A Star is Born

Date

30.05.25

A Star is Born (2018)

Rated R

Directed by Bradley Cooper Production Company: Warner Brothers

Starring Bradley Cooper, Lady Gaga, Sam Elliot, Andrew Dice Clay, Ron Rifkin

A mega-famous rock star falls in love with a waitress, but can their love survive when her talent starts to eclipse his?

Opening Thoughts

Back in the day I was a charter member of the official Lord of the Rings fan club. One of the perks was that I got my name in the credits of all three Lord of the Rings movies. Yes, it’s really there, in the Fan Club section. Go check, I’ll wait.

Another perk was being invited to the annual Lord of the Rings Oscar party in Hollywood, which was held at a club a block down the street from the actual Oscar ceremony and was usually attended by numerous members of the cast and crew. I will never, ever forget my first Oscar party. I was in a slinky black formal gown, and a bunch of my friends and I had pooled together and rented a giant limo. We pulled up to the club, Lord of the Rings soundtrack blaring, and the car stopped and the door opened. I happened to be sitting next to the door and exited first, into a crowd of photographers and entertainment news reporters. I stood there, flashbulbs going off as someone stuck a microphone in my face, and for five seconds, no one knew I wasn’t famous. Then they realized I was “nobody” and stopped paying attention to me, but man, I will remember that moment for the rest of my life!

What do you think being famous looks like? Is it something you’ve dreamed of? Aspired to? As fun as my Oscar moment was, I really don’t have any desire to be famous…I’m a bit too much of an extroverted introvert. But I know there are people who will do anything to become famous, not realizing the pressures that come with fame. Read on for more in A Star is Born!

SPOILERS for A Star is Born here!

Singer Jackson Maine has just finished another successful rock concert, and has his driver take him out for a drink. He winds up in a drag bar, where he meets Ally, a woman who performs as a drag queen there. Enchanted by her voice, he invites her out with him, and they spend the night talking about his career and her singing. Ally confesses she doesn’t like to sing outside the drag bar because she has had people make negative remarks about her appearance. While she and Jackson are sitting in a parking lot talking, she shows him some lyrics she has come up with based on their conversation. Jackson takes her home but says he finds her attractive and would like to see her again.

The next day, Jackson sends his driver to pick up Ally and bring her to his concert. Ally and her friend Ramon go, where they initially watch from backstage. However, when Jackson sees she has arrived, he invites her out on stage to sing the song she wrote, which he has set to music. While initially resistant and shy, eventually Ally gives in and sings a lovely duet with Jackson. The two begin a relationship, with Ally often joining Jackson onstage to sing.

Ally lands an aggressive manager named Rez, who is determined to make her a star. She and Jackson continue to perform together, but as Ally becomes more famous, Jackson descends further into his drug and alcohol addictions, despite the efforts of his brother and manager, Bobby. At one point Jackson goes on a bad drinking binge and seeks refuge at his friend Noodles’ home, Ally finds him there and Jackson proposes. They marry in a local church.

Rez has Ally change her look and sing songs he gives her to sing instead of her own material. Jackson tries to talk to her about the changes he sees happening in her, and encourages her to stay true to herself, but Ally rebuffs him, calling him a hypocrite due to his struggles with his addictions.

Both Jackson and Ally are invited to the Grammys, Ally has been nominated for three Grammys and Jackson is scheduled to perform in a tribute to Roy Orbison. Jackson is drunk during his performance, and when Ally wins Best New Artist, he staggers onstage with her and wets his pants in front of the audience. Ally is furious and humiliated. Jackson enters a rehab program, and eventually he and Ally reconcile.

Jackson comes home as Ally is planning her European tour. She suggests to Rez that Jackson come along and perform with her, but when Rez rejects her idea, she cancels the tour. Later, Rez visits Jackson at home alone, and calls him an embarrassment and accuses him of ruining Ally’s career. Jackson, overcome by depression and the thought that he is hurting Ally, hangs himself in their garage.

Ally is grief stricken but she and Bobby console each other. The movie ends at a tribute concert to Jackson, where Ally performs a song Jackson wrote for her, introducing herself as Mrs. Ally Maine.

So What Did God Show Me?

-When Jackson first meets Ally in the drag bar, she makes the comment, “They always let me sing, I get to be one of the gay girls.” I find it kind of sad that Ally has been so wounded by other people’s opinion of her looks that the only way she feels comfortable is to hide herself in a drag queen persona. It’s heartbreaking that she can’t see past what others say of her and make her own way forward. Instead she chooses to pretend to be something she’s not in order to feel like she and her music have value. In a way it also sort of foreshadows her losing herself in a big “pop-star” image that her manager later creates for her. Jackson, (like God does for us) recognizes Ally for the wonderful person she is, just as she is, and gives her a chance to be something more.

You don’t have to do a thing to change yourself or make yourself better for God. God created each of us special and unique, and delights in our abilities. But even more than that, he delights in us. Just us.

-The night they first meet, Ally is sharing with Jackson why she won’t sing her own songs. But Jackson tells Ally, “Being talented is one thing. But having something to say and say it in a way people will listen to it, that’s a whole other thing…The one reason we’re here is to say something so people hear it.” These words resounded in me on an incredibly powerful level. Every single one of us has been given a message by God, a “mission” per se. God has laid a message on our hearts that He wants us to share with those we meet, it’s a facet of His heart that He meant us to share in our own and particularly unique way, to very specific people He will put in our path. No one else can share our message but us, because what we have to share is reflective of our own walk with God and what we’ve learned from Him.

Of course, the last thing the enemy wants is for us to share our message, so he will do everything in his power to shut us up and silence us. He will surround us with lies, fear, hardships. He’ll block our eyes and ears so we can’t hear God encouraging us. He’ll hide us away in places that make us feel “safe,” like Ally singing in the drag bar. Yes, Ally didn’t feel judged or threatened there, but that “safety” was also very effectively keeping her from sharing her own message.

What’s your message? Maybe it’s to remind people that no matter what, they are loved. Maybe to let them know how much they matter. Maybe it’s to call people to step out with their own message to share. Whatever your message is, remember, we can’t stay in our safe places forever…we have a job to do that only we can do!

-The first time Ally sings on stage with Jackson is my favorite scene in the whole movie! Here is where we really see Ally overcome her struggle with her fear, her anxiety, herself. Ally had been saddled with such low self-esteem because of what people had said about her looks, she’d taken on a whole false identity about who she was. She believed she had nothing important to say, nothing that people wanted/needed to hear. The enemy had done a really good job keeping her silent. But Jackson’s love, belief in her abilities, and gentle encouragement (“All you gotta do is trust me…”) enabled her to face her fear, take that jump, that leap of faith, and just do it, and that scene is such a rush for me because of that. She got out there because of Jackson, but once she was out there she was singing for herself, to everyone. When Jackson and Ally were singing together, his addictive needs disappeared, her fear disappeared, and it was only about the two of them, loving and enjoying each other.

It’s like that with God…we may be stuck in fear about our creations, thinking that no one wants them, or at least they don’t want them from us. But God reminds us that He’s the only one that matters…we play to an audience of one. Even better, He gets onstage with us and creates with us, and then everything else fades away and we are just creating with each other, for each other, enjoying every minute. And what is born out of that is magic!

We were made to create with God. He desires first to bring us out of ourselves and into intimacy, partnership, and fellowship with Him, but then out of that intimacy that we can only have with God, comes creative beauty we could never achieve on our own! Anything we create without God is ultimately going to only be “shallow.” Like the songs Ally later sings, it’s synthetic, not heartfelt. In contrast, when we create with God (even when He works through us without our knowledge – just look at so many movies/books/songs that speak to us that were created by secular artists!) it is rich and meaningful and something we could never have made on our own.

Before I read The Story of With by Allen Arnold I had been trying to create on my own, and all I was doing was striving, and my work showed it. Creating was a chore to me, and I was constantly frustrated and afraid that what I made was no good and people would hate it. Once I invited God into the process and started creating with Him, I stopped caring (mostly) what people thought about my work, or how I could make something “good.” I just enjoyed spending time with God! And it was just a bonus that it usually ended up with us creating something awesome because we did it together. He would pour out His love on me, and in response I made something to glorify Him and to express my love for Him. Suddenly it’s just like Jack and Ally enjoying each other and the music they create together, for each other.

I pray that everyone, everyone (because everyone in the world is a creative!) comes to know that creative intimacy with God…there is just nothing like it. Like Jackson, God’s out there saying, “All you gotta do is trust me…”

-“I don’t wanna lose the part of me that’s talented.” Ally’s talent is finally out in the open, and her new manager, Rez, has a whole huge plan for how to make Ally a star. Unfortunately, that plan is more about Ally’s new “look,” new songs, and how she sings them instead of what she’s singing. Rez is trying to change Ally into what he thinks she should be, and she’s not sure she likes it, but he’s manipulating her and succeeding because Jack’s not always there to tell her differently. In previous movie versions of A Star is Born, there were scenes depicting the “Ally” character (then known as Esther) being subjected to hair and makeup tests by Hollywood makeup artists, trying to mold her into the superstar they hoped to create, and Esther allows it because they’ve convinced her they know better. It’s a sad irony that in real life, Judy Garland, who appeared in the 1954 version of A Star is Born, was subjected to such treatment at the hands of movie studios, and her self-esteem was so damaged she became depressed and addicted to drugs, which eventually killed her.

The enemy will always try to point out to us how we’re not good enough, that who we are is not enough. He explains to us, as he did to Eve in the garden, in very reasonable-sounding ways that we just need to listen to him and he can show us a better way to succeed. But the enemy’s way is never the better way. It might be the easier way, the safer-feeling way, but ultimately all the enemy has in store is to steal, kill, and destroy us. He cannot stand that we bear the image of God, so he’s going to try and blot that out as much as he can.

You, yes you, bear the image of almighty God. So no matter how you see yourself, nothing could be “better” or more attractive to people than that.

-Ally and Jackson’s wedding is so great. First, they were already living together, so according to society’s rules, they really didn’t have to get married, they could have just gone on as they were. Also, instead of just going to a justice of the peace, they get married in a church. Their friends encouraged them to “anoint it,” and I love that. On some level at least, it was important to them to bring God’s blessing on their relationship and their marriage. This in turn showed how much esteem and respect they had for each other, and how much they valued their commitment to each other. I feel like that gets glossed over or ignored a lot these days so I love how much they honored entering into a marriage.

-Jackson is talking to Ally in front of her billboard, and he is reminding her not to lose herself in the process:

“If you don’t tell the truth out there you’re f-ed. All you got is you, and what you wanna say to people, and they are listening right now and they won’t be listening forever. Cause how you say it is the stuff of angels.” Jackson is warning Ally here, (probably because he’s been there himself) to not forget who she is, and that she needs to speak from her heart. He knows Rez isn’t interested in Ally’s message, he’s just interested in her popularity and how much money he can make from her career. Rez tells Ally what he wants her to say, instead of the message of her heart. The message God has laid on our hearts is at the epicenter of all true creativity, and when we try to create and share without the message, all we’re doing is spouting meaningless drivel, like the song Ally sings on Saturday Night Live. Ugh. Her “music” there is not saying anything…it’s just word babble about texting and shaking her rear end. Anybody can do what she’s doing…it’s completely artificial and totally the opposite of genuine creativity.

Watching this scene I felt like God was really poking me, saying “Hey, pay attention to this.” What message has God given me to share, now, while people are listening? Or even when they’re not? Like I mentioned before, He’s given us all a message to share, and the means to share it, and a platform to share it on, and people who will listen. No matter where you are or who you’re with, there’s always someone who will listen, because that is why God gave us a message in the first place. He’s not going to give us a message and then not give us anyone to share it with! We are his instrument! Be true to the message He’s given you and don’t agree to any substitutes, no matter what anyone else says.

-“Why can’t I be enough for you?” Awww, Jackson. Jackson sees what she’s becoming and hurts for her…he misses the creative intimacy they shared, and the beauty of her creations. He’s sad because she’s finding satisfaction in other things besides his love. When we rely on something other than God for satisfaction and strength it never works. Not only do we not get the strength or satisfaction we need, usually it saps us of what strength we do have and leaves us even hungrier than we were before, and the hole we dig ourselves into just gets deeper and darker.

Yeah, I’ve definitely heard God saying this to me. What could we possibly find in the world outside of what God offers? I’m ashamed to admit it but there are times when I do feel like God’s not enough for me. How can God not be enough? He’s all there is! And He is always there, waiting for us to return when we realize our need for Him.

-The cringeworthy scene at the Grammys shows you just how low Jackson has sunk, and it made me think about how much I hate what addiction does, not just to the addicted people, but the people who love them. Working as a teen mentor I had several clients who were either dealing with their own addictions or the addictions of their parents or loved ones, and it was heart rending to see these children and teenagers having to deal with such adult problems.

My father was a lifelong alcoholic, and I believe he suffered from undiagnosed depression as well. I loved him, but it was a hard thing to live with and was one of the reasons my mother divorced him. I can remember several times as a child when my brother and I would be visiting him and we’d make plans to do something fun like go to an amusement park, and then the plans would fall through when he’d drink too much and not be up to going out, and we would be disappointed. When I got older, his depression led to unintentional, or perhaps it was intentional, self-harm, and I had several scares where my father ended up in the hospital and I wasn’t sure if he would survive. Once when I was on the phone with him he threatened to shoot himself in the head because he didn’t feel like there was any use living anymore. He didn’t go through with it, praise God, but his unhealthy lifestyle did eventually lead to his passing in 2017. All of this was depressing, scary, and hurtful to go through, and I’m thankful that God was beside me, shielding me, guiding me, and strengthening me the entire time. I wish my father could’ve found it in himself to seek help for his problems and turn to God. If you struggle with addiction or feel like hurting yourself, I urge you to please seek help. Your life is important. What you have to say is important. Even if it’s hard for you to believe it, I promise you it’s true. The National Suicide hotline is 988, and if you feel unsafe, please call. You matter.

-When Jackson is at the rehab center, he takes time to apologize to Ally for his behavior. It’s so beautiful and important that he humbles himself and owns it like that. You can really see how difficult it was for him to confess, how it ripped him up inside that he’d not only hurt himself and damaged his own career, but that he’d hurt Ally, personally, so much. Saying we’re sorry, apologizing and asking for forgiveness is probably one of the hardest things we have to do as human beings, which is probably why we try to avoid it as much as possible. We say things aren’t our fault, we try to duck responsibility for our actions because nobody likes to humble themselves and accept blame. It’s embarrassing, humiliating to have to accept and own it when we screw up. And it’s scary!! It’s so scary to have to ask for forgiveness, especially to people we love and have hurt. What if they say no? What if they don’t forgive us? Horrifying. And when we have to come before GOD, and confess our sins and say we’re sorry and ask for forgiveness…that has got to be one of the hardest, most humbling things we ever do. But it’s funny, because God is so ready to forgive! He’s like the father of the prodigal son, so ready to forgive, and forget. And yet we have it all built up in our mind that we can’t be forgiven. Praise God He is faithful, and patient, and full of never ending love for us. If we can humble ourselves despite the hardship, being offered and accepting forgiveness is one of the most freeing things we will ever experience.

-Rez shows his true devious colors in his final conversation with Jackson. He’s a perfect example of the enemy who despises us and is going to do everything he can to keep us away from God. I hate how cruel Rez is to Jackson, especially when Jackson is trying so hard to rehabilitate. Rez crushes him, and all because he’s worried it’ll cost him some money and status. Unfortunately, Jackson listens to him, and believes Rez’s lies that he is only hurting Ally and her career, and is an embarrassment to her. Jackson, in the end, gives up.

The enemy will go to any lengths to keep us away and apart from God and keep control of our lives. To remind us of our sin, our failings, how we’re never never going to be able to leave it behind, that we’re always going to be trash and we can never be fully loved by anyone, and we’re just going to hurt the people we do love. His ultimate goal is to take us, like Jackson, out of the equation, permanently.

But the important, crucial thing to remember here is that you have a choice. You do not have to listen to the enemy, you do not have to believe his lies. His way is not the only way. If you turn to God, believe Him, listen to Him instead, He will make a way where there seems to be no way. I’ve seen it, He’s done it in my own life. I was trapped in addictive behaviors of my own that I thought there was no way to break free of. But God showed me that darkness, pain, and despair don’t last forever. The enemy would have you believe that they do, but they don’t. Forbear. Seek help if you need it. Go through it, knowing that you have God on your side. You only fail if you give up.

Closing Thoughts

In the end, Jackson is gone, and Ally is left alone. She has become famous beyond her wildest dreams, but at what price? In some ways, it looks like the enemy has won in taking Jackson out of the picture, because now that Ally isn’t distracted by Jackson and his needs, Rez can fully control her and use her to make his fortune, right? But when I was watching this movie to prep for this blog post, one small detail in the last scene jumped out at me that gave me hope for her.

Ally’s hair.

During the course of the movie, Ally starts off with naturally brown hair and minimal makeup. Her manager suggests she dye her hair platinum blonde, which she is horrified by, but finally agrees to a bright unnatural red which she keeps for most of the movie. Jackson clearly doesn’t like the changes, but conscious of Ally’s low self-esteem about her looks, tells her she looks beautiful.

At the end of the movie, when she is onstage singing the song her late husband wrote for her, Ally’s hair is back to the natural brown, and she is in natural looking makeup. She looks elegant as opposed to outrageous, and it’s far more attractive. I like to think that she was able to finally stand up to Rez and make decisions about her life and career on her own…decisions that she thought Jackson would have wanted for her, that were more true to herself.

I pray that you, reading this right now, remember who you are, and enjoy being that person. God delights in the person he created so much, and He has a message for you to carry to those who need to hear it. Never forget that, and how much He looks forward to your next creative endeavor.

Links I Like

The 1937 version of A Star is Born, starring Janet Gaynor and Frederic March
The 1954 version of A Star is Born, starring Judy Garland and James Mason
The 1976 version of A Star is Born, starring Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson
A Star is Born soundtrack on Spotify
”Making A Star is Born” featurette
”Shallow” sing-along video
Men at the Movies podcast episode where Paul MacDonald and I discuss A Star is Born.
National Suicide hotline: 988

What is the message God has given you to share? What is holding you back from sharing it?

Reading:
Romans 12:2

Challenge:
Examine yourself and see where you have been listening to the enemy’s directives instead of God’s. Then seek God’s forgiveness and embrace His freedom!