La La Land – Deep Dive

Context –

La La Land was produced by Summit Entertainment for a modest $30 million in comparison to the $200 million budget for Rogue One released in the same year. However, the budget was a big step up for Chazelle, who first directed Whiplash in 2014 with a $3.3 million indie film budget in order to establish himself and gain funding for La La Land, his passion project. Chazelle and his college roommate Justin Hurwitz wrote the script and score for La La Land first, and after the success of Whiplash were able to secure Lionsgate’s support. The film was an unusual proposal for a big Hollywood studio and Chazelle was given artistic freedom, shooting it on location in Los Angeles in 42 days.

La La Land is a nostalgic musical genre film, looking back on early jazz and Golden Age of Hollywood cinema. Its release in 2017 perhaps reflects or offers the desire to escape during the Trump presidency, much as musicals were at their height as escapist entertainment during World War II. The film uses intertextual references, such as Sebastian swinging round the lamppost like Don in Singin’ in the Rain’, which evokes fond memories of the films and the period of cinema in which they were created. Chazelle also utilises the cinematography of the film to pay tribute to musicals, filming big musical numbers in seemingly one take (there are a few hidden cuts) just as classical Hollywood musicals did.

The film’s nostalgia has been criticised for its erasure of black influence on jazz and racial conflicts that are tightly linked with the genre. Additionally, the desire to look back is usually associated with conservatism, which is what contributed to the election of Donald Trump, with his slogan of ‘Make America Great Again’. Therefore there is an odd irony in the nostalgic sentiment the film conveys that reflected contemporary feeling, and the escape into the past that it provides from a turbulent time under the Trump administration.

Chazelle uses a 2:55:1 Cinemascope ratio in the film, which mimics the style of ‘Fred and Ginger’ musicals in the 1930s, but is rarely used today. This serves to display the vastness of Los Angles in addition to referring back to classical Hollywood. The film shows off LA in iconic locations, such as the Griffith Observatory, although the interior location had to be shot on a designed art noveau-style set because the real Griffith Observatory had undergone renovations which made it look too modern and did not fit the dreamy, nostalgic feeling Chazelle was aiming for.

Aesthetics –

La La Land blends the past and present in its aesthetics, from the use of the 2:55:1 aspect ratio, to the props and costumes. Apart from Seb’s 1982 Buick Rivera, most of the cars are modern including Mia’s Prius, which forms part of a visual joke about everyone in LA driving a Prius, but there is also the inclusion of some 1960s French and Italian cars to hint at the past.

The costumes in every scene are bright and colourful, from the variety in the opening ‘Another Day in the Sun’ scene to Mia’s bold blue dress for the party and her iconic yellow one. This shows the vibrancy of the people in LA and allows them to stand out from their backgrounds.

However, the backgrounds are also made beautiful, despite being typically bland locations, like the Freeway 105 in the opening number. The regular locations root the film in reality, but are coloured and lighted to give a more ‘fairytale’ feeling. This fits with Chazelle’s aim of making a “love song to Los Angeles” in the same way as other films have done to New York or Paris, for example, with their more recognised and typically beautiful setting.

A particularly aesthetically striking scene is the dinner at Sebastian’s apartment, with very dark lighting and green tones, which create a claustrophobic feel and reflects the intensity between the two characters, who are having an argument. Throughout the film, Chazelle straddles the line between reality and fantasy, using the film’s aesthetic to manage this. Particularly, the editing affects the response to the different scenes, with long takes in the musical scenes to allow the expansion of the film as it bursts out on the screen. In contrast, the more mundane, everyday life scenes have a much faster pace of editing.

Representation –

Age: Originally cast with Emma Watson and Miles Teller, Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling eventually ended up playing the parts of Mia and Sebastian, which changed the ages and perspectives of the characters. Instead of being fresh-faced, idealistic young adults, they became more weary and experienced. Sebastian particularly has a jaded and cynical perspective on life that would have not been possible with the younger Miles Teller. Similarly, Mia became more of a struggling actress who is fed up of the constant rejections rather than someone new to the game. This change in casting gives more urgency to the characters’ dreams, as they have spent (or wasted, as they sometimes feel) so much time on them already to the detriment to the rest of their lives.

Gender: The film has a male and female lead, which should provide balance, although there is some criticism that Mia is a passive character, fitting with typical portrayals of women in media and relationships. Sebastian takes charge by finding Mia to ask her out, persuading her to write and perform her show and driving her to her big audition. Additionally, she is encouraged to admire and support his artistic pursuits, as he teaches her to love jazz and she repeatedly watches his performances, whilst he fails to show up even for her opening night.

However, it is arguably Mia who drives the narrative, as we are first positioned with her and then follow the story of her success and fulfilment rather than Sebastian’s. The story explores her birth as an artist, as she ultimately creates something new with the film that breaks conventional casting and writing processes and makes her famous. In contrast, Sebastian is stuck in the past, recycling the old and only remixing when forced to by his friend. Therefore, it is Mia who achieves most success and is able to walk away from Sebastian with her new family and life at the end, rather than live in the past.

Ethnicity: There has been significant criticism for the lack of African-American representation in the film, especially with its focus on jazz which is historically rooted in black experiences. The only major black character in the film is Keith, played by John Legend, who is criticised by Sebastian for not staying true to what jazz really is. This is highly problematic for a white character to try and protect ‘pure jazz’, whilst suggesting his black friend has sold out to become commercially successful. Sebastian is also presented as the one to teach us and Mia about jazz, which is similarly problematic as he passes over the black influence on the genre.

Ideology –

Mainstream Hollywood films often present dominant ideologies, reinforcing societal expectations, often in terms of gender, relationships and power. La La Land initially seems to fit with the dominant ideology that heterosexual romance is most common and men are more active than women in striving for their dreams. Additionally, the idea of the American Dream plays a big part in the film, where both main characters believe they can achieve their high aspirations and they ultimately do, although as is typical for presentations of the American Dream, it fails to acknowledge whether everyone really can achieve this, including minorities. For example, whilst Keith is very successful with his modern jazz band, we see his success through the eyes of Sebastian, who views it as selling out and not a pure love of jazz, therefore this challenges the notion that Keith is happy, fulfilled and has achieved the American Dream.

The film does show a problematically nostalgic return to the past, glazing over racial discrimination, homophobia and gender inequality whilst it focuses on its white, heterosexual leads. It is almost self-consciously apolitical, and seeks to return to a world where this was accepted; Sebastian’s protection is of a jazz that was not political and not engaged with the Civil Rights movement.

However, through the character of Mia, the film is able to challenge the idea of nostalgia and question the benefits of living in the past. Although she has been criticised as a passive character and seems to fit with dominant ideology when she finds success, but also settles down with a family at the end, we can apply a feminist interpretation to her, which critics such as Anna Leszkiewitz have promoted.

The film initially positions us with the character of Mia as we discover her dreams, ambitions and struggles in life, whereas Sebastian only first appears as a main character after 17 minutes of the film. Additionally, Mia is always the audience member watching Seb, which contributes to the idea that she is passive, yet the camera is more often focused on her reaction to what she is watching, rather than the performance itself, suggesting her importance. Leszkiewitz supports this by arguing that “We rarely see [Seb] perform if not through [Mia’s] gaze, and we see her emotionally develop through her evolving reactions to his music.”

The first time Mia and Seb actually meet is in the restaurant where Seb is playing piano. Mia enters the restaurant whilst we are positioned with her, and the audience expects to see Sebastian through her eyes, thus inverting the male gaze; however, Chazelle cuts away before we see him and positions us with Sebastian in his car, taking us through his perspective before returning to the restaurant, where Mia and Seb’s gazes meet as equals.

Spectatorship –

Audiences respond differently to films based on factors such as where they watched the film, age and gender, all of which can have an affect on how they interpreted La La Land. In particular, the gender and racial criticism of La La Land shows that people can take an oppositional reading, where Sebastian’s obsession with jazz is self-indulgent and self-righteous, compared to Keith’s innovative and exciting take on jazz. The film has also been criticised for appearing a male fantasy about artistic integrity, in which Mia is a passive audience member, who supports him but fails to actively pursue her own dreams.

However, the film challenges what it is to be the audience: its intertextual references make the audience conscious that they are experiencing a film and creates an active role for them to spot the references. Similarly, in the film, Mia is a consumer of art and enjoys jazz, cinema and theatre, but goes on to be active in her role towards them; for example, she continues the movie date by taking Sebastian to the location in Rebel Without a Cause and uses the setting for her own purpose, rather than just mimicking the film. Mia is ultimately the one with the dream-life at the end of the film, we follow her from her house on her journey and then as she stumbles across Seb’s bar and whilst she again watches him, she is the active one able to walk out and back into her real life as a movie star, not just Sebastian’s girlfriend. This is perhaps not the preferred meaning of the text, which focuses on the relationship between the two and the dreams that drive their life, but the sacrifice that has to be made.