La La Land

[thisnewday]

Just finished watching La La Land, which stars Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone. Loved that they fell in love with each other, loved that she fell in love with jazz. Was not prepared for the ending--or happy with it, really--but I guess that's part of what's driven the interest in it as a movie.

The final scene features a "movie within the movie," consisting of a highly-condensed, alternative script which runs until the final notes of the melody which had been the lovers' musical theme until their parting, some years earlier, to follow their own dreams.

As their eyes met for a last time, across the audience in the jazz club which had been his dream, and which she and her husband had entered unknowingly, I felt a sudden urge to open doors and windows, a sense of panic, almost, to get outside into the open air.

Which might indicate that I need to stick with the more pedestrian and predictable rom-coms, which had been my evening fare of late...

LPK
Dreamwidth
8.23.2019

Comments

[rosegardenfae]

I want my movie romances to have happy endings, no ambiguity. Lol Yet, tragic conclusions can sometimes satisfy me. And now back to my non-fiction book where the endings are very real.

[thisnewday]

I feel the same! Although, for ambiguity, you've gotta consider James Jarmusch's "Broken Flowers." Now that's ambiguity, lol.

So, what're you reading in non-fiction? Is it the Martha Gellhorn bio? I'm 200+ pages into "Love and Ruin" and still struggling a bit with the concept of putting made-up words in the mouths of real people. Especially someone like Martha Gellhorn.

Bottom line is, I'm gonna do better with the bio even though I do like Paula McClain's writing in places...

[rosegardenfae]

Yes, the Gellhorn bio, but it is slow going, very detailed and a lot of historical background plus the print is small. I keep havong to make sure my bifocals are in just the right place lol

I didn't enjoy Love and Ruin nearly as much as the Paris Wife. I'm thinking that Gellhorn's memoir may turn out to be my fave. I sneaked a peek already.

[thisnewday]

Yeah, it's been a long time since I read Paris Wife, but I've had a sort of nagging feeling that this wasn't quite meeting whatever lingering expectations I might've been harboring.

I've actually liked that L&R has piqued my interest in the history of the Spanish Civil War, but of course I'd be going elsewhere for the substance of it.

Otherwise, I find myself discomforted by feelings that certain conversations and situations are too obviously contrived. I don't have a good enough sense of the real-life Marty Gellhorn to know for sure, but just the suspicion stirs my innate prejudice against the historical fiction genre.

Anyway, that's a personal problem, right? But it does mean that I'm gonna be interested in your appraisal of both the bio and the memoir--the latter being my fave among literary genres...

[rosegardenfae]

I also found my interest in the Spanish Civil War piqued. I'd especially like to know more about the Abraham Lincoln Brigade and I considered reading Dos Passos. So, at the very least Love and Ruin gave me ideas.

The sex scenes seem particularly contrived, but, of course, that's fiction for ya, the author's idea of what might have been.

No chance to read yet today, made a fresh peach pie and put the rest of the bushel in the freezer. Picked an abundance of okra, but ran out steam so left the peppers out there. I might be getting too old for all this work. Lol

[thisnewday]

Having grown up in the very cold dawn of the "Cold War Era" where, you know, we sheltered under our school desks during air raid drills or were constantly reminded of the "Red Menace" by sirens going off all over the city during announced system tests, I was quite adverse to anything associated, by name or by reputation, with the "C" word. And that applied to the "Abraham Lincoln Brigade" in the Spanish Civil War.

As a result, I missed out on a whole crucial dynamic that had driven events in the run-up to World War II. Which, of course, left me totally puzzled as to why, until the time of his death in the 1960s, this country, leader of the "Free World," chose to tolerate a fascist dictator in Spain.

Eventually, as my understanding of world politics became slightly more nuanced (and my own view of such things became increasingly cynical), I sort of caught on. But, probably like you, I feel like there's a whole chapter in my 12th grade World History book that the PC censors of the day had effectively blocked out.

And that I now need to go back and read it...

[rosegardenfae]

We were so programmed to hate the "Reds" and I'm sure there are many who still do; just as our grandchildren are being programmed to hate Muslims. Bah!

And, as for history books, so erroneous and missing so much. Have you read Harold Zinn's, "A People's History?" It offers a better account imho.

I ordered a memoir of his time in the Spanish Civil War by Laurie Lee. It may be a while before I get to it. Lots of rainy days are keeping me from the chain saw lol but giving me time to read.

Also researched a book by Orwell documenting his personal experiences in that war, "Homage to Catalonia."

[thisnewday]

That thinking persisted well into the 1970s and took the form of a doctrine--dunno if that's the right word--known as the "domino effect" which was used as a justification for the Vietnam War.

It basically said that, if Vietnam was allowed to fall to Communism, then Laos, Cambodia, and the rest of Southeast Asia would fall as well.

The counter-argument, of course, is that Communism--despite the body of core beliefs articulated in "The Communist Manifesto"--was not monolithic across national or ethnic boundaries.

But I think that was the presumption behind the "Red Scare" of that whole post-war era and probably had some part in shaping international opinion on the war in Spain.

But that's just me pushing computer keys ahead of reading "that chapter" I missed...

[bluecatartist]

The final scenes of La La Land still confuse me a little. Yes, it being a movie w.in a movie and what we thought was the plot was not the real plot after all. The "it was all a dream" turn was disappointing.

[thisnewday]

Yes! I felt confused and disappointed by it too. And I think the only way I could handle the emotional blow it dealt, at that moment, was to lean on a sort of technical explanation of what was happening on the screen. However, looking back on it now, I think that explanation was/is accurate and the only thing to do, sadly--I still feel sad about it--is to explain to myself what brought them there, what really happened between them.

Which, to be honest, is how I've been living my own life, in the aftermath of my own losses. Which is why, I suppose, I wanted, needed, the happy ending that I think all of us want--both in the movies we watch and in the lives we live.

Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts on this. I've come to think that, if we can't have the happy endings, the sharing of our thoughts about it helps. I hope your days have gotten at least somewhat better...