You are here:

David Bowie: Five Years

Name: David Bowie: Five Years
Director: Francis Whately
Released: 2013
Duration: 90 min

Representation Score

8.8/10

Excellent

2013

TV-14

Director

Francis Whately

Runtime

90 minutes

Average Rating

No ratings yet

New Showbiz Analysis

David Bowie: Five Years is a deep exploration of identity and performance. It effectively frames Bowie's career as a series of deliberate disruptions to societal norms, especially concerning gender and sexuality. The film excels in showing how aesthetic choices serve as critiques of social constraints. It provides a detailed look at how identity can be shaped and transformed through performance. However, it lacks a broader sociological perspective on race and does not address specific disability representation.

Watch this, not that →

Category Breakdown

Does David Bowie: Five Years have LGBTQ+ representation?

Excellent

The film explores David Bowie's non-traditional gender expressions and queer aesthetics during the Ziggy Stardust era. It highlights how these expressions disrupted traditional gender norms.

How does David Bowie: Five Years portray gender?

Excellent

The documentary showcases Bowie's androgynous persona as a challenge to rigid gender roles. It examines how Bowie's character disrupted the conventional definitions of masculinity in the early 1970s.

How racially and ethnically diverse is David Bowie: Five Years?

Fair

The film recognizes the diverse musical styles and multi-ethnic backing bands. However, it focuses more on Bowie's individual creative process rather than broader sociological issues related to race.

How does David Bowie: Five Years represent religion and culture?

Good

The narrative emphasizes the fluidity of identity over fixed cultural norms. It explores how Bowie's personas deconstructed traditional social values.

Does David Bowie: Five Years include disability representation?

Fair

The documentary does not specifically address physical or neurodivergent disabilities. It touches on the psychological impact of fame but frames this through artistic personas rather than clinical disability.

Present on Screen

Explores non-traditional gender expressions and queer aesthetics.
Documents how androgyny challenged 1970s masculinity.
Provides a strong look at identity as a fluid, performative construct.

Limited or Absent

Needs a broader sociological examination of racial dynamics.
Requires more explicit representation of physical and neurodivergent disabilities.

Official Synopsis

Featuring a wealth of previously unseen archive, this film looks at how Bowie continually evolved: from Ziggy Stardust to the Soul Star of Young Americans, to the ‘Thin White Duke’. It explores his regeneration in Berlin with the critically acclaimed album Heroes, his triumph with Scary Monsters and his global success with Let’s Dance. With interviews with all his closest collaborators, David Bowie - Five Years presents a unique account of why Bowie has become an ‘icon of our times’.

How are these scores produced? →