Inauthenticity as a Disruption of Neoliberal Resilience Discourse in Brady Corbet'sVox Lux

Abstract

Brady Corbet's Vox Lux (2018) depicts school shooting survivor Celeste's transformation into a singing superstar, connecting the trauma of a terrorist attack to the phenomenon of musical celebrity. In so doing, the film narrativises the relationship between the pop singer and neoliberal resilience discourse that has been explored by music philosopher Robin James. Mobilising Jacques Rancière's definition of political art, this article suggests that, rather than endorsing the resilience that it depicts, the film formally critiques the neoliberal function of pop stardom by disrupting the pleasurable affect associated with pop music and celebrity. Whilst Raffey Cassidy's performance of the soundtrack was praised in many reviews, the performance of Natalie Portman (playing the older Celeste) was criticised for its inauthentic delivery. Far from being a weakness of the film, my reading suggests that it is in the formal discord between the pleasurably resilient affect of the music and Portman's laboured performance that the film's political-philosophical critique of neoliberal resilience discourse comes to the fore. Taking an interdisciplinary approach grounded in the perspectives of political philosophy, girlhood studies, and celebrity studies, this article proposes that Vox Lux interrogates the neoliberal function of celebrity through a formal disruption of the pleasurable affect associated with the resilient pop star's musical performance.