La La Land Literary Essay

examining the literary theory behind the 2016 film La La Land

La La Land and the Meta-social Maladaptive Appetite of Neocapitalist Inquisitors

 

La La Land (2016) establishes itself as a technicoloured manipulation of genre, ideology, and meta-critical scrutiny, amalgamating to perpetuate the axiom of artistic synthesis under the self-pertained pettifogging of Hollywood culture. As the conceptual basis by which the previous clause originates; perforating the idiomatic method behind over-monetised media exists at the core of my meaning making process, allowing for an alternate, vicariously complimentary reading of the text to be made. La La Land consciously perpetuates capitalist dogma in western society when viewed in a general lens, with a specific citation to the American Machine made aconstituent to further literary cognition, therein inciting caution towards aspiring artists through post-structural filmic syntax. Where this construction of the film exists, a dichotomy is created. This dichotomy (of meaning) within La La Land wields two armaments of resolve: with one to serve the Academy, and the other to caution the vociferous fools (who dream). This notion is conjunctionally derived by the post-modern, with the existential fortitude of contemporary bohemians being exemplified within and through the genre of La La Land, and it is through a narratologically guided post-structural edict that this genre can exist within the post-modern, ultimately highlighting the aforementioned. By manipulating Jauss’ reader reception, the text is positioned to be “judged according to criteria which were based upon values of clarity, naturalness, and stylistic decorum” (Raman Selden et al., 2013, pp. 51). This hermeneutical deviation of archetypal (didactic) bohemian texts is the reason that La La Land demands a Post-Structuralist and Marxist critique.

La La Land is framed picture-in-picture, with past and present reference to both juxtapose with and exist within the golden age of musical. This new-critique strips the power of un-reality, highlighting the monotone plasticity of Los Angeles both literarily and conceptually. The use of music in tandem with dance and film motif not only cultivates an implied audience, but also insinuates the presence of an implied author through a medium by which meta-rhetoric interpretation is necessitated (Wolfgang Iser, 1978 ; Booth, 1991). As a result of this, the meaning given to the film proves intrinsically non sequitur; the fluidity of meaning is converted from a formalist cogitation, into a narratological tool. In turn, La La Land provides a sense of catharsis to the strictures of literary scrutiny by proxy of thematic pandering, while also demeaning the same genre it inhibits. La La Land exists within its genre yet is not defined by it, and as such its meaning is alchemised; malleable. Due to this, I believe classifying the author as the ‘effect’ of text “apprehension and interpretation” (Leitch et al., 2001, pp. 1617), in accordance to Foucault’s Author Function, appropriately aligns with the “antihumanistic” values of a structuralist reader-centred lens, allowing for the and it is through this alternative post-structuralist ideology that La La Land's meaning and rhetoric can be perceived. Moreover, the post-structural devices employed apply pressure to the self-referential nostalgic leitmotifs of the text, alienating audiences and further solidifying the post-structural tension placed on the antihumanist-author centred scaffold that the ethos of La La Land is pertained to. This inherently incentivises using a post-modern lens to view the text as one that puts "emphasis on impressionism and subjectivity" (Barry, 2017, pp. 79), therein applying pressure on audiences and granting the modern bohemian a power their capital (in a Marxist sense) doesn’t deserve.

 

Before dissecting the construction and of La La Land, it is important to address the of tension between Post-Modern and Marxist approaches. Near contradictory, these two approaches exist unbranded (or without signifier) within this analysis. In truth, both approaches hold as much power as each other, while oxymoronically stripping themselves of the weight needed to lead a reading; there is no cause and effect between these two ideologies within the world of La La Land (or for that matter, in the world of this essay), rather, there exists the contradictory tie between them, eliciting the presence of Derrida’s theory of Binary Opposition (Derrida et al., 1981). The creation of a meaning is a process that rejects the signifier but holds the sign of capitalist agendas semiotically opaque only to those who embody the “predispositions necessary for a literary work to exercise its effect” (Shi, 2013).

That being said, a demonstrable aperture within this reading is created without the call of other valid interpretations of this text through various contextually diverse lenses. (Pendidikan, 2018) analysed the socio-cultural landscape of jazz music as a rhetoric of the text, examining how it contributed to the rise, or fall of jazz music as a genre. (Wirastri & Ghozali, 2017) examined the utterances of La La Land as a precursor emotional precognition. These studies explore the true fluidity of meaning on a general scale, allowing for the fissure of literary scrutiny to be affirmed and to a new historic extent, mended.

 

La La Land rather, L.A Land, opens on the congested and auto-confabulate-filled highways of L.A. The imagery of heat, stagnation, irritation is only established to be juxtaposed by the thaumaturgical subterfuge of audience expectation, culminating a tonal and thematic cognisance to a better albeit fantasist representation of a busy highway. This not only falls into the ‘opening number’ platitude, but also establishes the movie-musical genre for the audience. Post-structuralism allows us to view this as the beginnings of the “discourse” (Foucault & Rabinow, 2010) between that of the text and audience; it is a moment where the power given to the film because of its unstable realism grounds it (stabilises it) further within the real world. The world of La La Land- a world entrenched upon that of magical realism- is then converted into a tool serving an agenda steeped in the ideologies of New Criticism. The world of the film is moulded into a socialist binary opposite of the world in which we reside, and it is through Saussure’s binary opposition that everything then framed within the text can be inverted, posing that by nature, La La Land serves as its own cinematic binary opposite.

            While Iser did believe that a constant insinuated binary opposite is an inherent by-product of literature, a tension is placed on this with Derrida annexing the existence of a ‘centre’ or ‘transcendental signifier’ (Derrida) which, in itself, calls for the conscious decision and placement of binary opposition, disparaging the notion that the dichotomies within this text are omnipotent through the literature itself, rather than them being both structurally and receptively dependant. Adjacent to this axis however, Iser’s binary opposition can be reviewed to act as a Marxist constituent within La La Land. It is on this basis of contradiction that rhetoric can be perceived. A Marxist approach to binary opposition builds itself upon anti-myopic perspectives of western-capitalist society. For example, the characterisation of the text makes use of culturally (assumed) roles and relationships, seen most vivaciously through the character of Mia (Emma Stone). Mia represents the Academy, the audience, and the very ethos of the text, as readers follow her through the tumultuous and illustrious journey to fame and stardom. We see this character’s struggles, successes, and mindset in what is ultimately, the thespian American dream. Since Marxism is defined by the “struggle between opposing forces” (Marx & Engels, 1848), Booth’s theory of the implied author is narratologically derived from the implied reader to reinforce this tension, and therefore realigning the pursuit of artistic fame and validation; is, in actuality, an Ouroboros: consuming itself in a desperate attempt to maintain stability. This is exemplified by the cinematographic components of the film that partner the literary aspects of this text. The use of primary colour theory and visual effects “alienate” (Leitch et al., 2001) the text from itself, highlighting the “slippage” (Pope, 1995) and tension between the “opposing forces” within this text; LA is framed within the frame of the movie to be a utopia of dreams filled with opportunity (the literal basis of the American machine).This viewpoint is further reinforced by the previously mentioned effervescent colour palate and symbolic chromatic acquiesce between fiction and non-fiction, thus thrusting a dissonant literary-illustrative message to the audience’s eyeline and focus.

            The relationship between this text and Marxism, however, does coagulate with tension as La La Land provides a critique on, whilst simultaneously critically usurping the capitalist agenda. While that- in it of itself- is not anti-Marxist, to exist without a socio-economic overpower is an intentional fallacy that paradoxically demonstrates the slippage within the text. This spawns from the continued dissonance between Post-structuralism and Marxism, and it is, I believe, here that the film reaches its zenith as the most honest representation of metafiction: one that uses differing theories to reinforce the meaning of this text, innately commenting on the oppression of creativity in an overtly digital; where the literal visual motif of over-saturation foregrounds post-modern and new-aesthetic pretension.

            The ability to validate the aforementioned exists within the analysis of role of the reader, and the construction of said reader. This will be done by discovering the link between Iser’s theory of the implied reader, and Mieke Bal’s narratological genre classification. The former relies on the “repertoire” (Leitch et al., 2001, pp. 1671) of a text and is the guise by which meaning is interpreted. This phenomenological interaction between text and reader exists as an “affective fallacy” (John Crowe Ransom, 1979) that both challenges and reinforces the virtue of a text. To limit the sporadic idiocontrivance of anti-formalist implied reader response, genre can be converted to duo-classify the construction of reader reception within La La Land. This is done by applying Bal’s theory of narrative structure to genre classification. La La Land places a conscious tension on the author-to-audience relationship, almost mocking those who blindly conform to the implied audience the genre requests. In turn, this allows the text to pre-establish an implied audience that is then used to develop centred poise when faced with the critique of western society; a formalist approach to meta-genre.

This balance is only possible because La La Land places itself as a spectator to genre as a whole, and therefore as a spectator to the text itself �" (meta-genre).

Furthermore, as Jauss’ theory of the horizon of expectation emphasises, the power that genre classification grants to the text transcends the narratological, and can then be used to emphasise the (pre-established) binary opposition of La La Land. Separately, it is important to note the misuse as Bal’s theory of genre outside of narrative structures, as the audience is not directly derivative of the narrative, rather the opposite is true. This awkwardness is however justified by means of meta-rhetoric martyring, causing a decentred idea of ‘right and wrong’ within a text. In truth, while La La Land is defined as a ‘movie musical’ or patron to musical culture, this film constructs itself as a two-faced zeitgeist to demean the same era it celebrates.

This expands upon Barthes’ theory of “death of the author” (Barthes., 1967). As this text essentially destroys not only itself, but also the history on which it is built. What is in turn the ultimate form of fallacy, is supported by Booth’s theory of the implied author that details that the “reader will inevitably construct a picture of the official scribe who writes in this manner.” (Booth, 1991). This results in the affirmation of this ideology causing extreme dissonance between that of the genre and messages of the text. This notion is corroborated by multiple scenes within the text, most notably in the ‘epilogue’ and ‘audition’ scenes of the text.

The very nature of La La Land’s epilogue panders to the audience, with this pandering being accentuated by means of subversion; inverting, quantising relocating the core theme of the text. Cinematic vignettes built upon narratological slippage are used to adhere to audience expectation, once again demeaning the existence of the film as a whole. This sequence uses magical realism as a means of locomotion (through) of time, setting, and cliché imposing obligatory acceptance of its metacinema. This over-compensation of musical call back solidifies the implied author as one that values thespian culture, pushing referenceable move-musical motif to an alienating point. Further, within this liminal filmic space, the narrative does not exist and is explicitly re-written outside of narratological canon. This lamented disparagement and mere act of converting canon into a literary device outwardly mocks western Hollywood culture: the same one the implied audience is entrenched within and conditioned to expect; where social traditions and assumptions synthesise the canon audiences embody. Presenting: ‘What could have happened’ as a device to serve the dissonance between the text, the author, and the audience.

The self-aware narratological (canon or not) choices are what drive the tension and text-existing-scrutiny towards the Academy, and the audience (as consumers of media). Adjacently, the ‘Audition’ scene pays homage to no third party, and is rather is quite isolated in not only subject matter, but also phenotypic presentation. A stark contrast and transformation is created. When audiences see the character of Mia reach her lowest, the role of the author shifts into a trans-medial metacommunicative requiem. Mia’s monologue serves a soliloquist agenda, with the cinematic clairvoyance of the directorial vision behind La La Land being made translucent, in turn, propagating for the binary opposition of La La Land to be foregrounded, rather favouring candour and an unmediated tone. It is here that the magnum opus of Mia’s character arch can be seen, most notably, within the line:

            “Here’s to the fools who dream.”

Fools who, like Mia, tactlessly chase the American Dream, all the while acknowledging the paltriness of it. Mia is no longer a representation of anything larger than herself, she is truly a fool trying to dream; sonically toasting Dionysus in an intoxicated request for a break in the cannibalistic cycle that is the artistic pursuit. Thus, her upbeat tonal paradigm combined with the swelling score celebrates this meta-awareness as a framed characterised apotheosis; where Mia ultimately stops lying to both herself, and the audience. However, the implied author’s ability to traverse the meaning behind Mia’s ideological shift serves the opposite effect, as when an omniscient spectator is placed behind the first wall, the actions of the character unwind dogmatically and highlights Mia’s isolation as a pursuer of fame. This power struggle between text and author oxymoronically aligns with both Barthes’ death of the author and Foucault’s Author classification, enhancing the dissonant aspects by which the meaning of is defined La La Land.

 

It is, however, important to note the differences and relationship between literary dissonance and alienation within La La Land, with the former being a tool and the latter being constituent to; dissonance is used as a form of meaning making within the construction of the film. By aligning the text with dissonant method, the process and value of meaning making is inclinedly made redundant, emphasising the way in which the opposition and meta-rhetoric highlighted within the text acts as the medium by which it can be critiqued. The result of this materialises by means of dramatic alienation, a constituent to metafiction that exists outside the world of both the author and reader, with the aim to strengthen the fission between both.

            La La Land calls for the amalgamation and synthesis of post-Marxist Structuralism, where the presence of Marxist ideology contradicts the post-structural basis by which the text is created. This imposes meta-dissonant tension unto the text, author, and audience. In order to alleviate this tension, the application of binary opposition is used to empower the aforethought notion that texts rooted in capitalist dogma inextricably temper themselves to exist within the bounds Marxist values but are not defined by them; rather this text exists as its own binary opposite therein commenting on the ways in which the implied audience (contemporary bohemians) idles in the face of literary gerrymandering. Further, the assignment of a post-modern lens allows for the classification of meaning, allowing for the post-structural construction of La La Land to be a valid and stable form of meaning making. La La Land challenges the thespian American dream by juxtaposing and manipulating the movie-musical genre to strip said power away from movie-musicals, therein opposing the thespian American dream by subscribing so closely to it. This text empowers un-reality by establishing the binary fission of the world in which we reside; where dreams exist folly, so does too the power of un-reality, and it is on this pique of western musical capital, that La La Land achieves meaning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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