Art is essential in life, and its progression helps build the artists and send a message to the audience. The film “Where the heart is” portrays different forms of art ranging from photography to music. There is effort that artists put to become better and relevant in their specific fields and these determine their success or failure. One of the characters in the film, Willy Jack, is into music, and he helps depict that art, in this case music, is a form of labour. Creating and sharing music is challenging since one has to evolve from one stage to another until one can portray professionalism in music so it is a form of labor.
Willy Jack starts a journey together with his girlfriend from Tennessee to California to pursue music. It is evident at that point that his life is miserable, and he has nothing to show for his art. The desire to become a music professional drives him to seek greener pastures in California (Williams, 2:00 – 5:00). The need to move to a different place to pursue music indicates that it is a form of labor since one must be willing to sacrifice what they are already accustomed to so they can attain what they desire. While on the road, Willy Jack sings along to the music playing in the car, and he is awful. Willy Jack is a no-good country singer, and from the beginning, it is a struggle for him. He lacks rhythm, a proper tone, or an ideal intonation in his singing (Williams, 3:10). Singing along indicates his need to practice his craft, which is tough, and one has to be intentional to get better at it.
Willy Jack gets arrested and is put in jail for being with a 14-year-old hitchhiker thief (18:00). While in prison, he composed songs and played the guitar (Williams, 42:00). The need to be consistent with his craft indicates that music is labor since it does not matter where one is; one must work on their craft to improve where they are not doing well (Abfalter, Dagmar, and Rosa 238). Willy Jack is willing to take the hard road of doing it on his while in the cell since those around him make him struggle to develop his music. He is consistent and relentless in singing and playing the guitar which causes his cellmates to have confrontations with him (Williams, 42:20). Nonetheless, Willy Jack is committed to improving his music since he considers it the only way out for him to do well in life. As a musician, he struggles to make peace with his surroundings and create something meaningful out of it. The fights with the cellmate indicate that one can encounter hurdles that hinder progress, making music a form of labor.
Music requires effort and commitment, which one may not achieve alone. The film portrays an aspect of Willy Jack’s willingness to be humble and look for help to ease the labor of a breakthrough. When Willy Jack leaves prison, he looks for signings and gets himself an agent to help him with his music career (Williams, 57:11 – 59:00)). The move indicates that it is not easy to advance in the music profession without a helping hand and the need for support and agency portrays a form of labor (Abfalter, Dagmar, and Rosa 238). The agent is concerned that Willy Jack will not appeal to his audience and thus opts to invest in his looks to ensure he catches the attention of those who watch him play his music at the live performances that the agent gets him. The agent works on him by grooming him to be better and getting him a better and perfect look for live performances (Williams, 59:25). She makes sure Willy Jack looks like a musician so he can get attention from the audience. The need to ensure one looks good and appeals to the audience indicates that one has to labor to make the audience notice them and pay attention to the music.
Live performances are where many upcoming musicians start, and Willy Jack’s agent ensures he has such encounters. Participating in such activities indicates that one must be humble to attain progress when pursuing a breakthrough in the music industry. Some of the performances that Willy Jack attends are in clubs where his safety is risky. Those in the band with him often get attacked, and he is worried that the clubs are not safe for him as a musician (Williams, 1:00:00). he considers the returns minimal compared to the risks, but his agent hears nothing of it. The risks that Willy Jack has to endure to get a chance at getting people to listen to his music on the radio someday indicate a laborious effort to grow and advance in his music career. The agent initially promises Willy Jack that he will be on the radio within two years. Willy Jack trusts his agent and exercises patience to achieve his goal. When he clocks two years without getting on the radio, he confronts his agent, who tells him to be more patient. The agent says he should wait three years if the two years are already over. The scene indicates that getting a breakthrough in music and having one’s music on the radio is challenging and requires lots of labor in creating, being patient, and exposure to a wide audience.
Willy Jack puts in work and finally gets a chance to be on the radio. The efforts to create and seek an opportunity for airplay have finally borne fruit, and Sister Husband and Americus sing along to the music. They relate to it since they have mastered the lyrics to the extent of annoying Novalee (Williams, 1:01:00). Novalee notes that she does not like the musician’s voice and switches off the radio without knowing who the musician is or the effort willy Jack, the composer of the song, has put into getting his music to play on the radio.
Willy Jack’s main goal was to get to the radio, and his struggles with his music career forced him to attempt to look for another agent. He desires to do things differently, which indicates that, at times, the effort one puts into the music does not pay off, and one must labor to seek other viable options that may be beneficial (Abfalter, Dagmar, and Rosa 238). Willy Jack’s official agent finds out about his engagement with another agent, and they have a confrontation. The agent is bothered because of the effort and labor she has put into getting willy Jack to his current position, and she is unwilling to let her labor go down the drain. Besides, she has received an allegation that one of Willy Jack’s compositions is not his, and an old cellmate from Willy Jack’s days in prison claims he composed it. The occurrence is a hurdle, and handling it is labor. Willy Jack does not know what to do and asks his agent to help him.
The labor along the way in the search for a breakthrough is tough and adversely affects Willy Jack, whose expectations and reality do not align. Willy Jack is frustrated with the progress of his music and starts to indulge in alcohol. When one begins to derail from the labor, it becomes difficult to maintain the track of getting a breakthrough in music. One must be consistent and keep creating. Unfortunately for Willy Jack, his addiction gets excessive, and he ends up in a train accident that causes him to lose his legs (Williams, 1:45:07). Due to the accident, he cannot continue pursuing his music career and thus returns to his hometown. His efforts become a worthless pursuit since he loses it before he gets an ideal breakthrough.
The film depicts that art is a form of labor. It sheds light on how Willy Jack composes, performs, and manages his music with help from the agent. Willy Jack’s working practices are marked by insecurity, precarity, and lack of a breakthrough. The experiences are tough, and the investments the musician has to make to get airplay shows he puts in work. The labor is a worthwhile pursuit since he gets his music to play on radio.
Works Cited
Abfalter, Dagmar, and Rosa Reitsamer. “Music as Labour: Inequalities and Activism in the Past and Present.” (2022): 238.
Williams, Matt. “Where The Heart Is.” YouTube, 20th Century Studios, 2000, www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mbOOBmEcNk&t=31s.
write