La La Land Storyworld
During the weekend, I managed to watch La La Land (2016), the most talked film of the year. However, I felt disappointed and empty once the film ended. I am a fan of musicals such as Sound of Music (1965), Wizard of Oz (1939) and Les Miserables (2012) just to name a few. La La Land is about Mia an aspiring actress and Sebastian a pianist who love jazz struggles to achieve their dreams. They fall in love and along the way, they fell apart to achieve their dreams respectively. In musicals, I expect happy endings so La La Land ending kind of threw me off.
I will be breaking down the story world of La La Land from the excerpt from “Writing the Screenplay” to better understand the world and find out what was missing in that film (Batty, 2013).
How does the world affect the tone of what we see?
The colour tone throughout were mesmerising and lovely to look at. The contrast of bright colours against the soft blue and purple background reflects an excitement or spark in the characters but they are engulfed in this heavy gloomy atmosphere. The bright costumes that the main characters wore ignite their inner passion and dreams but because they have not succeeded yet there is this gloomy atmosphere that surrounds them. The dramatic colours and theatrical stage presence can be felt and how it portrays a staged world they are living. They were trying to live a happy life but it still felt solemn.
It is about internal logic: how does the world operate?
The world operates by having the characters struggles to achieve their dreams. At the end, they did achieve their dreams but with a cost that they did not end up together. When Mia and Sebastian met they shared their dreams and passion with one another. Both of them were supportive of each other even though Mia hated jazz at first. Mia and Sebastian each had their own dream but because they did not fully understand each other rules, things started to fall apart. For example, the sudden change in Sebastian dream which was to open a jazz club diverted when he joined a modern jazz band called The Messengers formed by his old school friend and Mia monologue stage was not well received. They were at the verged of giving up their dreams. They were supportive of each other, however; they became toxic to each other. Their dreams became even further thus they went separate ways to achieve their dream.
It is a vessel for theme and meaning: what stories can be told in this world?
The protagonist of this story is Mia and what was shown mostly was from her perspective. However, I felt that Sebastian story could have been told more. The topic on jazz could have been further explored since it was mentioned it was a dying genre which it is. I felt that it would be really interesting to have that part of the story told instead of the cliché I want to be a famous actress.
Does the world have its own voice, attitude or perspective?
The world does have its own voice of the struggles that the characters were facing. In addition, the attitude and perspective of this world were a subtle selfish way of achieving your dream. The love story between Mia and Sebastian was not the voice of this world. It was more about them achieving their dreams alone. They did not need each other to achieve their dreams.
While dissecting the world of La La Land and trying not to be biased with the thoughts I had at first, I find that the reason why I felt disappointed was because I was more in love with Sebastian story rather than Mia. Also, taking away the musical part and reviewing it I am able to see a bigger picture of their story and why they did not end up together. It was their dreams over romance. It shows how in love they were in their dreams than with each other. La La Land has shown me that a musical or any other story that it is not necessary for the main characters to end up with each other and achieve their dreams at the same time.
Reference Lists:
Excerpt from: Batty, C (2013) “Writing the Screenplay” in A Companion to Creative Writing, Graeme Harper (ed) West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons (pp. 98-114).
Youtube. (2017). La La Land Blu-Ray Trailer || SocialNews.XYZ Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXS0zcvdXh0
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