Jude Quinn

Jude Quinn is a character from the movie I'm Not There directed by Todd Haynes. It is played by the Australian actress and Golden Globe winner Cate Blanchett. Quinn is one of the six "Dylans" in the movie.

Larry Gross, the author of The Lives of Others: I'm Not There, states that Jude Quinn is one of the avatars of the movie representing one of Bob Dylan's phases. It is the avatar that most resembles Dylan and appears most throughout the film. He represents the "electrified" Dylan; in other words, one of Dylan's most important life periods. This period marks Dylan's change and transformation: he revolutionized folk/traditional music by adding electrical elements. He defied people's ideas of folk/protest songs and suggested something different—to him, the truth. People labeled him "folk singer," "prophet," etc. Fans had an idea of him, but Jude Quinn represents a different idea than they had in mind. His musical transformation was the musician and songwriter declaring his independence, that he did not belong to people.

Some of Bob Dylan's most famous interviews are shown in the Jude Quinn sequence, such as the interview with TIME Magazine, where the journalist offends Dylan by asking if he cares about what he sings. Thus, the Jude Quinn phase shows how the singer was misunderstood, not only by fans but also by journalists who never really asked the right questions. The Jude Quinn sequence ends with Dylan's motorcycle incident, but this scene is shown at the beginning of the movie, so it is not chronologically ordered. His motorcycle incident marks the end of his popularity.

Why choose a woman to play this particular avatar? According to an interview with the Boston Globe, Haynes stated that he wanted to find a method of capturing the "shock" of the electric Dylan, "the newness" of it. “It’s why I wanted to cast a woman to play him in 1966, because at that moment, physically, the music he was producing, is one of the most famous Dylans. But the shock value of that, the strangeness of it, the weirdness of that body and [those] hand gestures and hair and the way he talked, is something that we’ve lost.” Therefore, choosing a woman to play Quinn represents not only Dylan's musical revolution and transformation but also a revolution in cinematography. Todd Haynes deviates from normal Hollywood standards and pushes boundaries by casting the incredibly talented Cate Blanchett instead of a man. Moreover, "Jude" is a unisex name that reinforces the androgyny the character represents. Dylan is for anyone and can be anyone who relates to him. On the other hand, "Jude" comes from "Judas," the betrayer of Jesus in the Bible. Thus, it suggests that Jude is a traitor because he changed his musical style. This meaning is shown in the film: there is a scene where Jude performs at a concert in London and his fans scream "Judas."

References

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