content: "Brian Slade" is the villain of the film. He is, of course, the Bowie composite. The viewer is meant to dislike him very much. The real Bowie wasn't involved with, nor did he let his music be used in the film. Although he was the genius of glam (as songwriter, producer, visionary and the man who musically wrote then closed the book on it) there has always been a kind of a backlash jealousy about his supernova status such that Lou Reed, Iggy Pop and Brian Eno have all acknowledged it. The movie is something of a vendetta. Hedwig and the Angry Inch or Moulin Rouge are much better glam films.