La La Land Literary Elements

Damien Chazelle

Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling

John Legend, J. K. Simmons, Rosemary DeWitt, Finn Wittrock, Tom Everett Scott, Meagen Fay, Damon Gupton, Jason Fuchs, Jessica Rothe, Sonoya Mizuno, Callie Hernandez, Josh Pence

Romantic musical comedy-drama

English

14 Oscar nominations, 7 Golden Glob wins: Best Motion Picture, Best Performance by an Actor (Ryan Gosling), Best Performance by an Actress (Emma Stone), Best Director (Damien Chazelle), Best Screenplay (Damien Chazelle), Best Original Song (Justin Hurwitz, Benj Pasek, Justin Paul, for the song: "City of Stars"), Best Original Score (Justin Hurwitz.)

December 9th, 2016

Fred Berger, Jordan Horowitz, Gary Gilbert, Marc Platt

Modern day Los Angeles

Nearly the first twenty minutes of the film are from Mia's perspective. The film then begins again from Sebastian's point of view. The rest of the film mainly follows Mia's story and perspective, from her days as a barista to her eventual success as a Hollywood actor, but moves back and forth between Sebastian and Mia's perspective and their creative dreams and challenges.

Light and whimsical, in the tradition of the old MGM musicals - huge and spectacular musical numbers, within a real life setting.

Protagonists: Mia and Sebastian

For the majority of the film, the major conflict for both characters is their inability to realise their respective dreams. By the end of the film, Mia is a successful actress, as she'd always hoped she'd be, and Sebastian has set up his own jazz club. In another sense, the conflict that they share is that between their respective career ambitions and their budding romance. At the end of the film, when Mia and Sebastian are no longer together, we see the film's major conflict as that of balancing romance, or shared dreams, with the individualized dreams of a career.

The climax comes when Sebastian and Mia, having decided to follow their individual dreams, must part ways: Mia goes to Paris for her first film role, and Sebastian stays in Los Angeles to finally open his jazz club.

The opening lyrics of "Another Day of Sun" are: "I think about that day, I left him at a Greyhound station, west of Sante Fe, we were seventeen, but he was sweet and it was true, still I did what I had to do, 'cuz I just knew." Despite this romance being "true" and despite the fact that the boy is "sweet," the singer knows she's on her own path and has to honor that, which is exactly what happens for Sebastian and Mia.

In Mia's first audition she acts out these lines: "no, I'm happy for you. I am, I'm happy for you, I just...I just thought. I don't know what I thought..." During this section she gets tearful. It's clear that what her character says and what she feels are different. Later on in the film, although happy that Sebastian's band is doing well, Mia is not happy that she doesn't get to see him as much, criticizing him for veering off course: she thought he wanted to set up his own club. And so—as with the audition—although in theory she's happy for him, she's not actually happy herself.

Chazelle also gives us visual clues as to the direction of Mia and Sebastian's relationship. For instance, in the "Summer" section of the film, they drive off together in his car and all seems blissful. When they drive right, out of shot, it's not long before we see the car having to reverse; they'd gone the wrong way down a one-way street. This does not bode well for our hopes that their romantic path is clear.

"Not much to look at, hunh?" - Sebastian
"I've seen better." - Mia

At the end of the film, in the last section of "Fall," Mia and Sebastian have to come to terms with the fact that they may have to let go of their love to make room for their individual dreams. In this frame of mind, the understatement here—of how banal the view is, when, looking out at the city from Griffith Park, it is anything but—is moving. They're knowingly shying away from their feelings in all ways here, and looking back to the moment when they first connected and pretended that the night, and the chemistry they had, was nothing special.

In the last section of the film, we see Sebastian in his club. He's asked for a signature by someone who works for him who then adds, "not doing too bad, Seb." The whole film has been focused on these two characters and whether or not they will eventually realize their dreams. "Not too bad" is the dream, and he's made it.

Chazelle was drawn to the idea of making a traditional Hollywood musical that "got back to the roots of what the genre was about." He wanted the spectacle of the 50s and 60s musicals, but he wanted to ground it in today's world. It was important to him that the story felt human and intimate, even though it was painted on a fantastical canvas. And so the film goes back to the source of the Hollywood musical, where people break into song and dance because they feel, and feel deeply; but this explosion of color is balanced with a very real world, with two very real people at its center.

1) The film proclaims that it has been shot in CinemaScope, and in so doing pays homage to the Hollywood musicals of the 50s and 60s when CinemaScope had its heyday.

2) Mia points out the window that "Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman looked out in Casablanca."

3) Mia and Sebastian go and see the film "Rebel Without a Cause" and then take a trip to the Griffin Observatory, which features in "Rebel Without a Cause."

4) Sebastian's quick swing around the lamp post in the musical number 'A Lovely Night' is reminiscent of Gene's Kelly's turn around a lamp post in "Singing in the Rain."

"He's nobody yet." - Mia
On the phone to her mother, Mia explains that Sebastian's planning to open his own jazz club. It is paradoxical that Mia says Sebastian is "nobody"; of course he is somebody, and moreover a very significant somebody to her, but in terms of their dreams and in the way you are valued in LA, he is a "nobody."

"That’s L.A.—they worship everything and they value nothing." - Sebastian
The rhythm of this line gives it real emphasis. Although Sebastian is a little nervous here with Mia, he is clear about his feeling on jazz, thinking it is underappreciated - the clarity of his opinion really comes out in the rhythm and balance of this line.