So, Who Exactly Is Living in La La Land? Part I: A Nostalgic Love of Hollywood Yesteryear

In this three part series I plan to discuss the problematic and overt whiteness of the 2016 film, La La Land, as a modern popular culture illustration of the appropriation jazz.?This issue will be discussed in great detail, based on reference to the film itself, reviews of the film from popular culture and media outlets, and from historical accounts of jazz music. Analysis will focus on the male lead character of the film, Sebastian Wilder, portrayed by Ryan Gosling. Due to Seb’s privilege, he is able to live the life of the starving artist. This character spends much time explaining jazz to the lead female character, Mia Dolan, portrayed by Emma Stone. The film, in a way, vilifies the character Keith (no last name) portrayed by musician and actor John Legend.?Legend’s character is one of the only (if not only) African American characters with a speaking role in the film.?It is implied that by Keith trying to bring jazz into the 21st Century, that he in fact does not understand the artistry of jazz music.

So, Who Exactly Is Living in La La Land?

???????????The film La La Land opens with a musical number overflowing with a rainbow of performers.?Every race and ethnicity that one can imagine is represented.?There are Black, Asian, Latino, White, brown, and racially ambiguous performers singing, dancing, and playing instruments on a busy California highway.?This opening number gives the viewer the impression that this film will be rich in its representation of diverse people.?Once this joyous musical experience comes to an end we quickly are introduced to Emma Stone’s character Mia, with a glimpse of Ryan Gosling’s character. Initially La La Land does not claim to be a film about jazz, not until we officially meet Ryan Gosling’s character Sebastian “Seb” Wilder.?In the United States jazz, as well as other forms of African American culture, has been the subject of appropriation by Whites.?This appropriation has led to monetary gains and commercial success, to a greater degree for Whites than for African Americans.?Amari Baraka discusses the beginnings of jazz early on his book “Blues People, the Negro Experience in White America and the Music that Developed from it”.?He states, “Jazz is commonly thought to have begun around the turn of the century, but the music’s jazz derived from are much older. Blues is the parent of all legitimate jazz, and it is impossible to say exactly how old blues is – certainly no older than the presence of Negroes in the United States.?It is a Native American music, the product of the black man in this country: or to put it more exactly the way I have come to think about it, blues could not exist if the African captives had not become American captives.”[1]??It is important for fans of jazz, and musicians specializing in jazz, to be aware of this history, understand this history, and when necessary, to acknowledge this history in a public forum.?

Part I: A Nostalgic Love of Hollywood Yesteryear

We meet Sebastian as he is listening to jazz in his dated, not quite vintage, convertible, and furthermore when he enters his apartment, full of boxes of jazz and blues vinyls, where he finds his sister who has let herself in.?There are immediate references to jazz legends.?Seb is begging his sister to not sit on a stool that was signed by Hoagy Carmichael, which causes his sister to retort with joke about a rug she has brought him, stating “What if I told you Miles Davis pissed on it?”?This is when we learn that Gosling’s character has the dream of opening his own jazz club.?The audience starts to learn more about Seb, and his ideals as they pertain to jazz. It is clear throughout the film that Seb is a starving artist, and that the jobs he takes as a performer force him to compromise his art.?Taking a job at a restaurant on Christmas Eve he is provided a set list, and the owner has explicitly voiced that he does “not want to hear the free jazz”. Seb gets lost in a moment and trails off into playing the melody that repeats throughout the film in pivotal scenes.?This is when Mia Dolan and Sebastian Wilder almost meet for the second time in the film.?Mia is drawn into the club where she then is lost in his playing.?The song does not quite appear as jazz at first, but does develop so.?Seb is quickly fired from his Christmas gig.

Mia and Seb continue to run into each other, and finally officially meet.?This leads to the third musical number of the film that includes song and dance.?The musical numbers are a nod to old Hollywood film, but not jazz based.?The musical numbers act as an homage to Hollywood of yesteryear. This idea of nostalgia is discussed by Geoff Nelson of Paste Magazine.?In the article accurately titled “The Unbearable Whiteness of La La Land” he states, “There lies a profound irony in liberal folks heading to La La Land to repair after a political season overflowing with nostalgia and white supremacy. (For all its gauzy backwards glancing, Chazelle’s film might by titled Make Hollywood Great Again.) If seeing Gosling and Stone tap dance in the Hollywood Hills tickles something deep in some viewers, perhaps it’s worth investigating the roots of that feeling and its supposed universality. Quite simply: The past represents liberation for one group, a horror show for another.”[2]?This is not to say that La La Land is a prejudiced, racist, or even a bad film.?But it may be an exclusive film experience, versus the inclusive experience that would be hoped for.?There are African American and Black characters introduced in the film, however minimally represented.?Aside from Keith, portrayed by John Legend, who will be discussed in great length, there is the eventual fiancé to the Sebastian’s sister Laura.?The fiancé does not have any speaking lines, or a backstory.?His character and possible family members appear to fill a necessity for further racial diversity in the film.

[1] Baraka, A. (1963). Blues People: The Negro Experience in White America and the Music that Developed from it. New York. Morrow Quill Paperbacks.

[2] Nelson, Geoff. (January 6, 2017). “The Unbearable Whiteness of La La Land: What does Damien Chazelle hope we see when we look back?” Paste Magazine.