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Matthew Villarreal

Professor Batty

English 101

28 March, 2018

Not So La La Land

Many people seem to have the wrong idea about life here in Los Angeles. Los Angeles

seems to be viewed as some sort of paradise. Almost everyone who is not a Los Angeles

resident believes that all your dreams will come true and your desire to have a fruitful life will

be fulfilled. A result of this, are the creation of films such as La La Land. Success can occur in Los

Angeles but is very hard, due to the fact, that Los Angeles is possibly one of the most

complicated cities to live. Movies and media make it appear that wealth in Los Angeles is easy

to obtain. This is simply not true because Los Angeles has the highest number of people living in

poverty out of all major cities in the United States. Also, Los Angeles is very expensive to live.

Finally, if it feels like everywhere you look there are people sleeping on sidewalks and under

bridges, that’s because they are.

According to Gallegos, Emma G. “Los Angeles Is The Poorest Big City.” LAist, 14 Sept.

2014, in 2013 the Los Angeles area had a 17.6 percent of people living under the poverty line.

The rate in Chicago was 14.4 percent, New York was 14.6 percent, San Francisco was 11.5, and

San Diego’s was 15.2 percent. Among all major cities in America we had the highest percentage

of people living in poverty. What scares me the most is the rate of poverty among children. In
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2010 the child poverty rate was approximately 22.6 percent. As of 2013, the child poverty rate

was 25.3 percent. That is a 2.7 percent increase in three years which may not sound like a lot,

but when discussing children that number should be decreasing, not increasing. Not every

person who decides to move to Los Angeles has their dreams come true in the blink of an eye. If

this is the case than why does Hollywood create films such as La La Land that fabricate what it is

like to live in Los Angeles. Whether you want to be an actor, a musician it requires hard work

and luck. Six years ago, I wanted to be an actor so I paid for headshots, I went to auditions, and

I booked gigs. Sure, there were a couple of commercials, voice overs, and a TV show but in all

out of the amount of time I spent into acting I only made $5000. That is $5000 that I made in

over a year. That is maybe worth two months of rent in an apartment and it took me over a

year to make that. Not saying this is the situation for everyone, but the point that I am trying to

make is that the entertainment industry is not as easy as people make it seem to be.

In 2015, the United States government confirmed that any family of four that made less

than $24,250, was considered amongst those who are in poverty. It would take a single person

to make less than $11,770 to be put into this category. If a family of four can barely afford

$24,250 a year while working the hardest that they possibly can, then why should it be so easy

for Ryan Gosling’s character to obtain an apartment. He is a struggling artist yet somehow, he

can afford a nice apartment? This is yet another example of Hollywood putting this fake image

of what it is like to live in Los Angeles into your head. Referring back to the United States

poverty rate, this rate does not take into account the cost of living, which varies in every city.

The average monthly rent cost in Los Angeles is more than $1300. This makes Los Angeles the

third most expensive city to live in the United States. This means that Los Angeles’s lowest class
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citizens are in worse shape than the census says. Our median household income in Los Angeles

is $58,869. However, every year incomes are rose by $804. If every year Los Angeles residents’

incomes are rising, why is that? They are rising because the cost of living is rising and if the cost

of living is rising than so are the homeless rates. People are requiring more money to live in the

city of Los Angeles.

According to Tobar, Héctor. “How Los Angeles Is Becoming a 'Third World' City.” The

New York Times, The New York Times, 6 July 2015, Bianca Barragan states “If it feels like there

are people living on the streets and under bridges everywhere you look, that’s because there

is.” The reason she said this is because a survey conveyed by the Los Angeles Homeless services

Authority confirmed that the number of people living in cars and on the streets has increased

by 85 percent in two years as of 2015. As we head into 2018 this number can only be increasing

at this point. In all, this census counted more than 25,000 homeless people in the city of Los

Angeles, probably more by now. There are approximately 3.976 million people in Los Angeles

and more than 25,000 of these people do not have a place to call home. In Southern California,

Los Angeles included, the overall poverty rate has increased by 69 percent since 1990. Although

since 1990, the population has only increased by 29 percent. If it is so easy to become

homeless, then how is it so easy for the characters in La La Land to live such a fascinating life.

They are constantly going to fancy dinners, bars, and eloquent parties yet we never actually see

what any of them do for a living. To live a life like this is very expensive, and requires a steady,

stable job. Ryan Gosling appears to be an artist in this film, a struggling artist. How many times

do you hear the story of a struggling artist coming to Los Angeles hoping to be a star. Than

come to find out this artist did not make it and is now playing guitar, piano, or whatever it is on
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the streets of Hollywood Boulevard praying that you will spare them a dollar in their guitar

case. Originally, I am not from the city of Los Angeles. I was born in Carrollton, Texas. Carrollton

is a city just outside of Dallas, kind of how the valley is its own city outside of Los Angeles. I

Moved here when I was four years of age, so I did not grow up in Texas however I do go back to

visit every summer. Every time I go back I notice something. I notice that I do not see one

homeless person, not a single o. Sure, there may be homeless people in downtown Dallas, but

in the outskirts of Dallas there is none. Why are there no homeless people? Because the cost of

living in Texas is significantly lower than the cost of living in Los Angeles. This is because

everyone wants to live in Los Angeles, we have everything. Los Angeles has beaches,

mountains, endless amounts of culture, and diversity. The one thing that we do not have is

guaranteed success. We do not have a guarantee that all your dreams will come true how La La

Land does.

Films have been creating false images of cities for years. Not only Los Angeles but New

York, Chicago, San Francisco, and more. All these cities are very different from each other in

their own ways but one thing that they all have in common is that Hollywood tends to create

the same lie about all of them in their films. The lie that success and money is so easy to obtain.

It can be easy, but not in cities like Los Angeles. There are simply too many people, the cost of

living is too high, and the homeless rates are too high for everybody’s dreams to come true. If

everybody’s dreams came true Los Angeles would be broke because it would not be taking

enough money from people. Thus, the income rates, high cost of living, and rising numbers in

statistics. There is nothing that we can do about this. Hollywood will continue to make these
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films and continue making people believe that it is easy to move to Los Angeles and survive. It is

our job to enjoy these films, but to never forget the truth.