcissist, looking
down his nose at the pop music
he once enjoyed. Javed has a mo-
ment of clarity when he reluctantly
accompanies his younger sister to
a daytime disco. Initially donning
INDEX
NEXT ARTICLE
24