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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Table of Contents

Abstract ................................................................................................................. .......... 2

Table of Contents ............................................................................................................ 3

Introduction .................................................................................................................... 4

Chapter 1: The Hollywood Musical Film Genre vs. The Postmodernism Film ........ 8

1.1 The Hollywood Musical Film Genre ..................................................................... 8

1.2 The Postmodern Film ......................................................................................... 14

1.3 Generic conventions and Postmodernism in La La Land (2016) ........................ 19

Chapter 2: The Dual-focus Narrative .......................................................................... 25

2.1 The Dual-focus Narrative .................................................................................... 25

2.2 The Dual-focus Narrative in La La Land (2016) .................................................. 29

Chapter 3: Utopianism and The American Dream ..................................................... 36

3.1 Utopianism and The American Dream ................................................................ 36

3.2 Utopianism and The American Dream in La La Land (2016) .............................. 42

Chapter 4: Self-reflexivity and Metareference ............................................................ 49

4.1 Self-reflexivity and Metareference ....................................................................... 49

4.2 Self-reflexivity and Metareference in La La Land (2016) ..................................... 52

Conclusion ..................................................................................................................... 57

Bibliography ..................................................................................................................... 60

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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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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

focus on these four key aspects, namely the ‘postmodern film’, the ‘dual-focus narrative’,

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‘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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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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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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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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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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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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“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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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

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.

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

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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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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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)

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).

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.

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

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painting will be discussed later when talking about reflexivity in paragraph 4.2. She decides

to walk into the restaurant where Sebastian works as a pianist playing background music.

This scene shows her watching him closely as the spotlight is set on her again. Then there is

a drastic cut to the parallel sequence of Sebastian, wherein it is revealed that he indeed

works in a restaurant, but is only allowed to play the assigned setlist while he actually wants

to play his own jazz songs. He decides to go for it and starts playing his own jazz song,

which could later be recognized as being ‘Mia and Sebastian’s song’, and the spotlight is

there again to immerse the audience into his dream. This scene abruptly stops and it seems

like nothing happened, but then it shows that Sebastian is being fired because of his actions.

Mia, who was watching his entire performance, wants to complement him, but Sebastian

bumps into her and storms off in anger. So, as mentioned above, after this twenty-minute

parallel sequence the use of the ‘dual-focus narrative’ to structure this musical film is almost

entirely disregarded.

Figure 8. Old Hollywood fonts used for the transitions into new seasons and phases of their

relationship.

Instead La La Land (2016) uses the different seasons to structure the start and continuing of

Mia and Sebastian’s relationship, whereby these seasons are shown in an old Hollywood

font as title cards to mark a transition into a new season (see figure 8). In other words, winter

marks the beginning of the film, both Mia and Sebastian are not happy and have not been

able to realize their dreams. At the start of spring they still have different tastes, different

professions and different dreams that have to be overcome in order to build their relationship.

But they slowly overcome these differences at a party where they accidentally run into each

other, and this is when their love story starts. More precisely, it is the musical number ‘A

Lovely Night’ which causes Mia and Sebastian to set aside their differences. In the beginning

of the song they emphasise that: “And there's not a spark in sight. What a waste of a lovely

night” (A Lovely Night, La La Land). While at the end they are dancing synchronously like

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they have done this a million times before. Summer subsequently highlights the best time of

their relationship, in which they encourage each other in pursuing their dreams. However, in

this summer segment of the film there are already some signs foreshadowing their eventual

break-up. This break-up takes place in the fall, which also signifies the fall of their

relationship and in which an altercation causes them to disconnect for the first time. The

importance and cruciality of this fight for the overall narrative will be discussed in more detail

within paragraph 3.2. Thus, these different seasons indicate that Mia and Sebastian’s

relationship changes accordingly and also demonstrates that the structure and plot

essentially grow out of the characters. So, it turns out that the (male-female) duality, in

wanting to pursue their own individual dreams without competing with each other, can be

regarded as the main ideology that is created without the complete support of the ‘dual-focus

narrative strategy’.

The last section of this part of the analysis will be dedicated to the unconventional ending of

La La Land (2016), because this is the most telling and remarkable way in which the film

deviates from the traditional Hollywood musical film genre. More precisely, the film does this

by entirely disregarding the classical and predictable creation of an ending. One of the most

important characteristics of the ‘dual-focus narrative’ is the fact that the two initially opposed

protagonists end up together. This is not what happens at the end of La La Land (2016),

because Mia lands a big role in a film and Sebastian does not want to stand in the way of her

success, so eventually they decide to break up. Their duality in this film consists of multiple

and multidimensional layers as mentioned above, all essentially building up towards the

ending of the film. It can even be stated that the whole film would have had a different theme

and ideology if the ending was different or completely omitted.

The ending begins with another title card stating: ‘Winter, Five years later’. It starts

with Mia, who made her dream come true and is now a famous actress, getting coffee at the

same place she used to work as a barista. She gets home to her husband and daughter and

they decide to go out for a night, not knowing that they would end up at Sebastian’s own jazz

club. Consequently Sebastian is shown walking towards his club, indicating that he also

fulfilled his dream. During this scene he walks past the same poster Mia had in her bedroom

in the beginning of the film. This can be regarded as a metaphor for the fact that the next

scenes will loop time back on itself. As soon as Mia and her husband sit down in Sebastian’s

jazz club, Sebastian gives a little speech and notices Mia sitting in front of him. He then starts

playing their song, which has been used frequently in the film to symbolise their love story.

Subsequently, an immersing final eight-minute fantasy sequence is depicted in which a

traditional Hollywood musical film version of how the film would have played out, if it would

have incorporated all the traditional conventions and stuck completely to the genre formula,

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is shown. An alternate narrative is being told in which Mia and Sebastian have an

uncomplicated relationship and have a child together. Furthermore, Mia fulfilled her dream of

becoming a famous actress and Sebastian kept supporting her by putting his dream aside,

so that they eventually could ‘live happily ever after’. The utopian settings depicted within this

scene will be discussed in more detail within the next chapter. In the last scene of this

fantasy sequence Mia and Sebastian arrive at the same jazz club, but then the song ends

and it is revealed that this was only Mia’s fantasy of an alternative ending of the narrative.

Back in reality, Mia and her husband leave the club and Mia and Sebastian look at each

other for one last time hinting that they are proud of each other despite the sadness they are

feeling, they fulfilled their dreams but lost each other in the process. It could be seen as a

pessimistic postmodern ending to an optimistic film, whereby the film reverses how in

traditional Hollywood musical films the romance plot and professional plot merge together.

Essentially, this analysis reveals that the two protagonists can be seen as embodying

a traditional and postmodern aspect of the film. Namely, Mia embodies the postmodern

aspect of the film, while Sebastian reflects the traditional aspect. As a matter of fact, Mia

reflects the thought of not completely believing in the possibility of fulfilling her utopian

imagination. However, in the end Mia is the one who fulfilled her dream completely by being

an actress and having a family life, but cannot help herself to imagine how their lives would

have turned out if they would have stuck to the traditional conventions. On the other hand,

Sebastian could be seen as mirroring traditionalism, because he is convinced that there is a

substantial possibility of fulfilling his utopian desires and holds on tight to this belief. He is a

fundamental traditionalist whose dream is to open his own jazz club and to preserve jazz’s

purity. It can be noted that these embodiments are essentially a form of performing reflexivity

and will therefore also be discussed within the paragraph 4.2. So, in the end the film could

mostly be recognized as being postmodern instead of being traditionalist, as the traditional

conventions are used as an opportunity to transform the narrative into a postmodern tale.

As has been noted in the above theoretical framework paragraph, the ‘dual-focus

narrative strategy’ could be regarded as one of the foundational aspects of constructing a

traditional Hollywood musical film. That said, this analysis shows that La La Land (2016)

does not completely meet this expectation. The ways in which the film plays with the duality

of its characters shows that it took the ‘dual-focus’ approach as a starting point to portray and

convey a credible musical film. Subsequently it deviates from this course, and thereby gives

a more postmodern twist to (male-female) duality and its conventional outcome. This is done

through the deliberate rejection a conventional happy ending, and instead shocking its

audience with an upsetting and untypical ending. Through this, the film places itself in

postmodern realm rather than submersing itself into the traditional Hollywood musical film

territory. The position of the utopian settings and the protagonist’s ‘Hollywood dreams’ in

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regard to the traditional Hollywood musical film genre and the phenomenon of

postmodernism, will be discussed in the next chapter.

36

Chapter 3: Utopianism and The American Dream

3.1 Utopianism and The American Dream

“While we often simply fantasize, at times we reason about our dreams, and sometimes we

even act on them. Still, at its base utopianism is social dreaming, and includes elements of

fantasy, most commonly early in the history of utopianism, but they never entirely disappear

probably because a degree of fantasy is necessary to human psychic health.” (Sargent 4)

As stated in the first chapter, ‘utopianism’ is a multidimensional concept which is highly

relevant for analysing the inherent generic structure of Hollywood musical films, because

‘utopianism’ is a particular ideology musical films wish to integrate and propagate. More

precisely, Fredric Jameson considered the phenomenon of ‘utopia’ to have an inherent

ideological reading:

“Works of mass culture cannot be ideological without at one and the same time being

implicitly or explicitly utopian as well: they cannot manipulate unless they offer some

genuine shred of content as a fantasy bribe to the public about to be so manipulated.”

(Jameson 142)

It is worth recalling the definition of musical films, already mentioned in the first chapter,

given by Rubin: “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). This statement clearly touches upon the ‘impossible’ and ‘unrealistic’

character of the phenomenon of ‘utopianism’. Gregory Claeys and Lyman Tower Sargent

argue in their book ‘The Utopia Reader’ (2017) that the word ‘utopia’ was originally created

by social philosopher Thomas More as a literary form and is derived from the Greek words

‘ou’ and ‘topos’, literally meaning ‘no place’. According to the authors the term ‘utopia’ thus

refers to a non-existent society which is located in a particular time and space. Furthermore,

the phenomenon of ‘utopianism’ is subsequently designated as an imaginative projection of a

dramatically different life (Claeys and Sargent 1). Similarly, Sargent describes the general

phenomenon of ‘utopianism’ in her article as follows:

“[...] social dreaming - the dreams and nightmares that concern the ways in which

groups of people arrange their lives and which usually envision a radically different

society than the one in which the dreamers live. But not all are radical, for some

people at any time dream of something basically familiar.” (Sargent 3)

However, Claeys and Sargent stress the fact the notion of ‘utopia’ must not be confused with

and reduced to solely being a literary tradition, a theological form, a feeling, a principle or a

37

state of mind. Most importantly, it must also not be regarded as a synonym for progress or

making a society better in general (Claeys and Sargent 2). From these different

understandings it becomes clear that a lot has been written about the phenomenon of

‘utopianism’ within (literary texts) throughout history, too much to extensively discuss in this

particular paragraph. However, Sargent gives a clear and useful overview of the different

forms of ‘utopianism’ that can be expressed within texts (see figure 9). For the analysis of La

La Land (2016) it is of most interest to elaborate more on the utopian form called ‘critical

utopianism’. The first theorist to coin the term ‘critical utopia’ was Tom Moylan in his book

‘Demand the impossible: Science Fiction and the Utopian Imagination’ (1986) by stating: “A

central concern in the critical utopia is the awareness of the limitations of the utopian

tradition, so that these texts reject utopia as a blueprint while preserving it as a dream”

(Moylan 10). He notes that texts including this phenomenon of ‘critical utopianism’ relied on

the conflict and tension between the original and utopian world, that is to say that the ‘critical

utopia’ itself is aware of its obvious limitations (Moylan 10). Thereby, Sargent argues that

contemporary scholars, thus around the 1990’s, are perceiving the implementation of the

phenomenon of ‘critical utopianism’ in texts as critically reflecting on its own genre (Sargent

8). So, it can be noted that the utopian genre since then has become more self-aware by

starting to reflect on its own forms.

Figure 9. Lyman Tower Sargent’s definitions of different utopian forms (1994).

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It is important to emphasise the phenomenon of ‘utopianism’ within the field of entertainment

and specifically in regard to Hollywood musical films. To start off, according to Moylan the

second half of the twentieth century was characterised by a strong revival of the utopian

impulse (Moylan 15). So, the ‘Golden Age’ of Hollywood musical films was a particularly

good time for the incorporation of ‘utopianism’, because during this post-war period a strong

believe in society’s and technology’s ability to produce a better world was ruling. Thereby,

Peter Fitting writes in his text about ‘utopian films’ that this period was: “[..] not only

characterised by a certain utopian optimism, but by a distinctive style which summed up the

gleaming promise of the future for decades to come” (Fitting 2). However, according to Dyer

there is an important difference between (literary) texts conveying ‘utopianism’, as discussed

above, and films portraying the phenomenon of ‘utopianism’:

“Entertainment does not, however, present models of utopian worlds, as in the classic

utopias of Thomas More [...]. Rather the utopianism is contained in the feelings it

embodies. It presents, head-on as it were, what utopia would feel like rather than how it

would be organized. It thus works at the level of sensibility, by which I mean an affective

code that is characteristic of, and largely specific to, a given mode of cultural production.”

(Dyer 3)

Besides, Dyer notes that there are two taken-for-granted notions of entertainment in general,

namely their ‘escapist’ nature and the fact that they often encourage ‘wish fulfilment’.

However, these are exactly the notions pointing to the active involvement of various

entertainment forms in conveying the phenomenon of ‘utopianism’, whereby they try to offer

us images of a ‘better world’ or our inner desires (Dyer 3). They provide us with:

“Alternatives, hopes, wishes—these are the stuff of utopia, the sense that things could be

better, that something other than what is can be imagined and maybe realized” (Dyer 3). In

his book ‘Hollywood Genres’ (1981) Schatz notes that in essence all Hollywood films contain

utopian elements to a certain degree, by for example showing so called ‘utopian or idealistic

resolutions’ for realistic problems (Schatz 188). Furthermore, when focussing specifically on

the Hollywood musical film genre, it becomes evident that the narratives of these films also

often strongly portray the reality-utopia paradox:

“The musical's gradual narrative progression toward a successful show and the

principal performers' embrace project a utopian resolution, but this resolution is

anticipated whenever the performers break into song and dance.” (Schatz 188)

However, Dyer notes that the communication of ‘utopianism’ only becomes successful when

the presented utopian visions are derived from existing and real imaginative projections of

the audience. In that way the audience of a musical film can perceive the portrayal of

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‘utopianism’ as more accurate and realistic. By incorporating the notion of ‘utopianism’ in a

musical film the emphasis will be on the discrepancy between ‘what is’ and ‘what could be’.

To camouflage this obvious discrepancy, musicals: ‘[...] work through these contradictions at

all levels in such a way as to ‘manage’ them, to make them seem to disappear” (Dyer 9).

For the sake of the explicating the generic construction of musical films, it is also

important to come back to the distinction made between the two stylistic logics of Hollywood

musical films, namely the ‘integrated musical’ and the ‘aggregated musical’. Particularly

because Fitting draws attention to the fact that the ‘integrated musical’ can be seen as more

of a ‘utopian film’, whereby the utopian musical numbers are changing and progressing the

plot (Fitting 9). Similarly, Schatz notes that the ‘integrated musical’ can also get the most out

of its potential ‘utopianism’, by means of directly connecting the dances and lyrics of the

musical numbers with a utopian motif to the real conflicts within the narrative. Musical films

containing a fair amount of ‘utopianism’, by stressing the tension between reality and illusion,

are worked out on two different levels of action. Namely, by characters bursting into musical

numbers to transcend their interpersonal problems while expressing their true feelings and

secondly by the narrative itself that solves interpersonal struggles by performing musical

numbers (Schatz 188). Schatz sums up the above arguments by stating that:

“[...] the musical genre's basic oppositions derive from a narrative distinction between

the dramatic story, in which static, one-dimensional characters act out familiar social

conflicts and are oblivious to the camera/audience, and the musical production

numbers, in which those same characters acknowledge their status as dynamic

entertainers and perform directly to the camera/audience.” (Schatz 189)

A popular phenomenon related to ‘utopianism’ is the ‘American Dream’, the narrative on

which America is build, the national American ethos and a set of beliefs which states that

dreams, ambitions and aspirations are achieved through risk-taking, sacrifice and hard work

rather than by luck or chance. It is justifiable and useful for the upcoming analysis to argue

that the ’American Dream’ could and will be addressed as a particular form of ‘utopianism’.

The traditional and most commonly used definition of the ‘American Dream’ can be attributed

to historian James Truslow Adams. In his book ‘Epic of America’ (1931) he described and

thereby popularized the phenomenon as follows: “that dream of a land in which life should be

better and richer and fuller for every man, with opportunity for each according to his ability or

achievement” (Adams 404). However, Nicholas Deskos argues in his text that this particular

characterisation changed during the post-war period in America. While referring to the

original notion of Adams, he states that Adams indirectly claims that social class is irrelevant

and that every American could achieve material comfort and personal happiness. But,

Deskos remarks that this premise was no longer holding up after the 1940’s:

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“[...] in post-war America the American Dream was redefined as a life of personal

happiness and material comfort as sought by individuals. [...] As a result, the

American Dream is no longer the measure of the quality of one’s individual character

but more the measure of the value of the material goods that one has accumulated.”

(Deskos 5)

Moreover, Deskos points to the fact that the concept of the ‘American Dream’ could still be

regarded as relevant nowadays, especially because it is part of (American) popular culture

and portrayed within for example television series and films (Deskos 3). Similarly, J. Emmett

Winn states that: “The American Dream is entrenched in American popular culture” (Winn 1).

In regard to American popular culture, K. Edington goes a long way in demonstrating why the

American film industry became associated with the notion of the ‘American Dream’ in the first

place. He states that the establishment of the Hollywood film industry occurred

simultaneously with the dream of westward expansion in America (Edington 63). The

Hollywood film industry subsequently became dominated by the idea of the pursuit of

dreams, which could be clearly recognized when looking at the films from the 1920’s (and

onward) and the actors starring in these films:

“The stars themselves were often ordinary Americans whose success was attributed

to their natural virtue and effort simply magnified by the magic of the camera: anyone

could be a star. The films, in turn, often celebrated the success of the ordinary

individual rewarded for his (usually) or her persistence, determination, and innate

goodness.” (Edington 64)

More importantly, Ken Hillis notes that: “The success of classical Hollywood narrative cinema

relies on audience identification with an on-screen character or characters” (Hillis 3). At this

specific time Americans were obsessed with the idea of the ‘American Dream’ and this

cherished belief was even becoming rooted in American society. Much of the films from the

1920’ (and onward) explicitly communicate this prevailing ideal, so that watching these films

in turn encouraged and strengthened the receptive audience’s believe in the ‘American

Dream’. Lastly, it is relevant to address the book ‘The American Dream and Contemporary

Hollywood Cinema’ (2007) by Winn, wherein he touches upon the fundamental aspects of

the incorporation of the notion of the ‘American Dream’ in contemporary Hollywood films.

More precisely, he differentiates between three possible themes concerning the

communication of the ‘American Dream’ in these films, namely, ‘moralizing mobility’,

‘moralizing failure’ and ‘moralizing the material’. The first one, which he also calls the ‘rags-

to-riches success story’ focuses its narrative around a moral working-class protagonist trying

to realize the ‘American Dream’. Additionally, these characters are able to accomplish

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success by determination, hard work and their inspiring motives (Winn 12). The second

theme, ‘moralizing failure’ is the rational opposite of the former and could be described as

working-class characters coping with failure without ever questioning the promise of the

‘American Dream’. Furthermore, the characters learn and grow from their failures by aiming

to high and start to appreciate their working-class values again (Winn 12). Winn introduces

the third and final theme as ‘moralizing the material’, which encompasses ‘emotionally and/or

physically distressed upper-class characters’ forming a relationship with lower-class

characters. This relationship can be regarded as reciprocal, in a way that:

“Circumstances bring them into a close cross-class relationship with a struggling

working-class or poor person, who redeems the upper-class character by showing

him or her the way back to living a full and happy life. However, all the members of

the cross-class relationship benefit, as it becomes a symbolic microcosm of the myth

of a classless America.” (Emmett Winn 13)

The above delineated themes thus show the inevitable tension between the ‘material’

(individualism) and the moral (brotherhood) when portraying the notion of the ‘American

Dream’ within contemporary Hollywood films. In a like manner Glenn D. Smith Jr argues in

his text that this tension can only be resolved through the illustration of the classical

Hollywood love story, whereby the heterosexual relationship and the happy ending of the film

are crucial:

“[...] only through the devotion and example of a romantic partner, one who fully

understands and has incorporated the material and moral ideologies of the American

Dream, does the protagonist eventually take responsibility for his actions and

experience continued happiness and success.” (Smith Jr 224)

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3.2 Utopianism and The American Dream in La La Land (2016)

In the most general sense, the film La La Land (2016) as a whole can be seen as immersing

itself into a surface level utopia, because it for example does not show any poverty, crime,

industrialism, homelessness, or racism. Moreover, both Mia and Sebastian can afford a

decent home in Los Angeles, even when their jobs are not well-paid. But this is obviously a

common phenomenon of Hollywood films in general, because films are supposed to immerse

its audience into another and often non-existent reality. Moreover, when diving deeper into

the meanings of the phenomenon of ‘utopianism’ in La La Land (2016), it could be noted that

‘utopianism’ serves different and complex functions for the narrative as well as for the

postmodern ideology the film conveys.

More precisely, it can be said that La La Land (2016) consciously builds a tension

between the utopian spirit of the film and the postmodern sense of the ordinary world, in

which the possibility of a realizing a utopian imagination is highly questioned. This can for

example been seen when looking at the transitions between the musical numbers into the

general narrative. Furthermore, the film can be identified as an ‘integrated musical’, as

already mentioned in paragraph 1.3, which also means that it has a greater possibility of

conveying the phenomenon of ‘utopianism’, as stated by Fitting and Schatz. This means that

the musical numbers and the plot have a direct and reciprocal relationship, by which the

lyrics of these numbers often contain explicit references to the plot. These musical numbers

performed by Mia and Sebastian are crucial for depicting utopian settings and spheres. But

most of all, these numbers are important for giving their dreams expression, form and

substance. For example, the musical number ‘City of Stars’ Sebastian performs after he and

Mia shared their passions, aspirations and goals at his favourite jazz club, after which he

sings: “City of stars. There's so much that I can't see. Who knows? Is this the start of

something wonderful and new? Or one more dream that I cannot make true?” (City of Stars,

La La Land). These sentences and the utopian looking settings cause him to becomes

temporarily locked in a dream state, but he remains insecure about the possibility of fulfilling

his dreams, namely the one of opening his own Jazz club as well as his new dream of

sharing a life with Mia (see figure 10).

Figure 10. The utopian settings emphasize Sebastian being locked in a dream state.

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These shots can be regarded as utopian because of the bright colours that are being used,

the almost perfect sunset and the older loved up couple dancing with each other.

Additionally, this musical number presents what a utopia for Sebastian would feel like and

thereby indirectly compares it to his real life, where he knows that Mia still has a boyfriend. In

fact, the whole film deliberately plays with this reality-utopia paradox, which could be

identified as an inherent feature of the film. For example, the song ‘City of Stars’ ends with a

straight cut to the next shot wherein an almost empty parking lot is shown, which marks a

sharp contrast with the utopian scene that precede it. This is followed by another scene in

which Mia has to audition in front of two casting directors who never look up from their

phones and send her away after she delivers only one line, which causes her walk out angry

and feeling humiliated. In this way, the portrait of a utopia is immediately disregarded in order

to show that the harsh reality is nothing like what is pictured within the songs. In fact, La La

Land (2016) uses this contrast as a returning phenomenon, whereby a disturbance or

interruption of a piece of reality creates an abrupt ending to the musical numbers. For

example at the end of the musical number ‘A Lovely Night’, already mentioned in paragraph

2.2, when Mia’s phone starts to ring and it turns out to be her boyfriend calling. This marks

an immediate shift into reality, causing Mia and Sebastian to end their utopian imaginations

and go home. Similarly, when the musical number ‘Someone in the Crowd’, already

mentioned in paragraph 1.2, ends the film immediately cuts to a shot with a sign stating ‘tow

away, not stopping’ when Mia finds out her car is gone.

Another telling element in relation to this reality-utopia dichotomy, is the use of a

spotlight during musical numbers as an aesthetic indicator for marking the transition into the

ultimate utopian imaginations of Mia and Sebastian. These spotlights on the characters show

to transition into a utopian space, whereby these are the moments when everything goes

back to one pure idea, the purest sense of dreaming and being oneself (see figure 11).

Figure 11. The use of spotlights brings out Mia and Sebastian’s inner utopian desires.

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This can for example be seen when Sebastian decides to play his own songs at his work and

it can be noticed that he feels like he is the centre of attention for a moment. In this scene he

can truly be himself and it is at this moment it is revealed that playing his own songs is his

ultimate utopian dream. Subsequently, when the spotlight dissolves he instantly gets

snapped out of his dream and returns to the harsh reality, where he immediately finds out he

is getting fired. So, when the spotlight eventually fades away, it is almost like a spell being

broken. Another scene which uses the spotlight is when Mia rushes into the bathroom during

the musical number ‘Someone in the Crowd’, already mentioned in paragraph 1.2. Here the

spotlight is being used to illustrate her inner feelings and her vulnerable side, but also to

emphasize what she is singing to herself, namely: “Somewhere there's a place where I find

who I'm gonna be. A somewhere that's just waiting to be found” (Someone in the Crowd, La

La Land). This once again emphasises Mia’s embodiment of the postmodern aspect of the

film, by hinting at the insecurity in regard to fulfilling her dream and not knowing what the

future holds. The last scene that is important to note in regard to the use of the spotlight is

Mia’s final audition that essentially will make her famous and successful. At this particular

audition she sings to song ‘The Fools Who Dream’ about her aunt making her dreams come

true in Paris. When Mia performs this song the film sucks the audience into her world by

drifting away from reality for a moment and this is the first moment that reveals why she is so

motivated and determined to fulfil her biggest dream. Furthermore, she acknowledges the

vulnerability and uncertainties that comes with chasing your dreams when she sings: “Here's

to the ones who dream. Foolish as they may seem. Here's to the hearts that ache. Here's to

the mess we make” (The Fools Who Dream, La La Land). So, the scenes using the spotlight

mark the purest and realest moments of the main characters, but they also convey their most

utopian and unrealistic dreams. Essentially this also reflects the postmodern thought of not

believing in the possibility of fulfilling a utopian desire, whereby the utopian spheres imagined

are not able to survive into reality.

Additionally, another indicator for the level of utopianism that is being conveyed

throughout the film is the colour pallet. Thereby, the use of colour also indicates where the

narrative will lead to in regard to Mia and Sebastian’s relationship and the dreams they have.

To indicate Mia’s disbelief in the possibility of fulling her utopian dream, she gradually stops

wearing colourful cloths. Whereas in the beginning she mostly wears blue, yellow and purple

dresses, in the end she wears grey and black clothes (see figure 12). These bright colours

worn in the beginning of the film are also a clear reference to the traditional Hollywood

musical films, because they are often times used to convey the optimism and gleaming

outlooks of utopian spheres.

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Figure 12. The clothes Mia wears reflect respectively her belief and disbelief of fulfilling her utopian

dream.

Similar to the clothes worn, the background colours of several scenes signal the inner

feelings of the characters and sometimes even foreshadow what will happen later narratively.

For example, the red light in Sebastian’s house when he and Mia talk about the fact that he

does not want to work for someone else. The red lighting shows that from here it will go

downhill with his relationship and his career when he decides to join someone else’s band to

earn some money to be able to care for Mia and himself. Another scene in which the

colouring of lights indicate their inner feelings, is when Mia and Sebastian perform the

number ‘City of Stars’ together in a green lighted room, which signals the underlying jealousy

and envy that is to come now that Sebastian’s band is becoming successful. Lastly, the

whole club is filled with a blue light when Mia and Sebastian look at each other for the last

time, symbolising the contentment, fulfilment and introspection they feel by both fulling their

dreams and being proud of each other (see figure 13).

Figure 13. Background colours indicating and foreshadowing Mia and Sebastian’s inner feelings.

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Considering the fact that the tension between the possibility and impossibility of realizing

utopian dreams is central to La La Land (2016), as stated above, it can be stated that the film

can essentially be seen as a ‘critical utopia’ by commenting on the limitations of its own

created utopia. This phenomenon is also relevant when analysing the representation of

‘American Dream’ within the film. In fact, the ‘American Dream’ and its objectives are

obviously still relevant in our current society. People are still taught and encouraged to work

hard if they want the possibility of achieving certain goals in life. However, what this film

shows brilliantly is that for these dreams to come true in our current society you have to give

up other things, because dreams always come with a cost. In this way, La La Land (2016) is

very different from the traditional Hollywood musical films, that are obsessed with creating a

narrative that will lead to a perfect ending. More precisely, La La Land (2016) foregrounds

the struggles and scepticism the protagonists experience while trying to fulfil their ‘American

Dreams’, hereby the focus does not lie on the creation of and the working toward a

conventional perfect Hollywood musical film ending. In the above paragraph the notion of the

‘American Dream’ is defined as being a commonly used phenomenon within musical films.

Within La La Land (2016) this is also the case, but for this analysis and this particular film it is

more convenient to start calling it the ‘Hollywood dream’. Namely, because the narrative is

focused on the protagonists wanting to become successful artists within the heart of

professional entertainment and glamour that is Los Angeles. As a matter of fact, it could be

stated that the phrase ‘becoming famous, if you work hard for it and meet the right people’ is

designated to be the ethos of Hollywood. However, in La La Land (2016) 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. Furthermore,

the notion of the ‘American Dream’ is transformed into a more postmodern thought of the

‘Hollywood Dream’, which tells the audience that ‘utopianism’ is a belief that must be

recognized to be almost always unattainable and unrealistic.

It is important to note that the portrayal of a ‘critical utopia’ in La La Land (2016) can

indeed be seen as postmodern and not purely as a specific form of an ‘anti-utopia’. A ‘critical

utopia’ does have ‘anti-utopian’ characteristics, but this does not mean that the portrayal of

an ‘anti-utopian world’ is automatically also a depiction of a ‘critical utopia’. The portrayal of a

‘anti-utopian world’ can therefore also not directly be seen as postmodern. Similarly,

postmodernism can in some ways indeed be seen as ‘anti-utopian’, but not all forms of ‘anti-

utopianism’ can be regarded as postmodern. So, the portrayal of a ‘critical utopia’ in La La

Land (2016) can be seen as postmodern because it reflects the scepticism that comes with

trying to fulfil utopian dreams, which is a fundamental characteristic of the use of ‘utopianism’

in postmodern films. It cannot be seen as ‘anti-utopian’ because it does not completely reject

the possibility of fulfilling utopian dreams and is also not denying the very existence of a

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utopian world.

That these utopian dreams are often hollow and meaningless in the cliché dream

factory that is Los Angeles is underscored by Sebastian when he talks to Mia about being

fascinated by the film industry when walking around at the Warner Bros. lot: “That’s LA. They

worship everything and they value nothing”. One of the most important scenes that shows

the struggles that come along with trying to realize the protagonists ‘Hollywood Dreams’, is

the fight that essentially causes Mia and Sebastian to break up. In this scene Sebastian

surprises Mia by being able to come home in between touring with his band. At his particular

moment, the house is completely lit green again, signalling the jealousy and envy that is

finally going to be expressed. They have dinner together when Sebastian asks Mia to go on

tour with him for a little while, indirectly putting his own career over Mia’s, who needs the time

to work on her first solo play. At this particular moment their relationship changes

immediately and they stop being supportive of each other’s dreams and careers.

Subsequently, Mia asks if being in this band is his plan for the long haul, now that she

believes he gave up his ultimate dream of opening his own club just to make money and

have a steady job. She asks him if he likes the music that he has to play, to what he

responds with: “I don’t know what it matters”. Essentially, he accuses her of wanting him to

have a steady job and he convinces himself of the fact that: “This is the dream, this is the

dream”. Finally, this fight ends with Sebastian telling Mia in anger: “Maybe you liked me more

when I was a failure because it made you feel better about yourself”. To come back to

paragraph 2.2, wherein the distinction was made between Sebastian symbolizing the film’s

generic traditionalism and Mia symbolizing the film’s postmodern character. It can be

recognized that Mia essentially already lives in a utopian looking world. In that she works at

the Warner Bros. lot and her home looks like a typical traditional Hollywood musical film set

with bright colours and film posters on the walls. While Sebastian’s world on the other hand

seems monotonous and lifeless, in that his house is colourless and full of unpacked boxes.

Thus, while Mia already lives in a utopian looking world, she does not really believe in the

possibility of her utopian world actually fulfilling her dream. While Sebastian does not live in a

utopian world yet, but strongly believes in the possibility hereof. He is convinced of the fact

that it will all work out in the end, even when his life takes him on a small detour.

The above statements, made during Mia and Sebastian’s fight wherein they voiced

their different opinions, also emphasise the tension between traditionalism and

postmodernism in La La Land (2016). Namely, Mia could be regarded as a hopeless

dreamer, but is in the wrong when she accuses him of giving up his dream, while she herself

does not belief in the real possibility of becoming a successful actress anymore. On the other

hand, Sebastian feels the pressure to prove to Mia that he can have a steady job and make

money to support her and himself, thereby he is even willing to give up his dream. In his way,

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giving up his dream temporarily causes him to encourage Mia to do one more audition. Mia

acknowledges she cannot take the rejection anymore: “Maybe I am not good enough. Maybe

I am one of those people who always wanted to do it, but it is like a pipe dream for me. You

said it yourself, you change your dreams and you grow up, maybe I am one of those people

and I am not supposed to”. Consequently, all the above statements in a way connect to the

fundamental theme of the film articulating the fact that postmodernism changes the

traditional generic conventions of the traditional Hollywood musical film genre.

So, to conclude this paragraph, it can be stated that only the utopian musical

numbers are similar to the kind of utopian worlds portrayed within the traditional Hollywood

musical films. In fact, utopianism in traditional Hollywood musical films mainly consists of a

portrayal of a positive utopia, in which the dreams of the protagonists always come true.

There is also no sharp distinction made between reality and utopian spheres, in this way the

whole narrative can be seen as telling a utopian story instead of only letting the musical

numbers portray a utopian world. However, what La La Land (2016) wants to achieve is

making sure that these utopian spheres illustrated in the musical numbers do not survive and

morph into reality. Thereby, the film could be recognized as conveying the idea of a ‘critical

utopia’. Which in turn signals to postmodern aspect of the narrative, wherein the utopian

imaginations expressed within the songs are not wholly believed to happen in reality. Lastly,

the ending of the film depicting a lot of utopian spheres, already discussed from a

narratological perspective, will be discussed in more depth within the next chapter because

of its clear connection to the notion of self-reflexivity.

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Chapter 4: Self-reflexivity and Metareference

4.1 Self-reflexivity and Metareference

“The world of the musical becomes a kind of ideal image of the medium itself.”

(Elsaesser 13)

The notion of ‘self-reflexivity’ is a phenomenon which is almost always present within

Hollywood musical films, sometimes very explicit or somewhat implicit, as already mentioned

in chapter 1. For now it is important to briefly focus on the essence of the term ‘self-

reflection’. Nanna Verhoeff points to the fact that the notion of ‘self-reflection’ can be

regarded as doubly ambiguous. The central issue addressed here is the relationship

between the words ‘self’ and ‘reflection’, which can essentially create four types of ‘self-

reflection’: “the mirroring of the work, as in mise-en-abyme [...] or of the viewer, as in literal

mirroring effects; reflection on the work, or reflection on the viewer, the act of viewing, and

the effect of it – its performativity “ (Verhoeff 52). Robert Stam argues that, originating from

psychology and philosophy, the term ‘self-reflexivity’ referred to the ability of the mind to take

and see itself as an object (Stam 151). Thereby, he also touches specifically on the

phenomenon of ‘filmic reflexivity’: “by which films foreground their own production, their

authorship, their textual procedures, their intertextual influences, or their reception” (Stam

51). As a matter of fact, ‘self-reflexivity’ is an important element within the generic structure of

the Hollywood musical film, because it essentially deconstructs the codes of the genre itself.

Koresky even states in his text that the musical film genre is inherently self-referential: “The

traditional musical can’t really make room for other forms; it’s both self-sustaining and self-

destructive. It is alone in the dark, dancing with itself” (Korensky 45). Thereby, Cohan

addresses the fact that the production and performance of (popular) entertainment within

musical films is often been set as the central theme of the film (Cohan 17).

The notions of ‘mise en abyme’, ‘self-reference’, ‘hetero-reference’ and ‘meta-

reference’, which are closely related to ‘self-reflexivity’, all play an important role in

constituting the (dual-focus) narrative of a Hollywood musical film. ‘Hetero-reference’ has to

be seen as the opposite of ‘self-reference’ and could, according to Zitzelsberger be

described as: “the mirroring of the industry and culture producing the film” (Zitzelsberger 99).

The notion of ‘mis en abyme’ has already been sufficiently covered in chapter 1, therefore

this concept will not be discussed in much greater detail within this paragraph. A specific and

special form of ‘self-reference’ and a way to express ‘self-reflexivity’ is called ‘metareference’,

which Werner Wolf delineates as:

“[...] a special, transmedial form of usually non-accidental self-reference produced by

signs of sign configurations which are (felt to be) located on a logically higher level, a

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‘meta-level’, within an artefact or performance; this self-reference, which can extend

from this artefact to the entire system of the media, forms or implies a statement

about an object-level, namely (aspects of) the medium/system referred to.” (Wolf 31)

From this above statement the exact meaning and central point of the term ‘metareference’ is

difficult to grasp. But Hanna Maria Huber clarifies this complex statement in a more

understandable manner, namely she describes it as media viewing themselves ‘from the

outside’ or from a so called ‘meta-level’ to subsequently refer to its own medium (Huber 6).

However, it is then crucial that the audience understands these references and picks up the

necessary referential cues. So, an interaction between the viewers and the film is essential:

“[...] metareference is not merely a ‘message’ encoded in a given medium but requires a

recipient who cognitively realizes it” (Wolf 25).

The remainder of this paragraph will be specifically dedicated to implications of self-

referential elements, whereby Jane Feuer’s text ‘The Self-reflexive Musical and the Myth of

Entertainment’ (1995) could be regarded as the most interesting text for discussing ‘self-

reflexivity’ within Hollywood musical films. She starts off by stating that musical films have:

“evolved toward increasingly greater degrees of self-reflectivity” (Feuer 442). Furthermore, all

entertainment is to a certain extend ‘mythified’, in a way that entertainment pretends to have

a greater value than they actually have. Along similar lines, Feuer notes that all musical films

are filled with deceptions and could therefore be seen as pure ideological products (Feuer

443). Thus:

“Art musicals are structurally similar to myths, seeking to mediate contradictions in the

nature of popular entertainment. The myth of entertainment is constituted by an

oscillation between demystification and remythicization. Musicals, like myths, exhibit a

stratified structure” (Feuer 443).

Thereby, she differentiates between three forms of entertainment myths, namely the ‘myth of

spontaneity’, the ‘myth of integration’ and the ‘myth of the audience’, whereby she points to

the fact that musical films generally combine all three myths. The first form could be

described as the attempt of self-reflexive musicals films to mask the fact that the seemingly

spontaneous song and dance performances are in fact highly (technologically) calculated.

So, the ‘myth of spontaneity’ functions to: “make musical performance, which is actually part

of culture, appear to be part of nature” (Feuer 447). The ‘myth of integration’ is described by

Feuer as the desire of self-reflexive musicals to overcome the segregation of groups and in

this way unify the community and the audience. Musical films for example show this through

changing characters’ isolation into integrating them into a group or society throughout the

narrative of the film. Hereby, these films are: “promoting audience identification with the

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collectively produced shows, the myth of integration seeks to give the audience a sense of

participation in the creation of the film itself” (Feuer 449). Lastly, Feuer refers to the ‘myth of

the audience’ as the construction of an apparent privileged relationship between the self-

reflexive musical and its audience. In a similar way to the previous myth, this myth also tries

to manipulate the feelings of its audience and give them the impression of the ability to

participate in the performances. Musical films try to incorporate this direct musical-audience

relationship by for example using theatrical audiences within the film itself to trigger

identification. Or by positioning the camera at a front-row position, in a way that the audience

is positioned as if they were present at the performance of that particular musical number

(Feuer 450). Lastly, Feuer ends her text by noting that musical films go to great lengths in

order to articulate the above myths and consequently their ‘self-reflexivity’:

“All ritual involves the celebration of shared values and beliefs; the ritual function of

the musical is to reaffirm and articulate the place that entertainment occupies in its

audience’s psychic lives. Self-reflective musicals are then able to celebrate myths

created by the genre as a whole.” (Feuer 453)

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4.2 Self-reflexivity and Metareference in La La Land (2016)

As already stated in paragraph 1.3, self-reflexivity can be regarded as a particularly tricky

subject, because it can be argued that the Hollywood musical film genre is an inherently self-

referential genre devoted and bound to specific motifs and mannerisms. Any new

contemporary Hollywood musical film can almost only be seen as a palimpsest, due to the

fact that it contains recognizable traces of the films that came before. In part this is also true

for La La Land (2016) in a way that it is very aware of its own generic history and contains

numerous intertextual references to older traditional Hollywood musical films, as already

mentioned in paragraph 1.3 in relation to ‘generic pastiche’. However, what sets the film

apart from purely being another self-reflexive Hollywood musical film within the demarcated

genre, is that it is not only reflexive of its own genre but also comments on the actual current

state of the genre in relation to the phenomenon of postmodernism. La La Land (2016)

predominantly comments on the current state of the genre by emphasizing the inability of the

traditional Hollywood musical film conventions to survive and keep their original meanings in

a contemporary (postmodern) musical film. More precisely, different elements within La La

Land (2016) reflect Los Angeles, the (musical) film industry, the characters’ self-awareness,

the history of the genre and the current state of the genre. With this is mind, it is important to

note that in essence all recognizable self-reflexive elements are merely self-referential or

self-referential with a meta-dimension.

First of all, La La Land (2016) can be seen as a highly self-reflexive meta-musical

film, by being a musical about artists in the music business and a film about people in the film

industry. The meta-aspect of La La Land (2016) is mostly articulated by foregrounding the

process of the film’s own production. For example, the use of spotlights, already discussed in

paragraph 3.2 in relation to the reality-utopia dichotomy, which indirectly reflects the

production side of the (musical) film. It also once again shows that the protagonists are

essentially living inside one big film scene as mentioned in paragraph 1.3. Another way in

which the production of the film is reflected is when Mia and Sebastian are walking past and

looking at a specific film set on the Warner Bros. lot. Remarkably this set will later be used as

a real set in the utopian ending sequence, showing Mia and Sebastian dancing like they are

part of a classical musical number. In this way, the film builds a framework wherein the

characters themselves are witnessing the production of a scene coming up later. What can

be remarked from this example is that the protagonists are to a certain extent aware of the

fact that they are used as pawns in a game of self-reflexivity and metareference the film

plays. But, at the same time they are also aware of their own position and ability to perform in

the creation of a musical film.

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Figure 14. Mia and Sebastian looking into the mirror to reflect on themselves and the characters they

play.

In other words, the protagonists of the film are implicitly acknowledging the genre, by being

conscious of the fact that they are in a musical. They are for example living in a world where

they are aware of the existence of Rebel Without a Cause (1955). So, it be can assumed that

they know the traditional Hollywood musical films they are referencing in their dancing, their

surroundings, the way they dress and even the way they behave. When Sebastian and Mia

talk to each other for the first time he finds out Mia aspires to be an actress and subsequently

tells her: "guess I'll see you in the movies”. Hereby, he indirectly acknowledges them being

aware of the fact that they are part of a film themselves. Another way in which the film shows

the characters’ awareness is when they are looking at themselves in the mirror (see figure

14). In these scenes Mia and Sebastian are looking at themselves to have a moment of self-

reflection, but they also indirectly look at the characters they are playing in this particular

musical film. At the same time, the audience can recognize the soft-focus old Hollywood

close-up style and the yellow lightbulbs typically seen backstage, again foregrounding the

production side of (musical) films. So, the film plays with the fact that the protagonists partly

acknowledge that they are in a musical film and uses this to bend the traditional conventions

into a postmodern direction by almost overacting the reflective aspect within the film.

As mentioned above, the film also, on a meta-level, reflects the film industry, Los

Angeles as the centre of film culture and specifically Hollywood as the centre of producing

traditional Hollywood musical films. Whereby, Los Angeles is the place where the imagery,

values and motifs of old Hollywood are endlessly reproduced by new Hollywood films. The

biggest reference to Los Angeles is obviously the title of the film, namely La La Land (2016),

which refers to the abbreviation of the city Los Angeles as well as to the conventional singing

of musical numbers in traditional Hollywood musical settings and Los Angeles surroundings.

As already mentioned in paragraph 1.3, the opening number ‘Another Day of Sun’, shows the

harsh reality and the inherent paradox of the Hollywood dream factory that is Los Angeles.

Thus, in this way the imagery of Los Angeles being the ultimate idealised dream is

immediately disregarded.

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Figure 15. Post-card highlights of Los Angeles used wihtin La La Land (2016).

Accordingly, Mia and Sebastian are both struggling to live in a city where they are constantly

reminded of its utopian pop-culture (film) history, especially due to the way in which the city is

depicted. Furthermore, the representation of Los Angeles consists predominantly of ‘post

card highlights’, which are the most iconic and utopian looking places of the city, for example

the Rialto theatre, the Griffith Observatory, the Hermosa Beach Pier, The Lighthouse Café,

Grand Central Market and the landmark Angels Flight (see figure 15). These are also the

settings primarily used for utopian spheres depicted in the film. However, as already

extensively discussed in the previous chapter, the reality-utopia dichotomy is central to the

film’s ideology, whereby the two-sided depiction of Los Angeles is also contributing to this.

So, aesthetically La La Land (2016) cannot be seen as an adequate reflection of the real Los

Angeles, but more as a representation of the narrativized and glamorized Los Angeles as

commonly used in films and popular culture. On the other hand, the film bends this imagery

to its will in order to show a more realistic view of the struggles people face when living and

trying to make a career in Los Angeles.

Lastly, the most important reflexive perspective the film takes is commenting on the

current state of its own genre by subverting the traditional generic conventions and by taking

jazz as an implicit but telling metaphor. More precisely, the film mainly subverts the

conventional ‘dual-focus narrative strategy’, the conventional depiction of ‘utopianism’ and

the ‘American Dream’. The fact that the ‘dual-focus narrative strategy’ does not survive after

one third of the film reflects the Hollywood musical film genre not surviving in its entirety

within the contemporary film industry. Similarly, the eight-minute ending sequence is

essentially one big reflection of the genre itself, in a way that it shows what the film would

have looked like if it stuck to the conventions of the traditional Hollywood musical film genre,

as mentioned in paragraph 2.2. Moreover, this sequence also contains a short scene in

which Mia and Sebastian watch their own home videos, they are literally looking at

themselves living the ‘happily ever after life’. It can even be stated that this image is triply

mediated, because the audience witnesses Mia’s fantasy sequence in which Mia and

Sebastian look at footage shot of themselves in an alternate reality. Besides, La La Land

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(2016) portrays a ‘critical utopia’ instead of conveying a complete utopian story without

splices of reality and real world complications traditional Hollywood musical films are known

for. In general, La La Land (2016) deliberately chooses to subvert these conventions to

indirectly show that a film of this kind that conveys different meanings can still be regarded

as a musical film, despite it taking a postmodern take on the fulfilment of dreams. Speaking

of the film reflecting the current state of the genre, the notion of jazz can be seen as a

remarkable metaphor for the development and transformation of the Hollywood musical film

genre. This can be recognized when closely observing the conversation Mia and Sebastian

have about his passion for jazz music when he shows Mia the famous Lighthouse Café. In

this scene Mia confesses she strongly dislikes jazz music, to which Sebastian responds in a

defensive but very passionate manner with: “It’s conflict it’s compromise, and it’s just new

every time. And it’s dying, it’s dying on the vine. And the world says let it die, it had its time,

well not on my watch”. What he says can be seen as highly self-reflexive, because with the

first sentence he indirectly refers to the fact that each new Hollywood musical film has to find

its own comprise between the past of the genre and its potential future. Thereby, Sebastian’s

stubbornness and traditionalism reflect the films complex relationship with the past and the

current state of the genre. In this way, it almost like the film is directly talking to itself and

asking the question of: how could this film be revolutionary while at the same time preserving

and respecting the past? The last two sentences of Sebastian’s quote, knowing Sebastian

being a traditionalist himself, again refer to the fact that the musical genre is dying and

therefore needs to be revived or at least transformed to preserve its existence.

As a final point, it is interesting to come back to the wall painting Mia walks past in the

beginning of the film, already briefly mentioned paragraph 2.2, in regard to its remarkable

reflexive nature. This old and faded looking wall painting, painted on the exterior of the

restaurant Sebastian works at, shows an audience in a cinema. When Mia walks past it, it

almost seems like the audience in the painting is watching her. This can be seen as a

metareference to La La Land (2016) being a film about a film, but it is also a visual cue for

the film’s and Mia’s awareness of performing in this particular film. However, the wall painting

can also refer to the actual audience that is watching La La Land (2016) in the cinema,

whereby the film acknowledges its own awareness of being a musical film that generates a

real audience. This essentially touches upon the overarching question that surrounds this

entire overly self-reflexive musical film, namely: who is actually looking at whom?

One reflexive aspect that should be highlighted once more in regard to reflexivity is

Mia and Sebastian’s meaningful reflection of respectively postmodernism and traditionalism,

which is already extensively discussed in all of the previous chapters. However, notable is

that this is obviously also an indisputable reflexive element of La La Land (2016), if not the

biggest one. So, what sets La La Land (2016) apart from just being another self-reflexive

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Hollywood musical film within the traditional Hollywood musical film genre, is that it goes to

great lengths trying to reflect on the current state of its own genre in order to express the

prominence of its postmodern ideology over a traditionalist ideology.

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Conclusion

The overarching purpose of this thesis was to examine the position of the contemporary

Hollywood musical film La La Land (2016) in respect to the traditional Hollywood musical film

genre. Therefore, the thesis statement that had to be proven, justified and substantiated was:

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’. In essence, the multidimensional

analysis that has been done demonstrates that La La Land (2016) can be regarded as a self-

conscious postmodern musical film that revisits a lot of the traditional Hollywood musical film

generic conventions and deliberately juxtaposes these classical conventions with

postmodern conventions. More precisely, from a narrative as well as an aesthetic

perspective La La Land (2016) tries to create a tension between the past and the present,

between reality and utopian spheres, between a traditionalist ideology and postmodern

ideology and most importantly between affirming and subverting the generic conventions.

The beginning of La La Land (2016) is mostly dedicated to the conveyance of a

credible integrated musical film and a credible traditional ‘dual-focus narrative’. However,

after the first twenty minutes the film for the most part disregards this entirely strategy, to

show that a musical film can also maintain its (male-female) duality without adhering to the

conventional way of structuring a narrative. Moreover, the unconventional ending sequence

also marks a dramatic rupture from the traditional and conventional way to end a Hollywood

musical film, by disregarding a happy ending and failing to merge the romance plot and

professional plot together. Ultimately, this is done to strengthen the main ideology of the film,

namely that the fulfilment of dreams does come with difficulties and sacrifices. A

phenomenon that strongly contributes to this postmodern ideology is the portrayal of a

‘critical utopia’. The ‘critical utopia’ portrayed in La La Land (2016) is characterised by the

creation of a conscious tension between the utopian spirit and spheres of the film, mostly

conveyed through the performance of the musical numbers, and the postmodern sense of

the ordinary world in which the protagonists experience real life problems. Moreover, the

central objective of conveying an imagery of a ‘critical utopia’ is illustrating the postmodern

thought of not completely believing in the possibility of fulfilling utopian desires, whereby the

utopian imaginations of the protagonists are not able to survive into reality. Important to note

is that the portrayal of a ‘critical utopia’ can be seen as postmodern and not as purely a

specific form of an ‘anti-utopia’, because it foregrounds the scepticism towards the fulfilment

of utopian dreams but does not reject the possibility fulfilling these utopian dreams in its

entirety.

In regard to the inherent reflexive character of La La Land (2016), it can be said that

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the film obviously draws heavily on its own Hollywood musical film history, by referring to

numerous popular ‘Golden Age’ musical films. However, what separates the film from the

traditional Hollywood musical film genre in terms of ‘self-reflexivity’ is that it extensively

comments on the current state of its own genre. This becomes apparent from closely

observing the way in which the film uses jazz music as an implicit but interesting metaphor to

articulate the need for revival of the Hollywood musical film genre. Nevertheless, the most

important reflexive element of the film is the protagonist’s embodiment of the tension

between the traditional and postmodern aspects of the film. Hereby Mia reflects the

postmodern aspects of the film by not completely believing in the possibility of fulfilling her

utopian imagination. While Sebastian on the other hand is convinced that there is a

substantial possibility of fulfilling his utopian desires and holds on tight to this belief

throughout the whole film. In the end, none of these two perspectives wins from the other

one, but this is exactly what the film tries to tell its audience. Because in essence La La Land

(2016) itself reflects the impossible dream or the so called ‘pipe dream’, by attempting to

make a film with a postmodern ideology within the traditional Hollywood musical film genre. It

tells the audience a postmodern story set in a utopian looking old Hollywood with an

unflinching look at real life, but conveying a postmodern ideology naturally comes with

sacrificing a lot of traditional Hollywood musical film conventions.

However, as with any research done, it is important to highlight any possible

limitations to this research, which could consequently be addressed in further research. One

obvious limitation is the fact that this research only focusses its analysis on one

contemporary Hollywood musical film. So, in order to affirm and validate the findings of this

research more research has to be done in regard to other contemporary Hollywood musical

films. This will specifically be interesting, because in this way research is able to find out if

the postmodern approach of La La Land (2016) is characteristic for all or at least more than

one contemporary Hollywood musical film made in the last few years. This could well be the

case when looking at the current situation wherein a lot of films aim to transform and

revolutionize specific generic conventions and thereby try to explore the boundaries of the

specific genre they operate in. Therefore, it would also be interesting to investigate if the

subversion of the traditional Hollywood musical film genre conventions is connected to

particular directors of contemporary musical films or if La La Land (2016) is an exception in

the way in which director Damien Chazelle portrays and conveys his own ideas and ideals

through the film.

So, it can be concluded that La La Land (2016) has an obvious impulse for preserving

the art form of the traditional Hollywood musical film genre, but at the same time is driven to

revolutionise it in a postmodern direction. Maybe La La Land (2016) can even be regarded

as the perfect combination of what made the old good and the new better. Coming back to

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Michael Korensky stating that we are now living in a so called ‘perpetual post-musical-era’,

the question arises whether we are in fact beyond the end of the rainbow? In a way La La

Land (2016) indeed shows that the traditional Hollywood musical film genre can no longer

completely survive in its originality within this contemporary postmodern film. However, La La

Land (2016) is not mourning the genre’s demise and extinction, precisely for the reason that

it wants to transform the traditional generic conventions in order to give them a new

ideological meaning in the process. In fact, La La Land (2016) sets the example for other

contemporary Hollywood musical films to come, in a way that it has found a balance between

the past, present and eventually the future by still portraying the traditional aspects of

‘dancing and dreaming’ but also by ‘transforming’ these traditional conventions, like the title

of this thesis already foreshadowed.

60

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