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Identity and Authenticity of the Music Odyssey No Direction Home: Bob Dylan

  • Journal of Popular Narrative
  • 2026, 32(2), pp.357~386
  • DOI : 10.18856/jpn.2026.32.2.010
  • Publisher : The Association of Popular Narrative
  • Research Area : Interdisciplinary Studies > Interdisciplinary Research
  • Received : April 15, 2026
  • Accepted : June 15, 2026
  • Published : June 30, 2026

Sa-Bin Shin 1

1중부대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

This article examines the musical identity and authenticity of the documentary No Direction Home: Bob Dylan based on diachronic and synchronic discourse. The motivation for this study was to give meaning to the theme of the documentary: musical identity and authenticity. In this music documentary, the meaning of the artist’s attitude is rediscovered as Bob Dylan carries out his responsibilities as an artist (growth, exploration, and change as a musician). No Direction Home by Martin Scorsese establishes the artistic image of Dylan based on dialogue (interviews), scenes, and sequences, which help us interpret what we see on the screen. Furthermore, the documentary features not only performances and recordings from his early acoustic and electric era but also his studio sessions. This attempt highlights the identity of his music, changes in his performance, and the authenticity of his music in an interesting way. Director Scorsese mostly relies on interview footage and audio recordings throughout the documentary to hide his role while allowing the audience to interpret Dylan’s musical identity and authenticity as an artist. Scorsese’s production approach is made possible by Bob Dylan’s music and art, which are premised on the identity and authenticity that deepen and enrich the audience’s act of watching and listening. The aesthetic achievement of No Direction Home consists not in reproducing Dylan’s defined identity but in observing the authentic process of drift in his artistically uncertain identity. Dylan’s identity as revealed in this documentary is not a fixed one but a changing one, and his authenticity reflects faithfulness to change more than inner truth. Instead of simply providing external records about Dylan, No Direction Home explores intrinsic questions and aesthetic thoughts about the conditions under which an artist can perform creative activities.

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