On La La Land

Written in 2016.

La La Land: A Romantic Comedy of the Individual This past weekend, I went to watch La La Land, against trusting all my rational thoughts. Never really liked movies that dealt with romance, especially rom coms, and to top it all off, this was a musical. Not the most romantic guy on earth, and the prospect of watching some lovey dovey scenes really threw me off watching this. Finally, at the insistence of my gut instinct, I went, rationalising that I would want my money back.

First of all, I would have to say that I was grossly wrong, something that I have been forced to admit on a much more regular basis lately! I walked out of the movie theatre, feeling a sort of calmness, not sad, neither happy. Walking with my friends, discussing it, I came to realise that the movie was a mirage of all sorts, the true story did not lay in the romance of Mia and Sebastian, but it lay in the love for the courage in pursuing one’s passion, and the opportunity cost that came with it.

Frankly put, there were a lot of hints throughout the movie that stressed the incompatibility of Sebastian and Mia - they were repeatedly interrupted while trying to kiss, and when they finally did, it was in the air of the Griffith Observatory. A symbolic place, reminiscent of the Egyptian story of the gods Nut and Geb, the doomed lovers that can never meet as they represent the sky and the earth. They could only kiss at the cost of other person or side; even shown when Sebastian lived during the night while on tour with the messengers, and Mia during the day while working on her play. The pain of their separation was felt repeatedly, when Sebastian plays the iconic theme during the Messengers photoshoot, and when Mia looked out into the audience after her play “So Long Boulder City.” Their acceptance of their separation was finally shown after Mia’s audition, when she asked “Where are we, ” this time on the ground of the Griffith Observatory; they tried living in the in-between, signified by Mia’s question to Seb, but the reality of the situation forced them to take one side. The romance of the characters was in itself a high reach dream, a “La La” in the sky at the best, but it was fun and heartwarming while it lasted, especially with the comedic tropes of Sebastian’s car honking!

The movie was astounding in its attention to detail, from the costume design of the solid colors of Mia, to the warm Technicolor of the shoot. At one point or the other, Mia did wear all the primary colors of the color wheel (Blue, yellow,(red) magenta). She wore blue when she was alone working as a barista (Winter), yellow while the romance with Seb blossomed (Spring), and magenta when the romance with Seb was at its high point (Summer). But only at the end, did she actually wear black (a return to Winter), the combination of all the colors, signifying an acceptance of all the possible cases that could have happened with Sebastian, and perhaps more poignantly highlighted with the final montage of “what life could have been” playing as Sebastian plays the iconic theme. White was a perennial color, not showing purity, but showed an opposite theme. Sebastian and Mia both wear white when they are struggling, pointing out to that white was a symbol of struggle, an acceptance to their lifestyle of failures, or as Sebastian artfully put it, “Shanghaied!” But we have to see what their romance did lead to, and that, I would have to say was sort of the lingering points of the movie.

“I hate Jazz, ” says Mia, while looking Sebastian squarely in the eye. Sebastian takes Mia to a jazz club, and points out to her that Jazz is his life, and gets Mia to appreciate it in a form by the end of the movie (although I think she was lying when she said that she really likes jazz at the end). Jazz, Sebastian says, is of compromise and conflict, and of passion. A movie that takes on the heels of Sound of Music style classical singing, Jazz seems to be the hint that this musical was a modern take on it on the Golden Age of Hollywood Musicals, by bringing in the passion which was sort of missing from the 1950s musicals, even though there was plenty of compromise and conflict in those movies! From that point on, passion becomes the focal point of the movie. Sebastian brings Mia to pursue her passion of writing theatre, instead of repeatedly trying out in auditions, (albeit, it was quite funny to see Mia trying to be a cop, and a teenage hipster!). But we see while Sebastian brings Mia to realise her dream, Sebastian is forced to take a less than glamorous contract by his personal ideals with the Messengers. Keith’s words on being traditional v.s. revolutionary, really brings up the philosophical question of change, and perhaps points out the movie and audience in general, is it a traditional or is it a revolutionary musical?

Themes of Ayn Rand in her book The Fountainhead make a surprising entrance here. Howard Roark in The Fountainhead is a character who refuses to give up on his ideals throughout the book, and despite suffering many many setbacks, he rises to success. Ayn Rand stresses that this is not due to compromise, “an evil instrument to have ever have been created,” but to his own ego. Selfishness is not a vice, but a virtue is a proclamation present in the novel. We see that to be true in the musical; following one’s passion requires a degree of selfishness to be completely and truly successful. We see that in the final montage of “what life could have been,” if the two had compromised and lived in Paris, they would have been less successful than what they could have been at the present. Sebastian and Mia are selfish in their own paths and passions; I doubt passions can be shared equally between people, and I think passion is a reflection of one’s soul. Jazz represents that throughout the movie; I mean Whiplash Best Supporting Actor Simmons was in it! There is a lot of conflicts between groups and individuality in the movie - from the repeated references of individuals like Charlie Parker, Louis Armstrong, the one woman theatre show, to groups like The Messenger, etc. One of things I think that it resonated well with the millennials, and others alike, is it emphasis on individuality.

Growing up in the age where individuality has taken a massive step forward, we can see people following their passions much more often and succeeding. The average age of marrying has moved up by 6 years from 1990, and 9 years from 1970, signifying that people are much more freer than our grandparents for example were in the past but that does not mean that people are not in relationships. La La Land reflects that concept of relationships, a pair that works together to help each other pursue their passions without clipping each other’s wings Ending up together, as in the fairy tales and as the golden age of musicals, is still a romantic dream, but the realistic and the realism is that ending up together is not always the best and viable focus of relationships. The only song I that I could think of after La La land, was Maroon 5’s Payphone, and I believe that one of the reasons warm feelings that came off of La La Land, was the concept that selfishness isn’t necessarily always bad! This reflects a growing trend in movies from the fall of the USSR, the champion of the individual (The Pursuit of Happyness, Me Before You, etc.) La La Land juxtaposes and expertly blends this concept of individuality in the backdrop of compromise and conflict and that is what I believe made this movie/musical special.

In conclusion, La La Land was a beautiful movie, a romance depicted of not of the each other, but of each other’s dreams. The incompatibility of the movie’s protagonists was not too much of a surprise given the foreshadowing that had taken place earlier. La La Land should definitely pick up some awards at the Oscars. My prediction is a Best Actress for Emma Stone, her acting was superb; her eyes, as one of my friends put it , accurately reflected her soul. Ryan Gosling was good, but not particularly exceptional. I would also predict a Best Costume Design, Best Directing, Best Film Editing, Music (Original Song). Well, let’s find out at the 89th Academy Awards! But for me, I realised a new taste in my palate for romantic movies.