ABSTRACT
This article analyses David Byrne manipulation of the road movie genre in True Stories. The road movie genre, with its own specific codes and themes, claimed a recurrent presence in 20th century American cinema characterized by the protagonist’s progress and the process of unveiling the Other both in himself and in the spaces and peoples he is confronted with. I show how True Stories starts by simulating a revision of this genre while building an intense dialogue with pop culture, and the video-clip aesthetic, and culminates in a deep encounter with an American mythical structure anchored in an idea of social, economic, and personal progress.
