How La La Land Functions - Considering The Contexts

There is a line of theory in film history that follows Aristotle and his use of the historical and theoretical poetics to study how the definitions of tragedies change over time. In so much as that “...the Epic poets were succeeded by Tragedians”, this is to essentially say, that over the course of human history; it is commonplace for the meaning or definition of a particular branding to change with the things that it is used to categorise. It could be said that La La Land can be used to inform viewers on the changing definitions of a musical; updating the genre’s form and techniques for the 21st Century from its cinematic debuts in The Jazz Singer (1927). It’s in this way that La La Land can also be seen to depart from the jukebox musical styles that had been popular in the early 21st century by calling back to the traditions of a musical from The Golden Age of Hollywood. The evolutions of technologies in the 89 years between the two films allow for La La Land to utilise an array of different techniques and styles, the use of car speakers or an announcement system in a restaurant to create a blended diegetic soundscape allows viewers to more readily immerse themselves within the world of the film.

There are still, however, non diegetic elements present throughout La La Land, often used to invoke a sense of wonder within the audience. The performance of “A Lovely Night” features music only the audience can hear, elevating the scene above the emotional impact it could have if it remained completely grounded in reality as other sequences in the movie do. While in the same scene we see modernisations of classic staples of Old Hollywood song and dance; Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone eliciting parallels between Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire in their musicals such as ‘Roberta’ (1935) and ‘Swing Time’ (1936), another example of director Damien Chazelle homaging the conventions of historic musicals and updating them with, much like Rogers and Astaire, a well known romantic on screen pairing of their generation in Gosling and Stone who had previously played against each other in Gangster Squad (2013) and Crazy Stupid Love (2011). This comparison allows viewers to compare the relationship in La La Land, its idealistic nature being betrayed by the films ending in which the pair do not end up together as is the conventional third act of traditional musicals such as Singing in The Rain (1952). Through this unconventional ending, the complications and tragedies of modern relationships and aspirations are ingrained within the viewer much more intensely than had the film resolved in a typical fairytale-esque manner.

The fairy-tale atmosphere that is created is also handled by Chazelle in a developed nature throughout the film. In one scene, in which the central couple visit a planetarium, the world of the film is changed to fit a sense of heightened reality, the pair start dancing as the score swells, creating a mystical, romanticised environment. The use of this score clearly indicates this is a both a highly enchanting romantic moment as well as a release of passion for the two characters. The couple are then sent into a literal starscape, dancing in a vacuum, silhouetted by the stars. For this whole sequence there is a distinct lack of dialogue, only the score remains, highlighting the mood Chazelle aimed to create. The sound and the cinematography all combine to create the fairy-tale atmosphere, the waltz that Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling perform directly mirrors a scene from Sleeping Beauty (1959) in which the titular character and Phillip dance among the clouds. This is another example of Chazelle homaging imagery ingrained in the public consciousness in combination with a dreamlike soundtrack in order to create a sense of wonder and fairy-tale within this sequence.

Another way in which La La Land has an effect on its audiences is the aforementioned subversion of the “happily ever after” trope. In the epilogue for the film, the seasonal title cards that have punctuated and divided the film so far into chapters, Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall, come back around to Winter; this time with the extra subtitle of “Five Years Later”. This entire coda for the film is an act of subversion and disunity amongst everything that has preceded it. The central pair haven’t spoken to each other in years despite their relative successes, yet upon crossing paths again the audience is shown an alternate playthrough of the events of the film, this is the apex of the idealistic narrative that one would expect from a musical romance. Although Chazelle ends the film only on a reconciliation of sorts between the two there is still the grand swell of music in the soundtrack that comes when the pair first kiss. All these elements combined; the score, the subversion of narrative techniques, as well as the lighting which is a soft mix of blue or purple all suggest a melancholic attitude towards this meeting, they have followed the motif of “following your dreams” which was present throughout the entire film yet as a result sacrificed the Golden Age romance that seemed so suggested by the old school Hollywood aesthetic applied to the film throughout the rest of its runtime.

Damien Chazelle’s La La Land at first seems to offer a classic homage to the Golden Age musicals of Old Hollywood: the technicolor, the charming romance story, and the happily ever after conclusion, yet uses strong narrative subversion within the third act to quickly pull away from this method of storytelling; revolutionising the musical genre for the 21st century. Within the film, John Legend’s character states “How are you gonna be a revolutionary if you're such a traditionalist?” This is clearly Chazelle’s self-referential view on the musical form, revolutionising the genre by moving away from the traditions that the Musical was founded upon. This allows excitement and unpredictability within audience members. I, along with many others, simply assumed Gosling and Stone would end up together due to this stagnation within the genre which Chazelle comes close enough to being similar to, in order to make it even more effective when he creates a divergent path within his form.