Los Angeles Plays Itself

[gunhilltrain]

I think this is relevant to AH because it's about something that concerns us here - namely the connection between fiction (in this case movies) and reality. Also, who defines what reality is? I should have counted how many movies are referenced here. Also, this whole thing may be too long to be watched in one sitting.

 

[lustychimera]

I love all these clips that you find. This one's a mood.

It's funny to see the difference between the banal real life shots of LA and the ultra-glamorized movie scenes.

 

[gunhilltrain]

I love all these clips that you find. This one's a mood.

It's funny to see the difference between the banal real life shots of LA and the ultra-glamorized movie scenes.

Thanks! One of his themes is how the movie studios thrived in Los Angeles for decades and yet, for the most part, either misrepresented the place or outright spurned/criticized it. Yet, perhaps he's expecting a lot from a business that makes its living by entertaining people, not informing them.

I never knew who Thom Andersen was.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thom_Andersen

 

[MrPixel]

I think this is relevant to AH because it's about something that concerns us here - namely the connection between fiction (in this case movies) and reality. Also, who defines what reality is? I should have counted how many movies are referenced here. Also, this whole thing may be too long to be watched in one sitting.

Love it. Gonna have to view it in half-hour chunks, though.

I grew up in the area and worked in downtown L.A. proper, and, of course, recognized a whole bunch. The clip of the motel and restaurant at "Avenue Q and East 145th Street" out in the desert is pretty close to home.

My first marriage was chewed-up and spit out by Hollywood on its worst behavior, so you can say I'm a bit ambivalent about the media industry's role in the actual living there.

 

[nice90sguy]

I'll watch that video, but before watching it, I have to say, it's well-known how self-referential Los Angeles is. I lived there, and my brother emigrated there forty years ago, and is fully "LA".

On my first day arriving there back in 1980, seeing a film-star-looking stud working at a gas station, I got it. This is movie-town. The Beatles had a similar experience to me, when they first landed in New York -- it was all just so familiar.

The song "Do You Know The Way To San Jose" sums it up for me. Never seen La-la land, because I assume it's just more of the same.

And "LA Confidential", which I''m guessing features at some point in the video, is one of my all-time favortite movies.

 

[gunhilltrain]

I'll watch that video, but before watching it, I have to say, it's well-known how self-referential Los Angeles is. I lived there, and my brother emigrated there forty years ago, and is fully "LA".

On my first day arriving there back in 1980, seeing a film-star-looking stud working at a gas station, I got it. This is movie-town. The Beatles had a similar experience to me, when they first landed in New York -- it was all just so familiar.

The song "Do You Know The Way To San Jose" sums it up for me. Never seen La-la land, because I assume it's just more of the same.

And "LA Confidential", which I''m guessing features at some point in the video, is one of my all-time favortite movies.

I suppose I'm responding to both you and Mr. Pixel. L.A. Confidential does get referenced at least twice. If I interpreted Andersen correctly, he's pretty ambivalent about the film. I'd be curious to know your take what he says.

There could be a movie called "New York Plays Itself" (sounds like an essay I might attempt). It's probably the second most over-exposed city in the nation. And we do have studios here, like the Astoria Studios and Silvercup studios in Queens (where the interiors for The Sopranos were filmed). I can go all over the place and recognize locations for movies I've seen, and not just in Manhattan. A recent example is how the staircase in The Joker has become a massive tourist attraction to take selfies.

Andersen would probably appreciate how an idea of community identity could be built around less than five minutes of film footage.

https://www.cityarts.org/shakespeare

 

[gunhilltrain]

Oh God, popular music and the rest of mass culture. That could be a theme in itself. Dionne Warwick is from East Orange, NJ. I suppose she does know something about show business failures - although somebody else wrote the lyrics. But if they are giving out awards at the Kennedy Center (December, 2023) - then go for it! I don't think writing for Lit will make that cut.