The highlight of my experience in this class was definitely watching all of the films. I typically never follow films closely or ever know what is in theatres and what’s happening in the movie world. However, this is not because of disinterest; it’s really because of a lack of free time. I would like to see more movies than I do, so that was an awesome plus of this class. A movie I had been wanting to see for a while was Mulholland Drive, and I loved it. I also really liked the last film we watched, Tangerine. Another highlight for me was the energy in class. I really enjoyed the humor and less formal vibe from our proffessor, which in turn made myself and my classmates around me feel more relaxed and open to be themselves and be humorous as well. I definitely met some great people in class.

Having family in Los Angeles as well as living very close to Los Angeles, I had a pretty realist (to put it nicely) view of L.A. and L.A. culture before this class. I would say most of my beliefs were confirmed. Those beliefs include the idea that Hollywood is fake, fame drives people crazy, and that L.A. has no culture, yet the “no culture” is the culture within itself. The culture of L.A. is the diverse melting pot of people moving there with big hopes and dreams. Mulholland Drive definitely proves my first idea of Hollywood being one big lie, and Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard supports the second idea of insanity caused by fame.

My least favorite text was Chinatown. I don’t have much of an argument; I was just bored. My favorite text we studied was either Sunset Boulevard, Mulholland Drive, or Tangerine. The first two I was so glad we were viewing because they are two classics that I had always meant to watch but never did. What made them 2 of my top 3 favorite texts we studied is that both movies actually exceeded my expectations. Tangerine on the other hand is one of my favorite texts that we technically did not really study, but did watch as a class, and it makes the list because I found it funny, engaging, and it taught some good lessons. Most of all though, it makes the list because it is a film I had never heard of before, and probably would have never seen if it wasn’t for this class. I really appreciate that about this class. Thank you for making me more cultured!!

In Nicolas Winding Refn’s Drive, driving plays a key role in the film as Ryan Gosling’s character is a get away driver for robbers. He tells all of his clients that they have 5 minutes to get back to the car or they are on their own. A huge portion of the film is centered on this part-time secret job of his. However, there are also scenes of him driving into someone else to kill them, like when he hits a car over the cliff and then drowns the man, or when he kills the car that came after him from the pawn shop robbery. 

   Lastly, there are even scenes of romantic driving, like when he helps Irene out with a ride and takes them to see the L.A. river. Drive would not be Drive without the act of driving. A myth that could be presented in Drive is that Ryan Gosling’s character is a bad guy as he is involved in get away driving and murder. However, he only does the driving portion of robberies and in the end all he cared about was protecting Irene and her son. He has probably only stooped this low as it seems he has no real job and this is necessary for him. The urban environment of Drive is more low class, dangerous, and mysterious. 

   On the other hand, in the film Mulholland Drive, driving plays a key role because the whole story develops from the point where Camilla survives a car crash. A necessary element of the movie is the fact that Camilla can’t remember who she is after the car crash. A myth presented in Mulholland Drive is that Hollywood is a fake system and the reality produced by that is Diane killing herself as a result of the mental trauma Hollywood had caused her. This relates to the urban environment of glamour, exclusivity, and social climbing as we see how tough it is to actually get to be a part of that luxurious Hollywood and fame and lifestyle.

Lynch’s depiction of Los Angeles is a mean one. He does quite the opposite of sugar-coating in his 2001 film Mulholland Drive. My takeaway message from the film is a statement about the Hollywood “system” of fame. I believe the plot/idea of Mulholland Drive goes something like this: a very specific and small set of people get to decide who rises to fame and who doesn’t because of their power through money and connections at the very top, however, the top is not glamorous; it’s mental torture and will eventually drive anyone to depression and/or suicide.

At least as how I perceived this film, Diane in her insanity caused by the Hollywood system, either dreamed or hallucinated a world where she was this more ideal version of herself, sort of like an alter ego, Betty. Betty displays irony, a characteristic of postmodernism, as she agrees with the elders who dropped her off in Los Angeles that she will be careful, yet as soon as she arrives in her aunt’s apartment and there is a strange woman, of whom her aunt never warned her, she is totally and utterly naive and trusting of her. Another example of postmodern irony in the film was when Camila sends a car for Diane to the “shortcut” to the dinner at the director’s house. She invites her, greets her very warmly, introduces her to other guests, all just to rip her heart out at the table by kissing two other people in front of her.

Mulholland Drive is the most maximalist style movie I have ever seen in my life. The movie has a quick pace, with unique wardrobe and color especially in the scene at Silencio. The film overall has a ton happening in it, bouncing from new character to new character with a ton going on at once, making it borderline impossible to understand the first time viewing the film at least without analyzing it afterwards. Therefore, Mulholland Drive without a doubt is a maximalist and postmodern film.

Billy Wilder’s Double Indemnity of 1944 is the epitome of a noir film: murder, a femme fatale role, of course lota and lots of smoking, and it is filmed in black and white. Neo-noir films aren’t too far off from a noir film, they’re just more up to the times of technology in film that weren’t around during the noir film era. Roman Polanski’s neo-noir film Chinatown of 1974 is similar to Double Indemnity in the sort of storylines of the lead male characters. Nothing really interesting or action-packed has happened to Walter of Double Indemnity or Jake of Chinatown in their careers. Walter is just an insurance man and Jake works as a detective for women who are suspicious of their husbands having an affair. However, being in the positions these men are in, they both somehow just end up in these extremely sticky situations that just so happen to lead to involving murder- something neither of their jobs originally entailed. Devil in a Blue Dress is similar to both of these films because all three include a femme fatale: Phyllis, Evelyn, and Daphne. Los Angeles isn’t really perceived as a great dreamy place in any of these films. For example, especially in Chinatown the whole movie is focused on corrupt aspects of Los Angeles lies about the water and drought. 

As the podcast 99% Invisible describes in episode 172: On Location, Blade Runner, directed by Ridley Scott in 1982, has an extremely dark setting and tone during the entirety of the film. Scott’s decision to use the Bradbury building as a location was strategic in the sense that the film is supposed to make the audience believe that this is what reality will look like in the far future of November 2019 in Los Angeles. The Bradbury Building is an iconic film location as it’s used in various commercials and films for many different kinds of scenes. Using such a recognizable set allows for the audience to connect more strongly to the idea that this really is Los Angeles in the future by showing them what a place to which they are familiar, (the Bradbury Building) looks like in this dystopian universe.

The building, although not what most people imagine when they think of a far far away future so different to that of the present, works for the specific aesthetic of the future Scott created for Blade Runner. Usually, when we try to imagine what a totally new future would look like we think of advanced technology for the good, an easier life due to world issues being solved, more effective ways of communication and transportation such as fancy flying cars. Well, while Blade Runner does have flying cars and advanced technology, they aren’t the cool bright flying cars one may think of and the advanced technology has turned out to be for the worst.

The Bradbury Building is large, with unique architecture that allows for endless angle options when filming and the amount of levels in the building while being an open building allows for creativity to run free while directing a scene in this location. For the Blade Runner movie in particular, the Bradbury building works for the mysterious, dark, scary tone that the film carries as the sort of helicopter/blimp lights from above are shown throughout the entire building because of its openness. The location works great for a dark action scene as there are so many ways/levels to run around rather than running in a straight line on a street. Overall, the Bradbury works for almost any scene it feels like, however, the architecture truly allows for crazy good action

I watched the Emmy’s tonight and every time I watch any Hollywood award show like such I just laugh so hard at the ridiculousness. They can get so cult-like and almost creepy. Watching all the extravagant celebrities announce the nominations totally reminded me of The Hunger Games.

Obviously The Hunger Games is way worse than Hollywood. However they’re similar this way, in The Hunger Games it sure is as glamorous as life can get for the people at the top, but there’s really no in between of the top and the bottom. In The Hunger Games, you’re either at the top living a life of wealth and fame or you’re a peasant fighting for your life. In Hollywood, you’re either in with the glamour scene or you’re fighting with everyone else at the bottom to make it there. Everyone is out for themselves and mostly willing to do anything in order to become famous and rich. The glamour of Hollywood is an illusion in that it’s only offered to such an exclusive group of people.

Hollywood culture facilitates Norma Desmond’s delusions because like I have stated, people have to work so hard to make it to the top and it is a huge deal to finally achieve being at the top, if you ever do make it. So then to eventually have to come back to being irrelevant after becoming used to the insane glamour would definitely take a mental toll on most people. Norma Desmond demonstrates this perfectly in the ending scene, as she’s completely ignorant to the fact of why she’s really being interviewed and pretends that she’s making a movie and says “I’m ready for my close-up.”

William Faulkner completely puts down Hollywood as being completely lacking of morals or culture. I understood where he’s coming from, however there is culture. There are values. There are traditions. They just aren’t good ones. There’s always a culture in any place. Hollywood just isn’t a very wholesome culture. Faulkner shows Ira become completely immoral because trying to make it in Hollywood makes most people go insane or at least drastically changes them.

In A Table at Ciro’s, really supports my claim at the beginning of my post that what makes Hollywood so fake is the amount of people who actually get to enjoy the glamour. Ciro’s is a restaurant in L.A. and every employee only works there because they didn’t achieve their dreams. The quote “And a year in Hollywood is at least a decade anywhere else.” Hollywood is mentally and physically draining. But I think what this quote may be saying is that you can do things in a year in Hollywood that would take you a decade to achieve anywhere else. As well as the idea that time is money. One year wasted of not making it in Hollywood can feel like a decade.

My film of choice was La La Land by far. It’s one of my favorite films for a lot of reasons such as the music, costumes, settings, dances, and romance that gets me to tear up every time. Having seen the film before, I knew that it also offered a lot of material when analyzing the depiction of Hollywood and what it is like to “make it big” in L.A.. A big theme of the film and sort of ending message I get from La La Land is the idea that you have to choose between true love and your dream career. You can have a good relationship and a good career, but not a deeply romantic love and your dream career. It’s all about time and place. Mia and Sebastian had an intense love for each other, but because they met before both of their careers really took off, it didn’t work out. Maybe if they had met once they were both already famous and well off, things would have went differently. between them

La La Land presents Hollywood at first as this place of young happy people dancing in the traffic of the freeway, wearing vibrant colors under the bright sun, and constantly attending various cocktail parties through the day and night. However, the more the film gets into detail of both Mia and Sebastians careers, the less glamorous it becomes. At first we see these fancy and stylish parties as well as cute dates between the couple at Griffith Observatory or an old-fashioned looking movie theatre. But the more the movie becomes more centered on their careers, the more ugly and real Hollywood becomes. The motion picture industry is depicted as extremely tough, totally unpredictable, and pretty much impossible. Mia is only able to try out for so many roles as they are looking for a certain appearance with every character, and getting a call back is rare. One time when she tried out for a role, she wasn’t even able to speak for more than 5 seconds before being kicked out.

The ending scene ties back to my original theme I caught from the film- you can’t have the love of your life and your dream career. Years after Mia and Sebastian split, Mia and her husband enter a mysterious bar to check it out for fun. Mia is in shock when she walks down the stairs and sees the graphic design she created for Sebastian’s dream jazz club. She looks around for him while walking to sit down. Suddenly, Sebastian is on stage and he locks eyes with Mia in the crowd. He’s in absolute shock as well. He sits at the piano for a while in silence and hesitates before he plays “their song.” It’s completely dark with one stage light purely on Sebastian- probably not how it would have looked in real life- but what it looked like from Mia’s point of view. Then that scene dissolves into a montage of what could have been between Mia and Sebastian. In scenes that took place when they were together, the dialogue is altered to be more perfect than things ever really were. For example, when Sebastian gets fired and Mia tried to compliment his piano skills but he walked right past her. That same scene plays with a new ending of them kissing and the customers dancing. Or when Mia has puts on her play, Sebastian was there with a big cheering crowd instead of the lousy crowd and no Sebastian present. I interpreted this as a reel of their potential relationship if they had prioritized each other over their own careers.

Los Angeles to me is that one friend who you love and appreciate but can’t spend too much time with. She’s super outgoing, energetic, that sort of “crazy in a good way”, but you can only stand her for so long until you want to go home and relax. I never really want to spend more than a day in L.A. The last time I went up was to shop at the Melrose trading post and have lunch, then I was ready to go home. I was born and raised my entire life until college in the same home in Newport Beach, CA – about a little over an hour out from Los Angeles. I couldn’t love where I live more. I’m truly so grateful to call Newport home everyday. You can submit yourself into the crazy hustle and bustle of the city of L.A., but you come home to a beautiful clean city near the beach that is always well kept and aesthetically pleasing everywhere.

Los Angeles does hold a lot of meaning for my family. It’s where my mom was born and grew up, also in the same one home her whole life until college. She was raised on a beautiful property in Bel Air and her mother was the epitome of extravagance. She would host and throw lavish parties, often times for no specific reason. The workers of Neiman Marcus knew her by first and last name. This sort of lifestyle sounds dreamy, but it really wasn’t, it was actually quite sad. My grandmother was a shopaholic, not a shopaholic for just anything, some of the most expensive purses, handbags, jewelry, etc. My brother and I were always excited for our L.A. visit to our grandma because we knew we were getting any toys or clothing we wanted. Looking back, it makes me quite upset and I wish I could have bonded with my grandmother on a more real level while she was still around, because she truly was a strong, generous, and kind woman who just wanted everyone to be happy, whether they were loved ones or strangers.

My thoughts on the class so far are very positive. It’s truly so interesting to me learning the history and sort of “behind the scenes” of L.A. The thing about L.A. is that you could live there your entire life and you still wouldn’t know everything there is to know about the city. It is so complex and therefore offers endless exploration of knowledge. I’m really looking forward to watching Mulholland Drive because it’s a classic that I haven’t seen yet. I’m actually excited to possibly learn more about the negative and corrupt sides and secrets of Los Angeles. Sure I know how to get around, what’s good to eat, and what the good shops are, but as weird or negative as it sounds, I want to know about the dark scandals of L.A.

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

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