Musical Mondays Week 40 La La Land

[Quasar Sniffer 4174]

And I know this movie was SUPPOSEDLY influenced by Jacques Demy's Umbrellas of Cherborg, but if that were the case, why isn't there ONE visual reference to this image of Demy? Damien Chazelle, I am calling you OUT!

 

[taylor anne photo 11311]

And as a heterosexual male, I am hard pressed (real hard) to think of a more gorgeous man than Gosling. Maybe one of the Avengers Chrises? Sorry MBJ.

I will give you Evans, maybe Hemsworth, but I would still pick Gosling over Pratt.

 

MBJ still wins overall for me lol.

[Quasar Sniffer 4174]

Now that I mention Chris Evans, it just struck me that Steve Rogers probably listened to more jazz during his WWII days than 90% of modern Americans and might have something to talk to Seb about.

 

Steve: Traditional Jazz? Oh, sure, I love jazz! Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman, Duke Ellignton...

Seb: NO, that's not what I- GAH!

Steve: You know, I was listening to jazz on a perfect night when I should have kissed this girl named Peggy...

Seb: Shit, I think we just became best friends. Do you like to look wistfully into the middle distance too? Let's be sad while I play piano.

[FisterRoboto 7499]

I am hard pressed (real hard) to think of a more gorgeous man than Gosling. Maybe one of the Avengers Chrises? Sorry MBJ.

 

 

[Quasar Sniffer 4174]

 

 

 

 

 

 

[SaraK 1980]

I will give you Evans, maybe Hemsworth, but I would still pick Gosling over Pratt.

 

MBJ still wins overall for me lol.

 

I'd take Hemsworth over Evans. Gosling is great, but MBJ's arms are amazing. Gosling can't compete with them.

All of them are hilarious though which makes them all even hotter.

[taylor anne photo 11311]

I like the way this conversation has gone.

[Cinco DeNio 5290]

And I know this movie was SUPPOSEDLY influenced by Jacques Demy's Umbrellas of Cherborg, but if that were the case, why isn't there ONE visual reference to this image of Demy? Damien Chazelle, I am calling you OUT!

 

Jacques Demy's version of The Neverending Story?

[Cinco DeNio 5290]

Is "City of Stars" figurative? I had the thought before rewatching the movie that maybe it meant the Hollywood stars instead of literal stars. Then I rewatched it and threw that out. Now I don't know...

[Cakebug Tranch 6873]

Is "City of Stars" figurative? I had the thought before rewatching the movie that maybe it meant the Hollywood stars instead of literal stars. Then I rewatched it and threw that out. Now I don't know...

I always thought it was a play on words. Given the smog and light pollution in LA, I'm not sure how many actual stars are super visible there (maybe that's "City of stars/There's so much that I can't see"?), but I always saw this as an ode to the possibility that LA presents to everyone, the lure of stardom and the crazy dream that you could actually join those stars one day (be the star insisting on paying for your coffee instead of being the barista she ignores)...

[Quasar Sniffer 4174]

Is "City of Stars" figurative? I had the thought before rewatching the movie that maybe it meant the Hollywood stars instead of literal stars. Then I rewatched it and threw that out. Now I don't know...

I think, like the title, it is all of these things. Literal stars because many of the memorable scenes take place under the stars (or at the Griffith Observatory), Hollywood stars because that is what our characters (and so many in LA) are trying to be, and "stars in their eyes" because that is how dreams are expressed in metaphor in stories told by and about places like LA.

[Cakebug Tranch 6873]

You'll all be delighted to hear that at this site you can purchase an item that you can "Hang your posters in dorms, bedrooms, offices, studios, or anywhere blank walls aren't welcome."

 

Sign me up!

 

 

 

[EvRobert 1684]

I'm still going through the comments but there are things in this movie that infuriate me but not for the usual reasons.

 

I was one of those kids with big dreams of making it in the city. My best friend is in his mid 40s, i'm in my early 40s and we will still wax poetically now and then about "we're going to make it!" -- we know we're not, nor do I think we really want to.

 

As a playwright, I am constantly submitting, similar to auditioning, except JESUS the waits. If I get a response within 3 months, I'm happy, sometimes 6 months, 9 months and sometimes I never hear back from an opp I've submitted to.

 

I have a success rate of about 10% and make very little money at this playwrighting gig. But I keep at it, because, dammit I have to.

 

So, that constant audition, rejection, audition cycle I can sympathize with, but I hate Seb's assertion that "well don't wait for it to come to you, write your own." Yeah that works, SOMETIMES for SOME PEOPLE, but not everyone has those skills, and even if you write one great script (for example Stallone writing ROCKY) it doesn't mean that you will be able to write another and another and another (see Stallone's other scripts he's written ).

 

It's such a...I hate to say simplistic view because that's not quite right, but it's totally something I hear a lot of musicans say.

It's really interesting to me, one of the first real MM discussions I took part in was THAT THING YOU DO! and this feels like the opposite of TTYD! They are both about musicians striving to strike out on their own, to create their own art and chaffing against the system. But Guy seems to be a more practical musician, understanding what makes things popular and what people want to hear and working with that.

 

It's like this wedding I DJ'd this past weekend. The bride and groom LOVE Post Malone and gave me about a half dozen Post Malone songs they wanted and said "no country" and other rules, ignoring that hey not everyone in small town Kansas wants to hear that much Post Malone, that people that go to their wedding want to dance to music they know and can dance to. It isn't always about you.

 

That's my $0.10

[Cinco DeNio 5290]

You'll all be delighted to hear that at this site you can purchase an item that you can "Hang your posters in dorms, bedrooms, offices, studios, or anywhere blank walls aren't welcome."

 

Sign me up!

 

 

 

If the poster is accurate it really was supposed to be one night only. Blows my theory out of the water.

[taylor anne photo 11311]

So, that constant audition, rejection, audition cycle I can sympathize with, but I hate Seb's assertion that "well don't wait for it to come to you, write your own." Yeah that works, SOMETIMES for SOME PEOPLE, but not everyone has those skills, and even if you write one great script (for example Stallone writing ROCKY) it doesn't mean that you will be able to write another and another and another (see Stallone's other scripts he's written ).

God, that line bothered me as well! I'm not gonna generalize here but it sounded like a lot like what I hear Gen-X'ers tell Millennials when we complain about the job market, but Damien is technically a Millennial so I'm wondering if this was like his "See I did it so can you!" Because you're so right, not everyone is going to blow up with the thing they make just because they made it. It's also a big thing I hear from "influencers" that just somehow make it big by like doing that one very specific thing they love (reviewing makeup/writing movie reviews/making a podcast...) but then I'm sitting there like, "Oh right I never once thought about that before I picked up my camera. Not ever once."

 

It just shows the true disconnect that Seb has from what Hollywood is like and what Mia's life is like. Yeah her making her thing and doing her show got her noticed, but she still didn't end up making her own thing, she just got yet another audition that ended up going really well that time.

[FisterRoboto 7499]

I'm still going through the comments but there are things in this movie that infuriate me but not for the usual reasons.

 

I was one of those kids with big dreams of making it in the city. My best friend is in his mid 40s, i'm in my early 40s and we will still wax poetically now and then about "we're going to make it!" -- we know we're not, nor do I think we really want to.

 

As a playwright, I am constantly submitting, similar to auditioning, except JESUS the waits. If I get a response within 3 months, I'm happy, sometimes 6 months, 9 months and sometimes I never hear back from an opp I've submitted to.

 

I have a success rate of about 10% and make very little money at this playwrighting gig. But I keep at it, because, dammit I have to.

 

So, that constant audition, rejection, audition cycle I can sympathize with, but I hate Seb's assertion that "well don't wait for it to come to you, write your own." Yeah that works, SOMETIMES for SOME PEOPLE, but not everyone has those skills, and even if you write one great script (for example Stallone writing ROCKY) it doesn't mean that you will be able to write another and another and another (see Stallone's other scripts he's written ).

 

It's such a...I hate to say simplistic view because that's not quite right, but it's totally something I hear a lot of musicans say.

It's really interesting to me, one of the first real MM discussions I took part in was THAT THING YOU DO! and this feels like the opposite of TTYD! They are both about musicians striving to strike out on their own, to create their own art and chaffing against the system. But Guy seems to be a more practical musician, understanding what makes things popular and what people want to hear and working with that.

Wtf are you trying to say about Cobra?

 

Anyway, yeah, I think you're right. But it's not limited just to this thing. It's the whole American Dream angle. Without going too much into an anti-capitalism tangent, it's the idea we hear repeated over and over and over again that if you just work hard, you can make it! Never mind that - whether it's being an actress or a playwright or a musician or a copywriter or a developer or a designer - it's often more about who you know mixed with a large amount of dumb luck. (and the end of the movie proves that)

 

Like, I get that he's trying to encourage her creatively, and that's cool. But it definitely is silly for either of them to pin of their hopes for her career on this one thing.

[Cinco DeNio 5290]

God, that line bothered me as well! I'm not gonna generalize here but it sounded like a lot like what I hear Gen-X'ers tell Millennials when we complain about the job market, but Damien is technically a Millennial so I'm wondering if this was like his "See I did it so can you!" Because you're so right, not everyone is going to blow up with the thing they make just because they made it. It's also a big thing I hear from "influencers" that just somehow make it big by like doing that one very specific thing they love (reviewing makeup/writing movie reviews/making a podcast...) but then I'm sitting there like, "Oh right I never once thought about that before I picked up my camera. Not ever once."

 

It just shows the true disconnect that Seb has from what Hollywood is like and what Mia's life is like. Yeah her making her thing and doing her show got her noticed, but she still didn't end up making her own thing, she just got yet another audition that ended up going really well that time.

I know it's not related to the film but I listen to a lot of sports radio. It always frosts me whenever the hosts berate the public for not showing up to a losing team's games. Like we're obligated to pay our hard-earned money to watch multi-millionaires lose just because they exist?!?!?! Ridiculous!

[Cakebug Tranch 6873]

God, that line bothered me as well! I'm not gonna generalize here but it sounded like a lot like what I hear Gen-X'ers tell Millennials when we complain about the job market, but Damien is technically a Millennial so I'm wondering if this was like his "See I did it so can you!" Because you're so right, not everyone is going to blow up with the thing they make just because they made it. It's also a big thing I hear from "influencers" that just somehow make it big by like doing that one very specific thing they love (reviewing makeup/writing movie reviews/making a podcast...) but then I'm sitting there like, "Oh right I never once thought about that before I picked up my camera. Not ever once."

 

It just shows the true disconnect that Seb has from what Hollywood is like and what Mia's life is like. Yeah her making her thing and doing her show got her noticed, but she still didn't end up making her own thing, she just got yet another audition that ended up going really well that time.

No, but it is correct that sitting back and waiting to be 'discovered' is an exponentially worse way of going about making a career. I counsel my graduating students all the time that work begets work, and always point them towards Fringe NY or the like, just to get work up and running, because it's about the hustle and the networking that happens after the shows that gives you a shot at being seen in something bigger. I think EvRobert has the right attitude towards making things happen by continuing to write things that are fulfilling, even if the waiting and the rejection is harder to take. But I have friends in their 40's who are still waiting tables, convinced that they will 'make it' one day but are not willing to hustle to make it happen. I have some incredibly talented friends back home who were not willing to do the work and are still doing the tiny gigs, whereas another one of my friends, never the most talented of us all but the hardest-working, is now a global superstar, playing arenas. So much of this industry is about not giving up and letting everyone else drop away around you, and creating work (in Seb's parlance, gigging or working as a session musician rather than auditioning) is definitely the smartest approach. He over-simplifies, but he also recommends she does something that is good for her soul. And it's the advice that changed her life, because, well, work begets work. And as someone who has also written a bunch of scripts that will likely never be seen, I think you'll agree with me, EvRobert, that it's less about the production and more about the personal catharsis of writing that is the point.

[Cinco DeNio 5290]

If the poster is accurate it really was supposed to be one night only. Blows my theory out of the water.

To add on, how was she ever expecting to pay the theater back even if that one night had been a success? It didn't look sufficient to cover her costs from the ticket revenue.

[sycasey 2.0 2301]

I think, like the title, it is all of these things. Literal stars because many of the memorable scenes take place under the stars (or at the Griffith Observatory), Hollywood stars because that is what our characters (and so many in LA) are trying to be, and "stars in their eyes" because that is how dreams are expressed in metaphor in stories told by and about places like LA.

 

Stars are also unreachable points of light in the sky. Metaphor for the nature of chasing your dreams, and the things you can't have while doing so?

[taylor anne photo 11311]

No, but it is correct that sitting back and waiting to be 'discovered' is an exponentially worse way of going about making a career. I counsel my graduating students all the time that work begets work, and always point them towards Fringe NY or the like, just to get work up and running, because it's about the hustle and the networking that happens after the shows that gives you a shot at being seen in something bigger. I think EvRobert has the right attitude towards making things happen by continuing to write things that are fulfilling, even if the waiting and the rejection is harder to take. But I have friends in their 40's who are still waiting tables, convinced that they will 'make it' one day but are not willing to hustle to make it happen. I have some incredibly talented friends back home who were not willing to do the work and are still doing the tiny gigs, whereas another one of my friends, never the most talented of us all but the hardest-working, is now a global superstar, playing arenas. So much of this industry is about not giving up and letting everyone else drop away around you, and creating work (in Seb's parlance, gigging or working as a session musician rather than auditioning) is definitely the smartest approach. He over-simplifies, but he also recommends she does something that is good for her soul. And it's the advice that changed her life, because, well, work begets work. And as someone who has also written a bunch of scripts that will likely never be seen, I think you'll agree with me, EvRobert, that it's less about the production and more about the personal catharsis of writing that is the point.

Oh absolutely, and I'm certainly not saying to NOT make your own things and to NOT work, but there is such an oversimplification in the statement of "Just write your own roles!" And there's never really that discussion in most media, or even from real life people, about how much hard work it truly requires.

 

For example, while Mia is working her ass off on this show and taking his advice, he just kinda blows off the hard work she's putting into it by asking her, "Can't you just rehearse anywhere?" So even with him he didn't truly understand the weight of his own statement when he gave her this idea. To him, acting and writing appeared easy. If she was getting so rejected just stop doing that and do this other thing cause it's easy, right? But no, it's not, and Mia put everything into that show.

[Cinco DeNio 5290]

 

Stars are also unreachable points of light in the sky. Metaphor for the nature of chasing your dreams, and the things you can't have while doing so?

"Keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars"

-- Casey Kasem

[tomspanks 9039]

 

Stars are also unreachable points of light in the sky. Metaphor for the nature of chasing your dreams, and the things you can't have while doing so?

 

Yup. Last line in the song: “Is this the start of something wonderful and new? Or one more dream that I cannot make true?”

[Cakebug Tranch 6873]

To add on, how was she ever expecting to pay the theater back even if that one night had been a success? It didn't look sufficient to cover her costs from the ticket revenue.

[FisterRoboto 7499]

For example, while Mia is working her ass off on this show and taking his advice, he just kinda blows off the hard work she's putting into it by asking her, "Can't you just rehearse anywhere?"

It's almost like he's super selfish and not really a supportive partner or something...