Line #7 Film/ThatsTheWayOfTheWorld


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/thats_the_way_of_the_world_film.jpg]]
2
3	''That's the Way of the World'' (also released as ''Shining Star'') is a 1975 drama, produced and directed by Sig Shore (the producer of ''Film/SuperFly'').
4
5	Coleman Buckmaster (Creator/HarveyKeitel), the star RecordProducer at A-Kord Records, is busy with his passion project: an album by an eclectic {{Funk}} band called The Group (Music/EarthWindAndFire), who he thinks has the potential to hit it big. But he's forced to put it on the back-burner when the label asks him to produce the act ''they'' think is the next big thing: a middle-of-the-road family group called The Pages, who they signed more for their clean-cut image than their actual talent.
6
7	Coleman makes it clear that he thinks The Pages--lead singer Velour (Cynthia Bostick), her brother Gary (Jimmy Boyd)[[note]]Yes, the guy who sang "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" when he was a kid[[/note]] and their father Franklyn (Bert Parks)--are a waste of time, but he has no choice in the matter. Smarmy label president Carlton James (Ed Nelson) and his [[TheMafia Mafioso]] backers have invested tons of money in The Pages. So Coleman swallows his pride and uses every studio trick in the book the turn their hokey song "Joy, Joy, Joy" into something listenable.
8
9	Meanwhile, The Group is growing impatient with Coleman, and even leak a copy of their song "Shining Star" to a radio station. Coleman tries hard to balance the project he ''wants'' to do (The Group) with the one he ''has'' to do (The Pages), but things get incredibly messy when Velour Page entices him into a romantic relationship. However, he starts to realize that for once he can use sleazy music industry politics to his advantage.
10
11	Notable as one of the more extreme examples of BreakawayPopHit ever. The film itself got hit with bad reviews and quickly disappeared, but the soundtrack album was the GrowingTheBeard moment for Earth, Wind & Fire. The album was their BreakthroughHit, with "Shining Star" and the title track becoming classics of TheSeventies.
12	-----
13
14	!!"Tropes of fire creates love desire":
15	* AbusiveParents: Late in the film, Velour tells Coleman that her father sexually abused her, though it's not clear if she's telling the truth or lying for sympathy and[=/=]or trying to come up with an excuse to leave the family group and go solo.
16	* ArcWords: "That's the way of the world."
17	* BandOfRelatives: The Pages consist of a father and his two young adult children.
18	* BitchInSheepsClothing: Velour seems innocent but proves to be quite the self-centered manipulator, romancing Coleman as a means to advance her career.
19	* {{Blaxploitation}}: Sort of skirts the edge of the genre. It was made by the producer of ''Film/SuperFly'' and features a soundtrack by a prominent R&B act, but none of the main characters apart from The Group are black. Still, the theme of the lone rebel trying to beat The System has some commonality with the typical Blaxploitation plot.
20	* CelebrityParadox: There's an Earth, Wind & Fire billboard visible in one scene.
21	* CreatorCameo: Sig Shore (credited as "Mike Richards") plays Norman Shulman, Coleman's chess-loving mentor and former head of the record company.
22	* ADogNamedDog: A group called The Group. When Coleman and the record company actually discuss them, it amusingly sounds like a case of YouKnowTheOne.
23	* FourthDateMarriage: Happens to [[spoiler:Coleman and Velour]], except [[spoiler:Coleman staged the wedding and she wasn't aware the marriage wasn't valid]].
24	* FunTShirt: Gary Page wears an "Enjoy Cocaine" shirt to a recording session, which is meaningful since we've already seen that, contrary to the family's squeaky-clean image, he's an avid drug user.
25	* JiveTurkey: Early (played by Maurice White), the leader of The Group, actually calls Coleman this during an argument.
26	* LargeHamRadio: Two of the RealLife [[TropeMaker Trope Makers]], New York radio legends Murray the K and Frankie Crocker, both appear.
27	* LesserStar: Coleman quickly realizes that Velour should be the focus of The Pages, because Gary and Franklyn don't have much to contribute in terms of talent or charm.
28	* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: The Pages are meant to just be a generic bland family pop group, but since there's a wholesome, pretty brunette with a hidden dark side and her drug-addled brother, it's hard not to think of them as {{Music/Carpenters}} stand-ins. The presence of the father in the group seems like a nod to The Cowsills, who had their mother in the band (and of course Series/ThePartridgeFamily was based on them too).
29	* [[OneBookAuthor One Film Actress]]: Surprisingly, this was Cynthia Bostick's only film (she did some television work too). Almost all the reviews seemed to agree that her portrayal of Velour was one of the film's highlights.
30	* OutOfFocus: The Group largely disappears in the second half of the film.

Context Film / ThatsTheWayOfTheWorld