With fourteen Academy Award nominations, everyone is wondering what the buzz surrounding "La La Land" is all about. Directed by Damien Chazelle, La La Land tells the story of two struggling artists who meet in a classic Hollywood version of Los Angeles. As the two chase after their dreams and begin a quirky, musical, emotional relationship, the two learn some very important lessons about life, love, and dreams.
While the vibrant colors, captivating music, and thrilling scenes brought in most of the movie's nominations and receptions, it is the plot that makes La La Land such a fantastic movie overall. La La Land is a movie that leaves audiences thinking after walking out of the theater, and it is movies that have that kind of effect on an audience that are lacking in today's theaters. Hollywood has been short in producing movies with real meaning, and La La Land is exactly that.
La La Land's plot leaves audiences pondering the lessons that the main characters, Mia and Sebastian, learn throughout the film, and how they can apply these lessons to their own life.
Before continuing, I must warn you that there will be spoilers in this article to the plot of the movie, so if you have not seen the film and intend to, please continue to read this article after seeing the movie.
1. Never give up; failure is important
What may seem like the most generic and cliche lesson to be taught in a movie, La La Land preaches the importance of resilience and determination. Both characters are struggling artists, Mia being an aspiring actress and Sebastian holding the dream of opening his own jazz club. At the beginning of the film, Mia is working as a barista and Sebastian is performing various odd jobs as a pianist. They are both not well off their feet, but they are chasing their dreams. Sebastian is quoted saying, "You think life's got me on the ropes... I like being on the ropes!" Mia is shown in multiple auditions, to each one she is denied. Sebastian is seen trying to infuse the spirit of classic jazz into every one of his venues, resulting in getting fired time and time again. Both of the two are trying to make it big and keep hold of their dreams.
In the middle of the film, both characters are tested by their "biggest" failure in their respective fields. Mia works diligently throughout the film to write her own one-woman show in attempts to make it big and get her name out there. Sebastian is just constantly trying to put jazz back into the world. Failure slaps Mia in the face when barely anyone, not even Sebastian, shows up to her show and she doesn't have enough money to pay back the theater. Sebastian's interpreted "failure" was when he became a part of the modern, electric, hip-hop jazz band and commits himself to something he doesn't believe in.
These failures cause tension between the characters, causing them to break up. Mia returns home to her parents' home and stops auditioning. She gives up on her dream and is stuck under the impression of not being "good enough". Sebastian returns to his odd gigs.
Both have given up, until one day Mia gets a call from a casting director requesting her for an audition. Mia has the choice to try for her dream one more time, or give up. Sebastian encourages her to and she auditions hesitantly, and she ends up landing the role that launches her acting career. Sebastian moves on to open his own jazz club that is majorly successful.
La La Land portrays two characters that are beaten down time and time again, but eventually revel in success because they never gave up.
2. Bring back the old by making it new
This lesson is unique because it is not only told through the film's plot, but also through the production of the film itself. Sebastian is told by his friend, Keith, that he can never fully bring back jazz because it is not appealing to the "young crowd". He says, "How can you be a revolutionary if you're such a traditionalist? You hold onto the past, but jazz is about the future!"
Sebastian eventually learns this lesson when he feasts in the success of the new, modern, hip-hop jazz group. Although it is not what he believes jazz is all about, the group is undeniably successful.
It is interesting that Chazelle ingrained this theme/lesson into his movie for it is exactly why La La Land is such a success.
Critics have been calling La La Land a "love letter to Hollywood". With a vibrant color palette and old-school sets, La La Land was produced in the picture of classic Hollywood movies. The set pieces and color schemes make watching La La Land feel like watching West Side Story or Singin' in the Rain.
But although Chazelle directed a magical ode to Hollywood and movie musicals, he took his own characters advice and became a revolutionary by adding a twist to the old-Hollywood feel.
He plays on many cinematic transitions and techniques that emulate a classic Hollywood film but puts a twist on the classic Hollywood plot. There are many times that the plot plays with traditional movie attributes. For example, in an early scene of the movie, Mia is shown getting ready for a party with all of her friends to a musical number. While this closely resembles West Side Story, Chazelle plays on the audience's expectancy of a movie cliche, leading them to anticipate the meeting of the leading lady and the leading man at the party.
However, the two main characters meet awkwardly at a party instead. And they don't fall in love right away either, they sing an entire song about how much they don't like each other. But eventually, they fall in love in a quirky, non-traditional way.
And the entire end of the movie is a play on traditional, classic Hollywood endings. In classic Hollywood, the two would've ended up together. However, Chazelle twists the ending with the harsh reality of circumstances getting in the way of love.
Both Sebastian's jazz career and Chazelle's film benefitted from modernizing the classics.
3. You don't always end up with your soulmate
It is clear that Mia and Sebastian are made for each other. Their chemistry is undeniable and their love story is one that is unlike any other. They truly are perfect for each other, but unfortunately, they don't end up together.
This lesson is one that you don't see often in movies or any stories; there is usually a happy ending, all tied up in a bow. However, La La Land pulls at your heartstrings in the final scene where Mia and Sebastian glance at each other and exchange one final smile, five years after admitting that they will always love each other.
This lesson is not really a lesson that can be learned as much as a powerful and tragic insight into the reality of life. People don't always end up with who they're meant to be, but that doesn't necessarily mean they're unhappy. Mia and Sebastian both achieve their dreams and are happy with what they've achieved, and Mia is evidently happy with her husband and shows unconditional love for her child.
La La Land shows us how love can happen and be incredible, but it doesn't always last forever. Mia and Sebastian's love was true and unlike any other, but it only existed for a part of their lives. Was that the outcome that the two wanted? Are they truly happy in their lives now? We will never truly know. All that is for certain is that Mia and Sebastian exchanged one final smile in the last scene to mutually express their lasting feelings for each other.
Mia and Sebastian found their happiness in achieving their dreams, but they lost something else in the process. And that brings me to my next lesson.
4. Achieving your dreams comes at a sacrifice
Before they met, Mia and Sebastian's goals were to achieve their dreams. They spent each and every day of their lives working to get what they wanted in life, which at that time was to be an actress and open up his own jazz club.
After they met each other, they never stopped in working toward their dreams. Their determination to achieve the unlikely is something that most likely brought them together. They encouraged each other and even gave each other ideas to help them achieve their dreams. The movie was comprised of montages of them together and scenes of the two working toward what they wanted most in life.
Mia and Sebastian eventually achieve their dreams, but at a cost. The two sacrificed their relationship in lieu of actually achieving what they wanted in life. And what is the most interesting thing about the film is it leaves it up to the audience whether this is a sad or happy ending. It is clearly upsetting that Mia and Sebastian didn't end up together in the end, but were the characters truly unhappy? Did Mia or Sebastian regret their choice? Do dreams and goals trump love?
In the final "Epilogue" scene, Mia fantasizes what her life would've been like if everything had went perfectly, and if the two had ended up together. What is frequently looked over about this scene is that even though the two get married and eventually have a child together, Mia still managed to become a successful actress, but Sebastian gave up his dream of opening his own jazz club.
People often wonder, "Why didn't he just go to Paris with her?", but it is because he chose his dream over her. He stayed in Los Angeles and worked to achieve his dream. While this seems like a selfish decision, Mia basically did the same thing by moving away and not staying with him.
Could they have worked harder to make it work? Maybe. But as Sebastian said in one of their final scenes, "When you get this, you're going to have to give it your all". The two of them would've most likely never had the time to commit to a long distance relationship while at the same time committing themselves to their dreams.
La La Land plays on the idea that love isn't everything in life, which brings me to my final lesson.
5. Life isn't a classic Hollywood movie
Although Chazelle filmed his movie in the style of a classic Hollywood film, the plot takes a major twist from what would've happened in an old-school film.
A lot of controversy surrounds what the ending scene meant. To me, the final scene was interpreted to be what would've happened in classic Hollywood. The pair would've ended up together in cinematic splendor and they would've danced off to their happy ending in a wave of music.
In the final "fantasy" scene, Mia and Sebastian is painted from beginning to end if everything would've ended up perfectly. From the very beginning, Sebastian kisses Mia after being fired and the two go on to continue a perfect, happy relationship with no conflicts. Mia still gets to achieve her dream and be with the love of her life.
The fantasy scene is what would've happened in a classic Hollywood film.
Unfortunately, life isn't a movie, and we don't always get what we want. Circumstances become messy and things don't always work out. Time and dreams and distance will get in the way of what we want more than once, and often, we have to just go with it.
Things that are meant to be won't be and not everything will be tied up with a bow at the end. Dreams come at a sacrifice and life doesn't always work the way we want it to. Whether that be for some magical reason or just because life is truly unfair, we can't have everything. We have to be happy and find solace in the things that we do have rather than the things that we can't.
