The effects of fidelity with "air guitar" in Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure (page 3)

The next significant occurrence of "air guitar" happens when Ted's dad is threatening to send him off to boarding school, which would in turn lead to the end of the Wyld Stallyns. While Bill fixes the situation with a prank phone call, through a window Ted tries to signal to Bill. It ends up that they are able to communicate with each other by using their "air guitars". Because they are able to hear each other play, it serves as a great means of communication for them and adds another angle to the complexity of their friendship. Before now, the fidelity of the "air guitar" was something that Bill and Ted had mostly for humor and effect rather than use. Now that they are able to use it to their advantage, the audience realizes that they not only have a unique friendship, but they have a special gift that allows them to communicate with each other, music.

There is one scene in particular that helps highlight the bond that Bill and Ted have, and makes the audience fully aware of the special nature of their gift. In their travel through time, they stop into a sleek room sometime in the future. We are not told exactly who the people in the room our, but by their costumes and demeanor, we can gather that they are quite important. When Bill and Ted get out of the phone booth (ie. Time-travel machine), the people begin to actively strum on "air guitars". Bill and Ted don't know what to think and can only reciprocate by doing the same motion. The group is worshipping Bill and Ted without them actually knowing it. Their "air guitars" are trying to emulate that of "the great ones". As to be expected, these people can extract no sound from their mock-instruments, and thus our suspicions are confirmed that Bill and Ted are truly special. If these admirers had been graced with the same fidelity of music and instrument as Bill and Ted, the meaning would be lost. As it stands, this scene helps us believe that Bill and Ted are "the great ones"

Continue to page 4 of "air guitar" in Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure