That's not alright mama

The launch of a new biopic about The King sees Nigel Williamson contend that Elvis Presley is long overdue some critical respect

- Nigel Williamson

Many of you will by now have seen Baz Luhrmann's movie Elvis, so I'm not going to review it here. Suffice it to say that if you haven't, you really should for the little-known Austin Butler is magnificent in the title role and conveys with an almost preternatural insight how Presley's early wildness was tamed and gave way to frustration, disappointment and finally suffocation.

Rather, let us use Luhrmann's film to reconsider Elvis' legacy, my interest in doing so piqued by a line in Charles Taylor's review in Esquire, in which he noted that Presley has: "never had the respect of high-culture arbiters".

If you think about it, this is decidedly odd. You don't have to agree with Taylor's contention that he was: "the most significant American cultural figure of the 20th Century" to accept the world is different because of him.