Dancing, Dreaming and Transforming: La La Land (2016) as the Contemporary Postmodern Hollywood Musical Film

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Dancing, Dreaming and Transforming:

La La Land (2016) as the Contemporary Postmodern

Hollywood Musical Film

Amy Nonnekes Student Number: 11326816

Master Thesis

MA Media Studies: Television and Cross-Media Culture University of Amsterdam

Date of Completion: 23 June 2020 Wordcount: 22.361

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Abstract

The Hollywood musical film genre, which originated in the late 1920’s, is since its birth characterised by specific generic conventions and will forever be a genre associated with its own history and Hollywood’s history. However, only a few new musical films have been released within the last decade, which ensures that some of generic conventions may still survive, but are given a new meaning. The contemporary Hollywood musical film La La Land (2016) is a perfect example of a postmodern meta-musical film by touching upon and

reviving the past while at the same time trying to be revolutionary by transforming the classical features of the Hollywood musical film genre. However, the meaning of contemporary musical films, especially in relation to postmodernism remains a highly

undertheorized concept. The thesis statement that is central to this research is therefore: The musical film La La Land (2016) is a self-reflexive postmodern subversion of the traditional Hollywood musical film genre, especially in the way it articulates the ‘dual-focus narrative’, a ‘critical utopia’ and the ‘Hollywood Dream’. With the help of a multidimensional analysis of the film La La Land (2016) this thesis shows that the film for the most part disregards the conventional ‘dual-focus narrative strategy’ to underscore the postmodern take on a

traditional happy ending. Furthermore, the film articulates a ‘critical utopia’ by foregrounding the inherent reality-utopia dichotomy and also by means of portraying a contemporary take on the ‘Hollywood Dream’, which emphasizes the postmodern ideology of being sceptical about the possibility of realising utopian dreams. Moreover, the representation of the notions self-reflexivity and metareference also highly contributes to the postmodern character of the film, by deliberately and extensively commenting on the current state of its own genre.

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Introduction

“How are you going to be a revolutionary if you’re such a traditionalist? You’re holding onto the past, but jazz is about the future.” (La La Land)

La La Land (2016), Damien Chazelle’s musical film that won an outstanding number of

awards, amongst other things, for its unique cinematography, original music and impressive acting performances. This film can be regarded as a modern-day version of the traditional Hollywood musical film, by clearly reflecting on and being aware of the history that preceded it. The narrative of La La Land (2016) takes us to the lives of Mia (Emma Stone) and

Sebastian (Ryan Gosling), two aspiring artists dreaming of becoming a famous actress and a famous jazz pianist in modern-day Los Angeles. The quote above already demonstrates the conflict and the tense relationship between the past and the future inherent to any

performance of art, whereby director Damien Chazelle emphasises the significance of this quote for the film itself:

“I have in my head a version of the debate that John Legend and Ryan Gosling have in the movie about jazz. If you apply that to movies, there’s the same idea — do you try to preserve what you love about the past of an art form at the risk of marginalizing it?” (Damien Chazelle)

The Hollywood musical film genre was traditionally focused on dreamers, such as Dorothy’s dream of returning to Kansas in The Wizard of Oz (1939), Annie’s dream of having a family in Annie (1982) and Maria and Tony’s dream of being together in West Side Story (1961). Thereby, the premise of Hollywood being the place where your dreams come true is a timeless idea, something that La La Land (2016) is portraying by resurrecting and playing with the old art genre of the Hollywood musical film. Anthony Carew argues that by being a contemporary musical film with a modern-day take on the genre, La La Land (2016) is involved in a dialogue with the past and at the same time comments on the current state of the genre itself (Carew 10).The film itself is therefore also very self-aware of its explicit use of the phenomena of nostalgia, intertextuality and pastiche, by referring to the famous musical pair Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers and to the popular ‘Golden Age’ musical films such as

Singin’ in the Rain (1952) and The Band Wagon (1953). However, La La Land (2016) uses

the phenomenon of nostalgia in a different way, namely this film can be seen as a highly self-reflexive musical or a so called ‘meta-musical’, by being a film about people in the film industry and a musical about artists in the music business. Director Damian Chazelle is also very self-aware of his explicit and specific use of nostalgic elements in the film by: “trying to call back certain things from the past that I felt had been lost and didn’t need to be lost. But also, really, the main goal was to try and update those things” (Damien Chazelle). The fact

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5 that nostalgia is an essential feature of the film is evident, however there is something more going on than touching upon the past, namely the interrogation of ‘nostalgia for nostalgia’. Sabine Sielke states that the film:

“[...] merely takes a bow to its models and hints at the many “oddities” of classic musical ﬁlms and their cheerful mode of denial. Rather than disseminating nostalgia, Chazelle’s ﬁlm dissects it by foregrounding its materiality.” (Sielke 9)

Therefore, La La Land (2016) can be seen as a love letter to the ‘Golden Age’ musical films, while being a postmodern version of the traditional Hollywood musical film genre by means of portraying and subverting the notions of ‘self-reflexivity’, ‘utopianism’ and the ‘dual-focus narrative strategy’. The form and construction of these traditional Hollywood musical films can be clearly recognized in La La Land (2016), but the individual elements serve a different purpose within this postmodern musical film. One of these crucial elements can be identified as the so called ‘dual-focus narrative’, which is a frequently applied narrative form within musical films. For La La Land (2016) the question arises whether the film subverts the Hollywood musical film formula and the ‘dual-focus narrative approach’ by portraying a couple fulfilling their dreams, but not ending up as a couple. As stated above, the Hollywood musical films traditionally focused their narratives around dreams and dreamers, whereby ‘utopianism’ was a commonly used concept throughout the narrative, but especially within the songs. ‘Utopianism’ makes the (film)world seem more beautiful than the harsh reality, by dreaming of, describing or attempting to create a better society. In regard to the construction of the Hollywood musical film genre within La La Land (2016), it is important to analyse to what extent and in which ways utopianism is incorporated. What kind of utopian worlds can be recognized and are they similar to earlier forms? And is this utopian ethos mainly

conveyed through the world of the narrative or only through the performance of the songs? A phenomenon related to utopianism and the Hollywood musical film genre is the ‘American Dream’, according to which dreams, ambitions and aspirations are achieved through risk-taking, sacrifice and hard work rather than by luck or chance. The questions that arise in relation to La La Land (2016) are, how is the ‘American Dream’ portrayed and what is its relation to the notion of ‘utopianism’? The above mentioned phenomena will all have a central role in this thesis. They will be extensively elaborated upon in the theoretical framework, and will serve as essential elements for analysing the film La La Land (2016).

Taking all these notions into account, the following thesis statement can be articulated: The musical film La La Land (2016) is a self-reflexive postmodern

subversion of the traditional Hollywood musical film genre, especially in the way it articulates the ‘dual-focus narrative’, a ‘critical utopia’ and the ‘Hollywood Dream’. I will

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6 ‘utopianism and the American Dream’ and ‘self-reflexivity and metareference’, which will each be thoroughly explored in four different chapters. Each chapter starts with a theoretical framework paragraph introducing and delineating the most important theories and theorists who contributed to scholarship on the topic. After each theoretical framework paragraph follows an analysis paragraph which consists of analysing and presenting the most important aspects and findings within the film La La Land (2016). The first chapter will function as an introductory paragraph to the traditional Hollywood musical film genre, while also focusing on the more recent notion of the ‘postmodern film’. More precisely, using the theories of Rick Altman, Richard Barrios, Steven Cohan and Thomas Schatz as a starting point, I will look at the ways in which the Hollywood musical film genre has evolved and what its most telling characteristics are. However, to substantiate the thesis statement, this chapter must also dive into what ‘postmodernism’ means in general and specifically what its relation is in regard to (musical) films. This will be done with the help of the books and texts from M. Keith

Booker, Catherine Constable and Marianne DeKoven. In the second chapter the notion of the ‘dual-focus narrative’ will be addressed with Rick Altman as the central theorist. The third chapter will be dedicated to the phenomenon of ‘utopianism’ in musical films and the

‘American Dream’ as a specific form hereof, by citing the works of Lyman Tower Sargent, Richard Dyer and J. Emmett Winn. In the last chapter the focus will lie on the aspects of ‘self-reflexivity and metareference’ these films perform. The theorists that will be cited to give these aspects meaning are Jane Feuer, Werner Wolf and Hanna Maria Huber.

Important to note is that the Hollywood musical film genre, and especially the ‘Golden Age’ musical films, is a popular research object that received a great deal of attention within the field of film studies. However, much of this research is solely focused on the rich history of the genre, on the Broadway musicals and on the significant relationship between the films and their music. This can for example be recognized in the books of Rick Altman (1987), Richard Barrios (1995) and Steven Cohan (2002). An exception can be found when looking at a number of more recent theorists, such as Sedat Yildirim and Sabine Sielke, who at times have interesting and insightful things to remark when talking about contemporary musical films in relation to postmodernism and nostalgia, but in general this is a rare occurrence. It could even be stated that the genre has become somewhat extinct since the end of the ‘Golden Age’ of musical films, because of the few new musical films that are being released. So, it has become even more meaningful to explore relevant questions as: What has

changed within contemporary musical films with respect to the classical Hollywood musical films? What is the meaning of these new musical films within our current society and culture? Can notions of nostalgia, intertextuality, pastiche, self-reflexivity, utopianism and

postmodernism be identified within contemporary musical films? With this thesis I hope to contribute to the existing knowledge regarding Hollywood musical films, expand and explore

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7 other phenomena by analysing them in regard to La La Land (2016) and present new

insights regarding the meaning of and ways to look at contemporary musical films. It has to be noted that the results of the executed analysis can by no means be applied to all the contemporary Hollywood musical films released. However, what it can do is propose a new and insightful way to look at these films instead of using the traditional and conventional ways to analyse and interpret Hollywood musical films.

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Chapter 1: The Hollywood Musical Film Genre vs.

The Postmodern Film

1.1 The Hollywood Musical Film Genre

“The musical is a genre forever associated with Hollywood history, musicals the definitive form of mainstream movie entertainment in cinema’s early days of sound.” (Carew 10)

The Hollywood musical film genre has a broad and multidimensional understanding and can be characterised by many individual characteristics. Therefore, it is important to start with elaborating on the rise of the traditional Hollywood musical film genre, its ‘Golden Age’ and its aesthetic as well as narrative conventions. This first paragraph also introduces the most important terms for the theoretical parts of this thesis, which will subsequently individually be elaborated on in detail in the paragraphs below.

Martin Rubin gives a possible working definition of a traditional musical film, namely: “a musical is a ﬁlm containing a signiﬁcant proportion of musical numbers that are impossible — i.e., persistently contradictory in relation to the realistic discourse of the narrative” (Rubin 57). The birth of the traditional Hollywood musical film genre can be traced back to the late 1920’s, when the American film industry dictated the world. However, this particular genre was a latecomer in comparison other film genres, for example the horror and animation genre respectively emerged around the 1890’s and 1910’s. According to Richard Barrios, this dynamic film industry faced a major irretrievable change that would turn its world upside down, namely the advent of the sound cinema (Barrios 4). In fact, Thomas Schatz argues that The Jazz Singer (1927) marked the debut of the so called ‘talkie’, a motion picture with synchronized sound, and can be designated as the first Hollywood musical film (Schatz 187). Noteworthy, Sheida Sheikhha and Behrooz Mahmoodi-Bakhtiari write that the first spoken words in The Jazz Singer (1927) were: “You ain’t heard nothing yet!” (Sheikhha and Mahmoodi-Bakhtiari 28). This film also signalled the start of the so called ‘Golden Age’ of Hollywood musical films, which can be defined as an era spanning from the late 1920’s until the early 1960’s (Sheikhha and Mahmoodi-Bakhtiari 29). However, Barrios believes that the classical Hollywood musical film genre has not survived beyond its ‘Golden Age’, while other earlier film genres have mutated and survived throughout the years (Barrios 3). By

specifically choosing the words of ‘not surviving’ in his writings around 1995, he points to the fact that:

“While it still exists on stage and remains popular in retrospective presentation, the musical has little to do with film in any current or ongoing sense. We are, apparently,

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9 beyond the end of the rainbow, no matter how much we choose to bask in its glow.” (Barrios 4)

A possible reason for this could be Hollywood’s obsession with its own history and the fact that the genre will always be associated with its early days of mainstream sound movies (Carew 10). The Hollywood musical film genre and every new musical film made are always tied to and based on the former glory of the genre in its earlier times. Therefore, if

contemporary musicals films keep reviving these old traditional musical films endlessly the genre is eventually dying out, because there is no attempt at modernizing the genre in order for it to survive for the upcoming decades. So, in this way the Hollywood musical film genre can be regarded as a paradox, just as La La Land (2016), by touching upon and reviving the past while at the same time trying to be revolutionary by modernizing and transforming the classical features of the genre.

Prominent theorists that started writing about the Hollywood musical film genre and its most important implications thirty to forty years after the ‘Golden Age’ period are for instance Rick Altman, Jane Feuer and Steven Cohan. They were at that specific moment able to clearly reflect on this ‘Golden Age’ period in time and could start fleshing out the structural basis of these Hollywood musical films. Most importantly, Rick Altman identified in his book ‘The American Film Musical’ (1987) the five major realms of the Hollywood musical film genre, which were subsequently highlighted and enforced by Sedat Yildirim and could be

recognized as being: “setting, shot selection, music, dance and personal style of the major characters” (Yildirim 6). That these five realms are important for constructing these musical films is being emphasised by Altman through the creation of a specific generic

understanding. The first major realm can be described as being the ‘setting’, which often signals the cultural and national background of the protagonists in musical films. Traditionally the settings were specifically important for representing opposites, such as the rich and the poor, by ways of comparative analysis (Altman 39). The second major realm introduced by Altman is the ‘shot selection’, which he subsequently divides in three sub-divisions, namely ‘duet’, ‘solo’ and ‘unmarked’. Altman acknowledges the fact that the ‘solo’ and ‘duet’ shots are crucial for the traditional Hollywood musical films, among other things for establishing the central ‘male-female duality’. On the other hand, musical films also deliberately make use of ‘unmarked’ shots to emphasise the unwillingness of the male or female character to

participate in the coupling (Altman 35). He subsequently introduces ‘music’ as the third major realm of the Hollywood musical film genre and particularly focuses on the concept of ‘audio dissolve’. This technique points to the ability of music and sounds, in combination with the narrative, to foreground upcoming plot events. Besides, music also empowers the above mentioned notion of ‘male-female duality’ by being a complementary element during ‘solo’

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10 and ‘duet’ shots (Altman 63). Furthermore, ‘dance’ can be regarded as the fourth major realm of Hollywood musical films. He once more underscores the value of this realm for the

construction and depiction of the ‘male-female duality’. ‘Dance’ is especially meaningful in being an accompaniment for the musical numbers as well as for the burgeoning relationship between the male and female character (Alman 37). The last major realm can be identified as ‘personal style’, which Altman puts as the personal traits of characters which are

determinative for the narrative as well as characteristic for the period the narrative is set in. By personal traits he means the portrayal of one’s cultural and national background along with their (desired) career and (practised) talents (Altman 44). Lastly, Yildirim also points out the importance of all the major realms for the construction and establishment of the ‘male-female duality’ (Yildirim 7). This duality obviously touches upon another important element within Hollywood musical films, namely the narrative approach called the ‘dual-focus narrative’ which will receive further attention in chapter 2.

In regard to the structural basis of Hollywood musical films, it is also important to discuss the two stylistic logics of these films and make a clear distinction between them. In his book ‘Hollywood Musicals’ (2019) Steven Cohan addresses these two dominating logics as an ‘integrated’ and an ‘aggregated’ form and aesthetics. A musical film with ‘integrated’ form and aesthetics can also be called an ‘integrated musical’ and:

“[...] gives the impression that numbers move the narrative along, whether because they deepen a sense of characters’ motives and feelings or because they effect transitions from one action to the next, from one scene to the next.” (Cohan 19) Thereby, the ‘integrated musical’ makes the transition from the general narrative to the musical numbers stylistically fluid, so that it seems like the characters could almost burst out into a song at any time they want. This stylistically fluid motion from the general narrative into musical numbers can be achieved through the use of three different strategies, for example by the use of musical underscoring playing in the background of a scene. In a like manner, stylistic fluidity can also be achieved by increasing the volume of the dialogue or

orchestration, changing a character’s bodily gestures or changing the intonation of the performer to forecast a musical number (Cohan 19). The ‘aggregated musical’ is, on the other hand, described by Cohan as a musical which stylistically brackets musical numbers from the general narrative:

“In contrast with the integrated musical, an aggregated musical seems to add one number after another primarily as a distraction from the narrative because numbers momentarily pause the action.” (Cohan 19)

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11 Furthermore, the ‘aggregated musical’ is best typified by so called show numbers, which often take place in fictional, imaginative or utopian places together with highly stylised costumes. These fictional scenes can also be recognized as being filmed and edited differently than the usual scenes within the narrative. However, these musical numbers can also easily be left out without changing or disrupting the overall narrative (Cohan 20). Lastly, it is important to remark that Hollywood musical films can also obviously be a hybrid form of the two.

As stated above, musical films often depict fictional spaces, fantasy scenes or utopian places. This phenomenon actually originated in the earliest days of the Hollywood musical film genre. In fact, Barrios points to this phenomenon as a peculiarly American concept: “For many years musicals had—the past tense need apply—a remarkable propensity for fulfilling wishes and making fantasies seem reasonable” (Barrios 3). According to Florian

Zitzelsberger, in Hollywood musical films’ earliest days an important function of these films was to strengthen the American community, because America was at that particular time going through a period called the ‘Great Depression’ (Zitzelsberger 101). Until today, this connotation of musical films emphasising collaboration and togetherness within an American framework still exists:

“The musical’s focus on the entertainment industry thus at the same time designates a particular focus on the Americanness of this industry, apparent in the ways in which the musical foregrounds the craftsmanship of Americans—a reassurance of the belief in American community and talent.” (Zitzelsberger 101)

The arguments made within the above statement could be connected to the national ethos of the United States called the ‘American Dream’. This notion will, in relation to the Hollywood musical film genre, be discussed extensively in chapter 3. Besides, the notion of the

‘American Dream’ is actually part of a larger concept and can be recognized as a particular form of portraying ‘utopianism’. In his text ‘Entertainment and Utopia’ (1977) Richard Dyer states that: “far from being escapist, the musical is responsive to history through its form, which articulates in non-representational terms what utopia feels like” (Dyer 2). Broadly speaking, it can be stated that all film genres are to a certain degree involved in trying to portray utopian worlds and trying to project visions of utopian communities. Speaking specifically of the Hollywood musical film genre there is a thriving reality-utopia dichotomy, realistic conflicts versus idealistic resolutions, at work within narratives. These films

traditionally desire a so called ‘utopian resolution’, but: “this resolution is anticipated

whenever the performers break into song and dance” (Schatz 188). In a likewise manner, the terms ‘utopianism’ and ‘utopian resolution’ regarding musical films will be fleshed out in more

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12 detail in the chapter 3, which is also dedicated to the notion of the ‘American Dream’.

Another telling and remarkable element within the Hollywood musical film genre is the ‘self-reflexivity’ these films often carry out, either extremely consciously or somewhat

unconsciously. Thereby, Zitzelsberger points to the fact that the musical film itself possesses a high potential of ‘self-reflexivity’ due to its specific narrative structure:

“Reading the segmentation into narrative and number, the musical’s dual registers, as mise en abyme, proves instrumental when looking at both a mirroring of the ﬁlm within itself (self-reference) and the mirroring of the industry and culture producing the ﬁlm (hetero-reference).” (Zitzelsberger 110)

With ‘mise en abyme’ he touches upon the technique of placing a story within a story. A phenomenon of reduplication, like standing between two mirrors with the outcome of an infinite reproduction of the image. Musical films often produce this phenomenon of ‘mis en abyme’, by for example mirroring the entertainment industry and the processes involved. Additionally, Dyer argued that due to this self-reflection and self-mirroring musical films were predominantly assumed to be ‘pure entertainment’ for the audience as well as for the

producers, for whom the creation of entertainment was a central objective (Dyer 4).

Moreover, Jane Feuer suggests that while ‘self-reflexivity’ within musical films has previously been recognized as a way of conserving its form, it actually: “uses reﬂexivity to perpetuate rather than to deconstruct the codes of the genre” (Feuer 454). As a matter of fact, there are more crucial factors to be addressed in relation to self-reflexivity and self-referencing within traditional musical films. This concept will therefore be discussed in more detail in chapter 4.

Lastly, it is relevant to address Rick Altman’s ‘generic model’ in regard to the structure of films within the Hollywood musical film genre. Following the theories of Altman in his text ‘A Semantic/Syntactic Approach to Film Genre’ (1984), two levels could be recognized, namely the ‘semantic approach’ and the ‘syntactic approach’, whereby: “The “semantic approach [ ... ] stresses the genre’s building blocks, while the syntactic view privileges the structures into which they are arranged” (Altman 10). More precisely, he characterises the ‘semantic approach’ in his book ‘The American Film Musical’ (1987) as follows:

“The format is narrative, length is extended (feature length), characters are romantic couple in society. Acting is a combination of rhythmic movement and realism. And sound is mixture of diegetic music and dialog.” (Altman 110)

On the other hand, the ‘syntactic approach’ is mainly described as the narrative strategy being ‘dual-focus’, whereby the ‘male-female duality’, parallelism and alternation are central to the realization of the overall narrative. Thereby, Altman extends his syntactic schema by mentioning that:

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13 “Music/plot includes music and dance as expression of personal and communal joy, as signifiers of romantic triumph over all limitations. Narrative/number includes continuity established between realism and rhythm, dialog and diegetic music, on model of mystic marriage. And image/sound includes classical narrative hierarchy (image over sound) reserved at climactic moments (audio dissolve).” (Altman 110) However, it is worth noting that there is a great possibility of performing a dual approach, both for other genre films and specifically for musical films. This dual nature of any generic corpus points to the fact that there are often different levels of genericity at play within (musical) films, whereby the ‘semantic’ and ‘syntactic’ elements of the genre are working together. Thereby, so called ‘inter-generic’ connections generate new generic possibilities, which are otherwise overthrown by single-minded approaches (Altman 12).

In the paragraphs that cover the rest of the theoretical framework the individual characteristics of the underlying structure of the Hollywood musical film genre, respectively ‘dual-focus narrative strategy’, ‘utopianism and the American Dream’ and ‘self-reflexivity and metareference’, will be elaborated on in more detail.

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1.2 The Postmodern Film

“The struggle of film ‘against itself’ makes for an interesting postmodern issue, particularly as movies begin to assert themselves as a vital part of the contemporary

deconstructive enterprise.” (Burke 71)

The phenomenon that touches upon almost all the elements that will be discussed in the chapters below is ‘postmodernism’. Defining the term ‘postmodernism’ is notoriously difficult, because the phenomenon could be regarded as multidimensional and vague at the same time. Therefore, for the purpose of this thesis, the starting point of this paragraph will be ‘postmodernism in film’. So, rather than thoroughly scrutinizing all the implications of the notion of ‘postmodernism’ for different disciplines, the basic definition and characteristics of the term will be addressed. However, it is still useful to start off with citing the most general and widely used definition of the term ‘postmodernism’:

“A late 20th century style and concept in the arts, architecture, and criticism that represents a departure from modernism and has at its heart a general distrust of grand theories and ideologies as well as a problematical relationship with any notion of art. Typical features include a deliberate mixing of different artistic styles and media, the self-conscious use of earlier styles and conventions, and often the

incorporation of images relating to the consumerism and mass communication of late 20th century post-industrial society.” (Oxford English Dictionary)

With this general definition in mind, it is important to note that the general distrust of grand theories and ideologies is particularly important for the characterization of ‘postmodern in film’. In general, the ‘postmodernist film’ tries to subvert the prevailing conventions of the standard narrative structure in order to test the suspension of disbelief of the audience. With this in mind, Sedat Yildirim states that the mainstream conventions of narrative structure are mainly conceived as all the plot structures leading to a conventional happy ending. On the other hand, the main objective of ‘postmodernist films’ is to surprise the audience with an exceptional or sometimes even an upsetting ending to the plot by deferring from traditional narrative structures (Yildirim 36). However, Yildirim articulates the fact that the theories on ‘postmodernist film’ are only part of: “a small division of the cinematic works reflecting the ideas and themes of postmodernism through film. It obviously does not have a very old theoretical literary background” (Yildirim 36). But there are some agreed upon discernible characteristics that could be recognized in ‘postmodern films’, namely the use of nostalgia, pastiche, intertextuality, self-reflexivity, metareference and the mixing of high and low culture.

These characteristics are packed together by M. Keith Booker, in one of the most prominent books about ‘postmodern Hollywood’, as the two key features of postmodern

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15 aesthetics: ‘generic pastiche’ and ‘narrative, formal and thematic fragmentation’. According to Dyer, the term ‘pastiche’ could be best described as an evident aesthetic imitation of different art forms in order to form a new meaning (Dyer 1). Whereby ‘generic pastiche’, as stated by Booker, could subsequently be seen as films imitating other works within the same genre it operates in itself or as Booker states: “The most obvious aspect of this phenomenon is the increasing tendency of ﬁlms, in a variety of ways, to take other motion pictures as their objects of representation” (Booker 91). As a matter of fact, it could be stated that the term ‘pastiche’ is actually part of the umbrella term ‘intertextuality’, by functioning as a particular stylistic mode of ‘intertextuality’. Furthermore, according to Graham Allen the phenomenon of ‘intertextuality’ generally indicates: “Meaning becomes something which exists between a text and all the other texts to which it refers and relates, moving out from the independent text into a network of textual relations” (Allen 1). Another notion Booker connects to the postmodern aesthetics of ‘pastiche’ is ‘postmodern nostalgia’, whereby he clearly argues that this specific term is distinct from all other forms of ‘nostalgia’:

“[...] postmodern nostalgia is a primarily stylistic movement, a sort of imitation of earlier forms of nostalgia that lacks the utopian longing for a better world that seems to be the motivation of the nostalgia in such works as the classic Hollywood ﬁlms.” (Booker 51)

He suggests that ‘postmodern films’ are doubly mediated in a way that they possess representations of remembered representations. Thereby, ‘postmodern nostalgia’ has no direct link with a historical truth and cannot be regarded as a pure effort of trying to revive an unrecoverable past. Besides, ‘postmodern nostalgia’ is far more adept at recycling earlier cultural styles as nostalgic products, so it is more of a commercial phenomenon than other types of nostalgia (Booker 52). Moreover, ‘postmodern nostalgia’ also has an unmistakable connection with earlier music such as jazz. Booker also claims that music is crucial for portraying nostalgic visions within the ‘postmodern film’ and thereby touches upon another key feature of ‘postmodern films’:

“However, while the earlier movies located the sounds of an idealized past in works of high culture, postmodern nostalgia ﬁlms tend to draw upon the popular music of earlier eras, suggesting another form of the breakdown of the boundaries between high and low culture that has so often been cited as a key aspect of postmodernism.” (Booker 54)

Lastly, for the purpose of the upcoming analysis it is useful to briefly discuss the relationship between the notion of ‘utopianism’ and ‘postmodernism’. Marianne DeKoven argues that the

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16 position of the phenomenon of ‘utopianism’ within ‘postmodern fiction literature’ is called into question:

“Utopia in postmodernity is multiply defeated and discredited, yet it persists in the form not only of desire for elimination of domination, inequality and oppression but also of desire for transcendence itself.” (DeKoven 91)

DeKoven regards the ‘postmodern utopia’ as a place in which characters desire and try to realise their visions of a utopia, despite disbelieving the real possibility of success. Therefore, the narrative strategy that is mostly characteristic for these stories is the representation of a powerful utopian desire with the scepticism of the possibility of actually fulfilling these desires (DeKoven 78). However, Booker demonstrates that these arguments are also applicable to the appropriation of ‘utopianism’ in ‘postmodern films’, by stating that:

“[...] the loss of faith in historical metanarratives during the postmodern era has been accompanied by a weakening of the utopian imagination, and in particular by a loss of faith in the possibility that utopian dreams might actually be realized.” (Booker 16) Lastly, according to Catherine Constable, who frequently adheres to the theories of Booker in her book about postmodernism in film, Booker also indirectly links the notion of ‘generic pastiche’ to the fact that a lot of ‘postmodern films’ express high levels of (self-)reflexivity (Constable 69). In a like manner, Booker argues that ‘postmodern films’ are mostly based on pre-existing representations of reality, so that: “The tendency of postmodern ﬁlms to be based on the world of cinema rather than the ‘‘real’’ world [...], is very much a part of this phenomenon” (Booker 154). As a final point, Constable summarizes her findings according to a table which compares the characteristics of the classical Hollywood film with the characteristics of the postmodern Hollywood film (see figure 1).

Figure 1. Catherine Constable’s comparison of classical Hollywood film characteristics and postmodern Hollywood film characteristics.

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17 As stated above, ‘narrative, formal and thematic fragmentation’ is also one of the two key features of postmodern aesthetics (Booker 20). By this notion Booker refers to the ways in which ‘postmodern films’ communicate the ‘fragmentation’ of its characters, the narrative and the overall structure of film. He summarizes the phenomenon of ‘fragmentation’ and its implications as follows:

“Modernist formal fragmentation is centripetal—one might even say utopian—in its orientation, challenging audiences to reassemble the pieces into a coherent whole, while postmodernist fragmentation is centrifugal, denying the very possibility of wholeness—or utopia.” (Booker 5)

In general, he state that the frequent use of the notion of ‘fragmentation’ in ‘postmodern films’ has a legitimate reason, namely “[...] it is clear that the fragmentation of most postmodern ﬁlms merely reﬂects—or even celebrates—the fragmentation of contemporary life” (Booker 6). Moreover, this ‘fragmentation’ also stems from the inability of individual artists to be an original source of art or to have their personal style, which Booker calls: “the increasing psychic fragmentation of individual subjects” (Booker 19). This loss of personal style subsequently leads to the extensive use of ‘pastiche’ as mentioned above. To get back to ‘fragmentation’ within ‘postmodern films’, the ‘fragmentation’ of characters can for example be expressed through the literal use of ‘schizophrenic characters’ who often experience discontinuous, plural and fragmented identities (Booker 4). Furthermore, Booker notes that this ‘fragmentation’ can also be recognized within the overall structure of the film or within the editing style:

“[...] the quick-cut style of many postmodern films serves a clear mimetic function as an expression of the increasing fragmentation of experience in the postmodern age. In addition, many postmodern films are so self-conscious about their formal fragmentation that this fragmentation itself becomes a metafictional commentary on postmodern conventions of film editing and narrative.” (Booker 6)

As an example he mentions a type of opening shot which shifts from character to character and from scene to scene within one continuous shot. Thereby, this shot calls attention to its own complex fragmentary nature by conveying a sense of frenetic activity without any cuts (Booker 2). Lastly, ‘fragmentation’ can also be articulated through the (overall) narrative of the film. Booker states that this can be done by adding certain features to the narrative that will interfere with the audience’s involvement in the narrative. This also calls attention to the decline of cohering to the traditional Hollywood narrative conventions in ‘postmodern films’. For example films that are constructed of a series of different compelling scenes, but do not allow these scenes to form a coherent whole (Booker 25). Additionally, films could place

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18 scenes in reverse chronological order, instead of creating an illusion of continuity standard editing tries to pursue. In this way ‘fragmentation’: “forces audiences to think consciously of each scene as part of the history of the scenes that came before it” (Booker 36). To

conclude, taking all these notions together can create a typical ‘postmodern film’ that for example:

“[...] frequently switches back and forth between color and black-and-white and between conventional ﬁlm and video. Weirdly tilted camera angles; strange, erratic camera movements; extreme close-ups; colored tints; slow-motion; and fast-motion all help to create disorienting effects, while the radically eclectic compilation

soundtrack also adds to the sense of chaos and fragmentation that informs the ﬁlm.” (Booker 41)

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1.3 Generic conventions and Postmodernism in La La Land (2016)

The following textual analysis of La La Land (2016) will prove, justify and substantiate the thesis statement mentioned in the introduction: The musical film La La Land (2016) is a self-reflexive postmodern subversion of the traditional Hollywood musical film genre, especially in the way it articulates the ‘dual-focus narrative’, a ‘critical utopia’ and the ‘Hollywood Dream’. Therefore, I will be examining the different narrative strategies, aesthetic conventions and main themes of La La Land (2016) and subsequently compare them to the conventions of the traditional Hollywood musical film genre delineated in the theoretical framework

paragraph of each chapter. The main focus will lie on trying to figure out in which ways the film differs or is similar to the traditional features of the Hollywood musical film genre. More importantly, the primary purpose of this analysis is finding out where this film stands in regard to the traditional Hollywood musical film genre.

Important to note is that Michael Korensky argues that we are now living in a so called ‘perpetual post-musical-era’ wherein contemporary musical films are mainly trying to delve back into this seemingly moribund genre (Korensky 43). In the specific case of La La

Land (2016), it can be said that the film structures its narrative according to specific generic

principles, but also disregards some of them. To come back to the introduction of this thesis, the most important question essentially is: “How are you going to be a revolutionary if you’re such a traditionalist? You’re holding onto the past, but jazz is about the future”. When this statement is transformed and connected to the film, it would be: “How are you going to make a meaningful contemporary Hollywood musical film if you are obsessed with the traditional conventions of the Hollywood musical film genre? You are holding onto the past, but making a postmodern contemporary musical film is about the future”. Hence, can the musical film still be regarded as primarily a traditional Hollywood musical film or is the contemporary

postmodern perspective changing the meaning of these traditional conventions? The main argument that will follow from the analysis is that La La Land (2016) in some ways

resembles, but mostly differs from the traditional Hollywood musical film genre conventions. By doing so, some of these generic conventions are surviving, but they are given a new meaning in this contemporary postmodern film. Furthermore, there is a strong discrepancy between the beginning and the ending of the film with regard to the meanings that are being conveyed. In general, the ‘Hollywood dream’ of success is first presented as just a hollow fantasy, then presented to be achievable through hard work and determination, and then presented to come at a cost. Moreover, the two protagonists highly contribute to conveyance of the film’s postmodern ideology, by showing the contrast and discrepancy between the postmodern and traditional aspects of the film.

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20 It is important to start this analysis with the beginning of the film, because this part essentially dictates how the rest of the film will play out. The film begins with a six-minute musical

number called ‘Another Day of Sun’, a song performed by hundreds of people during a traffic jam on one of the busiest highway ramps of Los Angeles. This first song actually indirectly foreshadows the ending of the film, when it turns out that the classical Hollywood musical film ending, especially the ‘and they lived happily ever after’ premise, does not apply to the overall ideals and meanings of the film. This foreshadowing is directly shaped by the inherent (male-female) duality of the film, which will be discussed and analysed in more detail in chapter 2.

One of the most telling sentences of this song are: “A Technicolor world made out of music and machine. It called me to be on that screen. And live inside each scene” (Another Day of Sun, La La Land). This part reveals one of the film’s most important objectives, namely immersing its two protagonists into living partly in classical Hollywood musical film scenes. Moreover, the song convinces its audience directly that they are in fact dealing with an actual musical film, though a thoroughly constructed one as recognized by the

Technicolor remark, by using the performance of a musical number as an existing framework to evoke a desired reception. Furthermore, the song is about people’s aspirations and

dreams to succeed in Hollywood as an artist, actor or by practicing another creative profession. But this musical number shows that they have not yet realized these dreams, because it emphasises the fact that in reality it is hard to make it. In this way, the very opening scene already indicates that La La Land (2016) is a musical film that could deviate from the traditional Hollywood musical films. Especially because this seemingly utopian summery setting with bright colours and overly enthusiastic people actually has an inherent pessimistic undertone, which tells the audience that this film will be about dealing with the harsh reality (see figure 2). Thereby, this first six-minutes musical performance also shows the inherent paradox of the Hollywood dream factory that is Los Angeles, which will be discussed more intensively in chapter 3 and 4.

Figure 2. Bright colours and overly enthusiastic people highlighting the utopian ideal of making it in the Hollywood dream factory that is Los Angeles.

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21 So, it can already be determined that this musical film can be mostly typified as an

‘integrated musical’. More precisely, the song starts off with a seemingly stylistic fluid motion from the real world into performing a musical number. This is exemplified by slowly focusing on the musical underscoring that is originating from one specific car and simultaneously focusing on the woman in the car humming along. Subsequently, her changing bodily

gestures are noticeable, whereby she steps out of the car and bursts into a song and dance. Slowly more drivers join her, so that the entire traffic jam changes into an improvised stage for performing a musical number. Furthermore, it is striking that this entire six-minute sequence is edited without any visible cutting, so that the scene appears to be shot in just one single take, which in turn also emphasises the fluidity of an ‘integrated musical’. However, the condition for a film to be regarded as a musical film, as Rubin noted, is that it also makes noticeable transitions from songs into the realistic world. This becomes

immediately clear when the film makes a sudden shift into a next scene, in which Mia and Sebastian are introduced as the protagonists of the film. The significance of this character introduction will be further elaborated upon in the next chapter, which delves deeper into the notion of the ‘dual-focus narrative strategy’.

The postmodern nature of La La Land (2016) is artiulcated through a lot of different features within the film, both as narrative and as aethetic components. Inherent to La La Land (2016) is the struggle of the film against itself, as Burke mentioned, by taking itself as an object of deconstruction. The film self-conciously borrows a part of the tradtional Hollywood musical film genre conventions, namely the ‘dual-focus narrative strategy’, ‘utopianism’ and ‘self-reflexivity’, and subsequently postitions them in a contemporary framework to turn the narrative into a postmodern tale. These are also the three main phenomena that will be analysed in the upcoming chapters in regard to their traditional and postmodern character in

La La Land (2016). Furthermore, illustrating the ever-present tension between the tradtional

generic conventions and the postmodern phenomena strongly contributes to the postmodern transformation the film undergoes.

For the purpose of this chapter it is important to introduce some of the postmodern aspects of La La Land (2016) which are not directly connected to the three main generic conventions that will be discussed in the upcoming chapters. More precisely, La La Land (2016) deliberately tries to incorporate two types of postmodern aesthetics, namely ‘generic pastiche’ and ‘narrative, formal and thematic fragmentation’, to detach itself partly from the traditional generic conventions and to give the film a postmodern twist.

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22 Figure 3. Intertextual references to the traditional Hollywood musical films Singin’ in the Rain (1952), Shall We Dance (1937) and Funny Face (1957).

It can be noticed that the film undeniably conveys the notion of ‘generic pastiche’ through the numerous imitations of other films within the Hollywood musical film genre, for example intertextual references to films such as Singin’ in the Rain (1952), Shall We Dance (1937) and Funny Face (1957) (see figure 3).The extent to which the film tries to recreate the looks, feels and even small recognizable gestures of these classical films, such as the dynamics between Mia and Sebastian during their tap dance sequence on the bench, is striking. Moreover, the fact that the film contains so many references to other films within the same genre causes a challenge to recognize the scenes that do not contain a reference. Besides, the phenomenon of ‘generic pastiche’ also includes the stylistic notion of ‘postmodern nostalgia’, as stated by Booker, which actually refers to the practice of constituting nostalgia for nostalgia. This concept can also be identified in La La Land (2016), because it

deliberately constructs an imagery of traditional Hollywood musical films as well as of Los Angeles as the Hollywood dream factory. But the imagery that is being created can be seen as one that has certainly not existed in this specific way. More importantly, the film mainly tries to reflect the culture that surrounded the traditional Hollywood musical films and their ‘Golden Age’, and therefore has no real historical truth in a way that it floats freely through different era’s. A striking example of a cultural phenomenon signalling the depiction of

nostalgia for nostalgia within La La Land (2016) is the jazz music. The portrayal of jazz in the film is characterised by a traditional approach, in a way that Sebastian wants to preserve jazz in its original form, while the film never shows a glimpse of jazz’s real history. So, basically the film solely recycles the culture of jazz that is constructed within other cultural products such as the traditional Hollywood musical films, without ever giving any historical details and truths.

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23 Figure 4. The Rebel Without a Cause (1955) scene is recreated within the film’s narrative.

Additionally, an aesthetic example of this phenomenon is the double mediation of the Los Angeles Griffith Observatory within the film. The first time the observatory is shown is when Mia and Sebastian watch a scene showing this observatory from the film Rebel Without a

Cause (1955) in the movie theatre. Consequently they decide to visit the real observatory

themselves, which causes them to indirectly recreate the exact same scene they just watched in the movie theatre (see figure 4). In this way, La La Land (2016) takes the nostalgia of showing the scene from Rebel Without a Cause (1955) a step further by consecutively integrating the real location of the Griffith Observatory into the narrative. So, based on the examples of ‘generic pastiche’ it can be stated that La La Land (2016) is primarily involved in the process of portraying the ‘remembered’, instead of straightforward nostalgia reflecting the ‘unremembered’, to ultimately encourage the feeling of nostalgia for nostalgia the audience experiences.

Lastly, the postmodern aesthetic of ‘narrative, formal and thematic fragmentation’ also finds its expression within La La Land (2016). Thematically the film is fragmented in a way that it reflects the fragmentary nature and imperfectness of real life, whereby the film partly deviates from the idea that there is a real possibility of fulling utopian desires in real life. In this way the film shows the complexities of real life, instead of reflecting the prevailing

ideology of an almost careless life with the prospect of a positive future most Hollywood films possess. La La Land (2016) also emphasises its fragmentary nature by foregrounding the reality-utopia dichotomy that last throughout the whole movie, which will be the main focus of chapter 3. Furthermore, narratively speaking the film at times disregards chronology,

especially in the first part of the film which contains the crucial parallel sequence, which will be thoroughly discussed in the next chapter. Moreover, the unconventional ending of the film completely distances itself from the notion of chronology, by being depicted as an

imagination that could not have happened in either the past or in the future. Formally, La

Land (2016) is also keen to draw our attention to frequent use of very bright colours as

background colours, of which the deeper meaning will be discussed in chapter 3. To come back to the first part of this paragraph, the opening musical number ‘Another Day of Sun’ is a great example of a long shot which quickly shifts from character to character without any visible cuts, which makes the movement in this scene very fluid.

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24 Figure 5. The camera moves rapidly to shift between Mia dancing and Sebastian playing jazz.

Moreover, another striking example of formal fragmentation is the scene in which Mia is dancing to the jazz music Sebastian is playing at the Lighthouse Café. In this frenetic scene the camera is shifting rapidly between Mia dancing and Sebastian playing piano, almost to the point that it makes the audience feel dizzy (see figure 5). Lastly, the film also frequently makes use of weird tilted camera angles and slow-motion effects to give scenes a

disorienting effect.

So far the two key features of postmodernism in film, ‘generic pastiche’ and ‘narrative, formal and thematic fragmentation’, have been discussed in regard to La La Land (2016). As mentioned above, the following chapters will each discuss the postmodern aspects of the traditional conventions, ‘dual-focus narrative strategy’, ‘utopianism’ and ‘self-reflexivity’, used in La La Land (2016) in order to the prove the thesis statement.

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Chapter 2: The Dual-focus Narrative

2.1 The Dual-focus Narrative

“This dual-focus structure requires the viewer to be sensitive not so much to chronology and progression—for the outcome of the male/female match is entirely conventional and thus

quite predictable—but to simultaneity and comparison.” (Altman 42)

In the above paragraph, the importance of the ‘dual-focus narrative’ in regard to the construction of the Hollywood musical film genre has already been briefly discussed. Therefore, the purpose of this paragraph is to delve deeper into the meanings and

implications of the use of this narrative strategy in musical films. This concept of the ‘dual-focus narrative’ can actually be regarded as one of the foundational aspects for the construction of musical films. It is useful to start off by stating the main focus of the ‘dual-focus narrative’ according to Rick Altman, namely that: “the couple is the plot” (Altman 35). This statement already emphasises the gravity of the notion of ‘male-female duality’, already mentioned in the above paragraph, which is also a crucial element for the implementation of the ‘dual-focus narrative’ as stated by Cohan:

“Altman claims that all musicals have the same underlying structure: a dual focus privileging the couple downplays the plot’s linear progression by heightening paralleled elements (comparable numbers, scenes, settings, values, etc.).” (Cohan 17)

Historically speaking, the Hollywood musical film focuses its narrative around parallel stars of opposite sex, adhering to the principle of duality, instead of centring on one central character by means of the ‘single-focus narrative’ (Altman 19). Applying this type of narrative strategy to musical films also affects the traditional development of the plot: “Whereas the traditional approach to narrative assumes that structure grows out of plot, the dual-focus structure of the American ﬁlm musical derives from character” (Altman 45). Analysing the narrative of musical films according to the traditional and conventional film analysis is still possible, however: “Each segment must be understood not in terms of the segments to which it is causally related but by comparison to the segment which it parallels” (Altman 44). So, it can be stated that the plot is differently construed than classical Hollywood film plots, which follow the principle of A→B→C. Whilst the plot of musical films relies far more on parallelism, in such a way that the plot follows a principle of A/B, C/C’ (Altman 44). Thus, when applying classical narrative analysis to musical films the focus should ideally be on the conceptual relationship between segments and not on the secondary chronological relationship between them. For the reason that this cause-effect relationship is merely important for highlighting

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26 the duality aspects of the segments (Altman 42). Noteworthy is that this ‘dual-focus narrative strategy’ can, according to Charles Altman, be recognized as an ancient and medieval narrative form. In fact, parallel storytelling in the form of duality has actually for a long time been one of the defining characteristics of medieval literature:

“Because the dual- and single-focus forms are not just literary genres but fundamental narrative configurations, they represent two basic modes of history-writing as well, two basic conceptions of time.” (Altman 16)

With this in mind, it is meaningful to address the most telling characteristics of the ‘dual-focus narrative’ as a specific storytelling strategy. As mentioned above, the narrative in most musical films does not follow the linear ‘psychological motivation’ model applied to traditional narrative strategies. Moreover, the plot is not necessarily motivated by actions in previous scenes, even if this impression is indirectly being created, and the overall structure of the plot is radically different from traditional ones (Altman 42). Generally, the narrative of the musical film is fixated on the portrayal of two different perspectives which causes a parallel of two storylines, whereby Pamella Lach draws attention to the resolution of this duality: “the genre as a whole revolved around the forging of common ground between oppositional forces” (Lach 20). Therefore, a lot of ‘dual-focus narrative’ musical films start off in ‘medias res’, which underscores the incompatibility and opposition of the main characters, even before background information and personal traits are revealed. Whereby this crucial information is: “withheld until the dual-focus parameters are set” (Altman 66). Consequently, Lach argues that the use of songs and dances is of great importance, in the first place for bringing the destined couple together, but also for symbolising that differences are surmountable. More often than not, the main characters are designated to have different cultural tastes, for example one protagonist is a dancer and the other protagonist a singer (Lach 20). Lach emphasises the fact that these cultural differences are a crucial element for fulfilling the purpose of the narrative:

“Not until these cultural differences can be overcome, through the forging of a middle ground or middlebrow culture, could the couple express their love for each other, thus signalling the film’s final and happy dénouement. This happy compromise, in turn, signified a utopian promise of a better world.” (Lach 20)

Similarly, the two protagonists also often tend to be engaged in the same or comparable activity, consecutively shown in parallel edited segments. Additionally, Altman points to another way in which the parallelism of the ‘dual-focus narrative’ can be voiced within

musical films. Namely, through the portrayal of two opposite but equivalent groups instead of purely focusing on two individual characters. These two equivalent groups have to be

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27 distinguishable in terms of sex, language, race or another differentiation device (Altman 58). In order to carry out the duality of these two groups within the narrative, a so called

‘contested space’ must be established whereby the groups desire to claim that particular ‘space’ (Altman 91).

Taking all these argument into account, Lach also acknowledges some problems when focusing solely and too heavily on an analysis of the ‘dual-focus narrative strategy’ within musical films, causing a limitation of other important factors involved. Firstly, she draws attention to the fact that within such a narrative the notion of a male-female romantic couple is the leading factor, whereby: “The danger of such an approach is that it forces us to view gender in considerably narrow terms: male/active, female/passive” (Lach 21). This applies specifically and especially to the segments wherein the couple is romantically involved, in this way the audience is tempted to perceive these segments as particularly gendered by for example objectifying the female body. On the other hand, musical films are also repeatedly characterised by the crossing of gender boundaries, for instance by letting male characters dance and sing in the same ways as the female characters do. So, Lach argues that focusing on and analysing the blurring gender lines will lead to the reformulation of these fixed gender boundaries within musical films (Lach 21). Secondly, she points to another problem, namely that: “the dual-focus narrative is historically and theoretically limiting because it sacrifices its analysis of song-and-dance to the narrative” (Lach 22). Solely analysing the ‘dual-focus narrative’ in musical films means taking songs and dances, especially within an ‘integrated musical’, for granted. The songs and dances must be

regarded as important self-contained factors for advancing the plot and not just as a vehicle for progressing the plot. That does not mean that the overall narrative has to be considered inferior or less significant, but: “Overcoming the integrated, dual-focus approach enables an exploration of the gaps that opened up when films transitioned between dialogue and song” (Lach 22).

Overall, Rick Altman provides in his book ‘A Theory of Narrative’ (2008) a clear understanding of how the most important characteristics of the ‘dual-focus narrative’ work together when used in musical films. These elements all complement each other and help to illuminate the phenomenon of (male-female) duality. A telling metaphor for the ‘dual-focus narrative’ strategy is therefore also:

“[...] dual-focus narrative is a chess game, a balanced confrontation where the two sides move alternately according to a simple set of rules, each piece having a limited function meaningful only in terms of the larger fate of its side. The battle takes place in time, yet strategy must be conceived in space, the opponent’s position remaining fully as important as the attacker’s plans.” (Altman 57)

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28 To conclude, Altman offers another remarkable reason for the use of a ‘dual-focus narrative’ within musical films, namely the fact that it has some compelling similarities in regard to the notion of (American) society itself. Whereby the musical can be seen as a ‘cultural problem-solving device’, by: “reconciling terms previously seen as mutually exclusive, the musical succeeds in reducing an unsatisfactory paradox to a more workable configuration, a concordance of opposites” (Altman 50). A society is generally characterised by multiple fundamental paradoxes like work vs. entertainment, progress vs. stability and order vs. liberty. Therefore, the musical film can be seen as an important instrument for reflecting the fundamental paradoxes of (American) society and showing that these paradoxes should not necessarily have to be mutually exclusive (Altman 50).

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2.2 The Dual-focus Narrative in La La Land (2016)

The ‘dual-focus narrative strategy’ and the phenomenon of duality play an interesting but complex role within La La Land (2016). Similar to the six-minute opening musical number directly revealing the musical identity of the film, the representation of a ‘dual-focus narrative strategy’ communicates the adherence to the traditional generic conventions. However, it is striking that this ‘dual-focus narrative’ approach is not surviving throughout the whole course of film. This is therefore also an important factor for indicating that the film does not

completely cohere to the traditional Hollywood musical film conventions and rather takes a more postmodern turn. More precisely, the unconventional and rare ending of the film marks a dramatic rupture from the traditional narrative conventions used in traditional Hollywood musical films and can be marked as a postmodern phenomenon. It has to be noted that straying away from traditional conventions in general does not automatically signal a complete postmodern transformation. However, La La Land (2016) uses the transformation of traditional conventions to test the suspension of disbelief of the audience by surprising them with an unconventional and shocking ending, which is a key characteristic of films with a postmodern character.

To start off this part of the analysis, it is important to note that there are essentially only two characters that play an important role within the film, namely the two protagonists Mia and Sebastian. There are only a few secondary characters that advance the plot in the desired direction, but the story of Mia and Sebastian remains central at all times. So, this emphatically confirms Altman’s statement of: “the couple is the plot” (Altman 35), as this is also certainly the case in La La Land (2016). The ‘dual-focus’ character of the film

immediately become clear when the two protagonists Mia and Sebastian are introduced, as already briefly mentioned in paragraph 1.3. More precisely, the beginning of the film start off as a typical Hollywood musical film, by introducing Mia and Sebastian as the two

protagonists of the film in two parallel scenes and thereby disregarding the chronology of events. The linear progression of the plot is not of high importance, but the parallel sequence is mostly important for introducing the protagonists, their current lives and their ultimate dreams, before their paths literally cross. Both of their introduction sequences take approximately ten minutes and start off right after the first musical number ends. Mia and Sebastian are both stuck in traffic, while Mia is practicing lines for her audition and Sebastian is restlessly searching for the right jazz radio station to listen to. Mia’s distractedness causes Sebastian to aggressively honk and Mia to raise her middle finger at him (see figure 6).

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30 Figure 6. This scene marks the start of Mia’s and Sebastian’s parallel sequence.

These small consecutive actions strongly underscore the incompatibility and opposition of the two main characters. In this way, the beginning of the film seems to acknowledge its similarities to the traditional Hollywood musical film genre, even though the narrative did not start off in ‘medias res’.

In fact, figure 6 marks the start of Mia and Sebastian’s part of the parallel sequence. Whereby these sequences have the exact the same beginnings, but are presented from opposite points of view. Firstly, Mia’s sequence is shown, wherein the focus lies on the fact that she aspires to be a successful actress. However, her journey to success seems hard and it seems like she is almost at her breaking point, which leads the audience to believe that she will give up on her dream. For example, everything seems to be working against her when she has to audition with a coffee stain on her shirt while the casting directors seem to be focused on anything else than Mia. This scene shows the failure of her audition and at the same time shows a lot of people looking just like her wanting to pursue the exact same dream. Which in turn mirrors the stereotypical representation of Hollywood that is almost always depicted within (musical) films. To keep her from giving up on her dream and still keeping a sparkle of hope, Mia tries to immerse herself into the Hollywood film industry surroundings by working as a barista on the Warner Bros. lot. This ‘still belief in the

unexpected’ mentality is also acknowledged within the next musical number called ‘Someone in the Crowd’, which takes place at a fancy cliché Hollywood party. Mia is dragged there by her friends who insist that maybe there could be: “Someone in the crowd could be the one you need to know. The one to finally lift you off the ground” (Someone in the Crowd, La La

Land). Near the end of the song Mia runs into the bathroom, where the whole room goes

dark and a spotlight appears. The meaning of the particular use of the spotlight will be discussed in the paragraph 3.2, because in La La Land (2016) it is a reoccurring aesthetic practice for showing another reality.

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31 Figure 7. The slow-motion scene emphasises the hollowness of utopian cliché Hollywood.

After the bathroom scene a slow-motion movement is depicted, which proposes that Mia does not feel part of the Hollywood elite as she slowly and almost invisibly moves through the crowd of (famous) people dancing in slow-motion (see figure 7). This small scene emphasises the sadness and loneliness underneath the revelry and the utopian Hollywood dream factory full of clichés.

Important is to now turn to the parallel sequence from Sebastian’s point of view, wherein the film shifts back to the moment where he is stuck in traffic on a highway in Los Angeles. Thereafter, the scene shows he is drinking coffee across the street of the club he hopes to own one day. He is upset that they turned it into a samba-tapas bar instead of keeping it an authentic jazz club. From this moment on Sebastian could be perceived as a so called traditionalist, because of his obsession with preserving jazz in its original form. When he arrives at his home he is surprised to see his sister who asks him why he has still not unpacked all the boxes in his house, indirectly asking what he is doing with his life now that he is unable to pay his bills. To which he replies: “When I unpack them in my own club”. By this statement his dream is revealed, namely the dream of having his own jazz club where jazz music is being performed in its original form. His sister subsequently says the following: “It’s like a girl broke up with you and you’re stalking her. You’re not still going by there, are you?”. Hereby, she refers to the jazz club he specifically goes to when drinking a coffee. His traditionalistic character and him obviously disliking changes can be deduced from the fact that he has not yet unpacked his boxes and is still obsessed with the traditional jazz club that changed its concept. Furthermore, his stubbornness and persistence also become clear when he says: “I want to be on the ropes, I am letting life hit me until it gets tired, then I am going to hit back. It’s a classic rope-a-dope. I’m phoenix rising from the ashes”. He still believes in the possibility of creating a utopia for himself and letting his dream comes true, even if he has to endure some tough challenges.

After these parallel introductory sequences, Mia and Sebastian’s separate plots start to come together literally and figuratively. Before the film cuts to Sebastian’s part of the parallel sequence, Mia is shown walking past a wall painting of an audience and she hears Sebastian play his own jazz song on the piano, which intrigues her. The meaning of this wall

Dancing, Dreaming and Transforming: La La Land (2016) as the Contemporary Postmodern Hollywood Musical Film