I was hesitant to write this, because I really am in support of Hollywood making movie musicals again. Not to mention that many of my friends enjoyed this movie and I didn't want to be the Asian that rained on their parade.
But I didn’t like La La
Land. You can un-friend me now.
I’d heard good things about La La
Land, but I confess it wasn’t really at the top of my list. Probably
because I’m not a huge fan of romantic comedies (though there are some
exceptions- Shakespeare In Love, The Princess Bride, and basically any
other movie where handsome men wear very tight pants). I am a Broadway geek, however, and a music school grad, so my friends
were surprised that I wasn’t scrambling to see this film. I guess something
about it just screamed ‘seen it before.’ Which I suppose is the point- it’s
meant to elicit nostalgia.
I understand the appeal. The Golden Age of
Musicals was a simpler time, with simple stories that drew in crowds. A cowboy
and a farm girl fell in love to a golden melody. A conman changed his ways to
impress a librarian. A little girl from Kansas went on the acid trip of the
century before telling her family that she saw them in her sleep. In this
complicated world of cell phones, social media, and Dippin Dots, “retro” is in.
Albeit a very specific understanding of “retro.” Because tap dancing in the
moonlight is all good and fun, but when you consider that black men were
lynched for drinking from white-only water fountains, it starts to look less
golden. See, for me and for many others the Golden Age of Musicals is hard to
romanticize.
Perhaps part of this review is coloured by context. We are
at a unique point in history when you can legitimately have an argument with a
Nazi while riding a hover-board. With the resurgence in popularity of white
supremacy and a longing for so-called old school values, I simply found it
impossible to ignore the racial politics at play in La La Land. The distraction proved too great to enjoy the film.
Before I continue, I want to state that I actually really
like Emma Stone and Ryan hot Gosling.
And considering that they’re mainly straight actors, they did decent jobs in the lead
roles.
But here is where my frustration with the film lies. They did
decent jobs. As a plethora of brilliant
dancers fanned through an LA highway in the film’s opening number, my heart
sank. None of these talented people got to star in the film. And in a story
about seeking fame and fulfillment, none of these people
became stars in the film. Here was a movie where a rainbow of
phenomenal dancers, and singers- some of whom, I have to reason, must also be
good actors- surrounded two people who bounced through basic tap choreography,
and lacked all expression in their vocal performances.
I felt like I was watching these talented people of colour
move about like set pieces in a minstrel show, bringing excitement to the world
of the two white protagonists; one of whom has the absurd plotline of being the
only person that understands jazz, and needs to save it from extinction.
You see, in La La Land
Gosling’s character, Sebastian, is a jazz prodigy, who loves the genre for its
purity and complexity. In one scene, he brings Stone’s character, Mia, to watch
old, black musicians perform. Nevermind the awkward juxtaposition of these
performers, who probably lived through segregation, playing their hearts out
for the happy white couple. Sebastian is made to be Mia’s gateway into this
world of authentic (ie: black) music, and in this presumption, he’s somehow a part of that specific world. Unlike the suits and the young upstarts, he alone can
introduce his girlfriend (and the audience) to “real” jazz. The jazz band itself
is only a prop meant to enhance a white story- their “retro blackness” is a sign of
how cool and down-to-earth Gosling’s character must be. But the band’s
struggle, culture, and voice is completely erased from the narrative.
To be fair, at one point I thought there might be some redemption for this
bizarrely insensitive plot-line. But then the only group of young black musicians in the film lose touch with
their roots and seek only gimmicky flash (that our hero Sebastian of course
hates and eventually rises above).
At the other end of this frustrating story, Emma Stone plays
Mia, an actress who is struggling to get by. She faces rejection after
rejection, before finally proving her worth to a casting director and rocketing
to stardom. This is after she writes her own one-woman show, and performs it
out of pocket. Her story is structured around the Protestant work ethic which permeates American philosophy-
plainly, what you give is what you get. The suggestion here is that, anyone who
is talented enough, and willing to put in the work, will be discovered and all
their dreams will come true. But Mia is surrounded by many other actors and
actresses- many of whom are ethnic, many of whom work hard, and many of whom
are clearly talented. Yet none of them seem to achieve stardom. In a time when
Hollywood is really under the lens for whitewashing and racebending, when it’s
being criticized for its lack of diversity, it seems almost too meta. These
actresses only serve as background fodder for Mia. Just like their characters, the actresses hit
a ceiling in the film itself.
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| Thoroughly Modern Millie |
There is an infuriating unawareness in La La Land throughout. An earnest desire to see “diversity” but only
insofar as it paints a backdrop for the “real” heroes. Maybe this is part of
the nostalgia- two familiar girl/guy next door types who fall in love beneath
the moonlight- but in a modern twist they are surrounded by a diverse ensemble.
Barf.
It's nothing new. Movie musicals certainly have a history of racial exclusion. The Golden Age featured blatantly racist films like Thoroughly
Modern Millie (which was thankfully updated and modernized for the stage).
And then there were the countless films that committed the crime of
invisibility. Remember, this is a genre that took its roots from jazz music and tap, yet
rarely featured black protagonists. Not to mention performers of other races.
Like all epochs, though, it's not so cut and dry. As with any other Hollywood
production, movie musicals were bound by agreements like the Hays Code, and
influenced by public ideology at the time. Despite their flaws, musical theatre, and
musical movies, do actually have a
long history of subversion. Showboat dealt with racism, poverty, and sexism. My
Fair Lady with classism and female autonomy. Even the racist Thoroughly Modern Millie challenged
ideas of gender norms, and women’s rights. In musical movies, the love story
was often the starring narrative, but the setting was the message. This is arguably
because music has the incredible power to move us, and allows for a freedom of
storytelling you don’t see in straight drama. Because of its relatively “safe”
reputation, it’s able to make a point without being too threatening to
audiences. IMHO subversion is in fact a key element to the genre
Which brings us back to La La Land.
What does La La Land
do except glorify a bygone era and transplant it into the 21st century, in a weird fulfillment of every alt-right wet dream. It
tells a love story. One we’ve seen before, with archetypes we’ve seen before,
in a setting we’ve seen before. And it does nothing to challenge our view of
society, in a time when we really need
to be questioning ourselves.
This is a shame, because there was a chance for this film to
be very modern. How much more interesting would this film have been with a
black male lead? What if Emma Stone’s character were a woman of colour? How
would that change her journey to stardom? How much more of a disadvantage would
she be at at the start of the film?
As it is, racial representations in the film
were simply too distracting for me, especially considering political events as of late (which, to be fair to the filmmakers, happened after the release of the film). I found myself rolling my eyes every time people of colour
performed for the leads. I felt like I was watching racial insensitivity in motion, where two
people are inspired by “cool ethnic culture,” and then rocket to stardom.
Was La La Land a solid movie? Objectively well-structured,
well-shot, and well-acted? Yes. Am I
glad it was made? Yes. Because I hope it
will inspire studios to take more risks on musicals. And was I glad I saw
it? Yes. Because it reminded me of how
much further we have to go.
So yes, La La Land is a good film, and I don’t blame anyone
who finds it enjoyable. But no, I didn’t like it. Even though it stars Ryan hot Gosling.
