Semantics In Lal La Land

In this section, I will argue that La La Land meets and engages with enough of Rick Altman’s criteria for an American film musical to be considered a proper one. Altman outlines two different sets of criteria: the semantics and the syntax. The semantics covers the basics of essentially any musical: format, length, characters, acting, and sound. The syntax, however, is far more specific. It details the specifics the narrative and technical structures of the film must meet in order to be considered a film musical. La La Land meets most the semantic criteria with ease. With a runtime of 128 minutes, it is a feature length film. The narrative of the film focuses on the development and achievements of a heterosexual romantic couple, Mia and

Sebastian, which Altman names as the main characters for the American film musical. In a majority of the musical numbers, the characters perform dance routines, combining rhythmic movement and realism. The sound structure of these musical numbers is, in fact, diegetic, where all of the songs are performed by members of the cast as they appear on the screen. However, the syntactic criteria are not so easily matched by the film. The first of his criteria is a dual-focus within the narrative on the couple, with each representing different cultural values. A dual-focus is established between the two from the opening of the film; the two interact first while stuck in traffic on an L.A. freeway. Following the opening number, “Another Day in the Sun”, which is the only number not to feature either Mia or Sebastian as a performer, each of the two is given a ten-minute introduction, starting with their initial meeting in traffic and ending with their second meeting at the restaurant Sebastian performs at. As for the cultural values, the best would probably be Mia representing acceptance, and Sebastian representing activism. Mia, in what we see of her career, accepts her failure in her ideal career and is content with her work as a barista on the Warner Brothers lot.

It is not until Sebastian specifically encourages her to write her one-woman show that Mia makes an active effort to change her career path, and when that fails she goes right back to accepting her alternative career. Sebastian, on the other hand, does try and actively change his situation. He encourages Mia twice to make strides in her career. He is shown rehearsing and playing in various bands; when he does finally accept a job, it is one within his realm of interest, to an extent. Sebastian is constantly vocal within the film about what he sees as wrongdoing, in terms of his chosen path and Mia’s.
The film easily meets another two of Altman’s criteria: the narrative/number and image/sound criteria. Altman states that there must be a continuity between the realism and rhythm, and the dialogue and the diegetic sound. In the narrative, there are smooth transitions between song and dialogue, the film does not make harsh cuts and transitions between the characters spoken and sung interactions; characters move from speaking to singing within sentences. A majority of the songs are simply extensions of the conversations the characters are holding. For the image/sound criterium, the hierarchy of image over sound must be reversed

within the film. This is also accomplished through the style of the musical numbers. At the beginning of these numbers, the music proceeds the visual elements of the song, i.e. the dancing, with the exception of “Audition (The Fools Who Dream)”, a number which will be explored in-depth in the next section. It is the sound that cues the switch in narrative style, not the visuals. Altman’s next criteria are the couple/plot and music/plot connections, which are a bit trickier to map onto La La Land. What makes it so difficult is the ending. Altman says that the formation of the couple should parallel their success in their plot ventures and that the music should signify triumph over romantic obstacles. The problem is, La La Land does not end with the formation of a romantic couple from Mia and Sebastian. Instead, the film ends with both achieving their dreams but doing so separately. That being said, it can be argued that they are only successful in those ventures because of each other. During their time together, both Mia and Sebastian push the other to fulfill their dreams. Sebastian encourages Mia first to write and put on a one-woman play, and second to go to the audition for the role that ends up being her career-making part. He goes so far as to drive the hundreds of miles to Boulder City, Nevada, Mia’s hometown, to tell her about this opportunity and compel her to accept it. Mia does the same for Sebastian. Their great argument, the one that ends their relationship, is over Sebastian's lack of pursuit of his dream. Mia does not believe that Sebastian should not give up on his dreams just because he found a job that works. So yes, the two do end up apart, but the success after their split is only because of their interactions while together. As for the music/plot criterium, there are numbers which celebrate the formation of the couple. For example, “City of Stars”, through the myth of integration, as explored below, represents the completion of the coupling of Mia and Sebastian. However, this is the final number together as a couple, the two break up soon after. The best example to match Altman’s criterium would be the “Epilogue” scene. An alternate reality, the performance of “Epilogue”, through dance, shows a version of the musical in which Mia and Sebastian remain together and succeed as a couple; this sequence actually matches all of the syntax criteria of Altman. “Epilogue” is implied to be the performance of Sebastian at his jazz club. Given this, since it is the performance of a character, and it does use dance to signify triumph in romance, La La Land matches all the criteria of an American film musical.
In this section, I will argue that La La Land is specifically a self-reflexive musical. This sub-genre of musicals describes films whose narratives involve the production of a film or musical; famous examples include Singin’ in the Rain and The Band Wagon. While this may seem an odd choice for La La Land, the film matches all the parameters set forth by Jane Feuer, who outlined this sub-genre in her article “The Self-Reflexive Musical and the Myth of Entertainment”. La La Land reflects not on the production of a specific film, but rather on Hollywood itself. The film puts forth the idea of a Hollywood that rewards authenticity, as seen through the success of Mia and Sebastian. It does this both through its own plot and through its emulation of the MGM golden-era film musicals. Jane Feuer writes that these musicals work by means of a combination of “demystification and remythicization”, that is, these films reflect by showing both the “reality” of unsuccessful productions alongside the simple and spontaneous makings of the successful ones. To do these processes, the films use three different myths: the myth of spontaneity, the myth of integration, and the myth of the audience. So now it must be determined whether these processes and myths are present in the film in question.
The myth of spontaneity is present in La La Land; the film contrasts the successful spontaneous performances with the unsuccessful or unhappy “scripted” ones and uses this contradiction to highlight true talent.

Mia’s success finally comes in the form of an unscripted audition. Her triumphant audition, shown through the song “Audition (The Fools Who Dream)”, is in response to the prompt “just tell us a story, you’re a storyteller (1:37:10).” At long last, she gets to finish a scene, which she creates on the spot, in which she tells the story of her aunt’s spontaneous leap into the Seine. The film jumps to winter five years later, and Mia is revealed to be a very successful actress. One can assume that all the other auditioning actresses were given the same prompt, but it was Mia’s ability to construct a cohesive narrative under these constraints that set her apart. Even the filming of this scene reflects this focus on spontaneity; the final audition scene was performed live on set by Emma Stone. She had a backing piano track in her ear, but she was the one who controlled tempo, timing, emotion. Emma Stone’s natural talent was allowed to shine in this scene, and many critics picked up on this; the audition scene is one many highlighted as the backing for Stone’s later Oscar win for this role. During the scene, the background fades to black and the camera pushes in on Stone, she is the only object in the shot, up against a black background we can see every emotion;

the director makes it very clear that she and her abilities should be the only focus at this moment. Through this, there is also a juxtaposition in the movie with the responses to her various auditions and performances. Specifically, whether or not there is a response to her auditions and performances. For her earlier, unsuccessful ones, either we see her being dismissed, as in the first audition on screen, where the director bluntly cuts her off in order to take a phone call, or there is an on-screen critique, as with her one-woman show. Mia, while getting out of costume after her opening night, overhears two audience members harshly criticizing her play. But with her final audition, the scene cuts before we can hear any sort of response to Mia’s performance. Instead, after a brief scene in which Mia and Sebastian discuss their future or lack thereof, the film jumps forward five years, where it is revealed that Mia won the part and she is now a very successful actress, exactly the kind she admired when she worked at the coffee shop on the Warner Brothers lot. In terms of the reflexivity of the film, Mia’s ability to spontaneously put forth this powerful emotional scene reveals her true talent and thus true worthiness of her success. The film is not interested in the reality of this success, as seen through the time jump after the successful audition, but rather in the qualities that define a true talent.