Discovering Romance in Hollywood Films
Welcome, all my nominees (that’s you!). Have you ever wondered how romance is changing in today’s modern era? Well, I sure have. It’s interesting how Hollywood takes our ideas of a traditional view of romance and modernizes it. That’s what the subject of today's show is all about. (I’ll have it posted above, don't worry). For this week I discussed the films La La Land (2016) and Her (2013) with a fellow FMS student (That stands for Film and Media studies, not a dirty acronym, tisk tisk). You won’t believe how many people are like... “FMS?! Excuse me, sir, please leave the church service.” My guest on the show is my friend Halle Ding, a double major at UCI in FMS and Mathematics. I can barely single major, it’s always incredibly impressive to me when people have the ability to put themselves through two schools of thought. Sadists. Through our conversation, Halle discussed how she considered herself to be a sensitive person, like Theodore in the film Her. She told me that sensitivity is not a weakness, but a strength, which really threw me for a loop. I had never thought of sensitivity as a strength. Sure, it’s important to be sensitive to certain people and situations, but as a personality trait, I had never assessed that as a strength. Wouldn’t it seem that sensitivity is a weakness? Sensitive people tend to act out emotionally instead of logically. However, Halle brought up the interesting point that sensitive individuals tend to be more creative. I was going to search further than that statement until she later told me that I am sensitive, so no further investigation needed from this creative genius!
(Spoilers for “La La Land” and “Her” ahead- so continue, if you're into that sort of thing...)
When discussing the films, it was apparent that we saw the films on almost polar opposite viewpoints. Brrr! (because of the polar....cold...) ANYWAY, the film La La Land deals with two struggling artists, Mia (Emma Stone) and Sebastian (Ryan Gosling). Mia is a struggling artist while Sebastian wants to play jazz and create his own jazz club. The two seem like a perfect pair together. However, life pulls them apart as their careers take off in polar (decided to bring that word back) opposite directions. Mia ends up becoming a successful screen actress and Sebastian opens up his jazz club. Sounds great huh? Nope. Because the couple that we have been rooting for end up not together in the end. You may be thinking W.H.A.T.?! Yep, the director (Damien Chazelle) decided to pull the rug right from under us, but not before playing a montage of what Mia and Sebastian’s life could have been like if they had been together. What. A. Sadist. This movie has therefore been tinged with that controversial ending. Although Chazelle has stated this film was heavily inspired by musicals of the past, especially the ones in the Golden Age of Hollywood, there is nothing sparkling about the end of the film, except perhaps your eyes after you watch this tragic love story. Chazelle, however, is doing something clever here, he is mixing the glamour with reality. La La Land is nothing but a dream, upon which at the end the audience is awakened by the sad reality of real life. Some relationships just don’t work out. Even if we DESPERATELY want them to. Halle (the sadist) loves this ending because of its depiction of the realism of the ending. However, I find the ending to be understandable, yet unfortunate that it must be made. What I mean by this, is that Hollywood is heading in a more bleak direction with their films, especially about romance. The two leads took their careers over love as if one needs to choose. Love will always overcome if you want it to. However, Mia didn’t have the patience to wait for Sebastian to ‘make it’ and Sebastian, likewise, didn’t have time for Mia to finish her 7-month film overseas. I found this to be a weak point in the film because right after this scene the two go their separate ways. Halle agreed, stating that if she were to direct the film she would add more reasoning behind why the two broke up. It simply isn’t strong enough. This is most likely why haters of La La Land don't enjoy the film- even with its heartwrenching ending, it’s almost tagged on, avoiding deeper issues about relationships that could have been displayed in the film. The film appeared too ‘safe’ and marketable and perhaps with a darker tone it wouldn’t have been so successful. Almost too happy for its own good, La La Land is filled with enough spectacle for the average viewer but tries too hard to be a modern masterpiece with a modern romance.
Her, on the other hand, is what happens when you take La La Land and throw it into an episode of Black Mirror and have it fight for happiness. This film brings a cinematic beauty with a gritty story of a divorced and depressed man who turns to date his phone. Sound bizarre and disgusting? It is.....but it isn’t...depends on who you ask. The director (Spike Jonze) does a wonderful job at creating a romance between an A.I. named Samantha (Scarlett Johansen) and our protagonist, Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix). However, their working relationship quickly turns into a romance as Theodore opens up about his depression to Samantha. They appear to have a connection- however, it is revealed that Samanta was created to be perfectly crafted for Theodore. Samantha acts as an evolved version of Siri and other modern A.I devices that we have. It was upon the second time viewing the film that I recognized the social commentary that the director was feeding to the audience. We are glued to our phones, our devices, we NEED them. We cannot live without them and they make our lives better and add so much convenience to our lives. Life imitates art- we fall in love with eHarmony, Match, Tinder, Bumble, and other dating apps in order to find love which Jonze shoves right back in our faces. Although the consequences in the film are uncomfortable, so is real life.
So what has Hollywood done to romance? Killed it, some may say. I would argue that although that may be true to some extent, Hollywood is also showing us how WE are changing and is holding a mirror to society to reflect on how we decide to normalize romantic social behaviors. Are we bettering or changing?
