Benjamin S.

Glisson

York

Expository writing 1010-045

4th November 2021

How La La Land Tells a Story Through The Music

Before having this class I never understood how genres worked, especially in my

everyday life. I think when most people think of geres they think of categories of movies or

music but, there is so much more to what a genre actually is. I feel like through high school

they never gave us a clear example or explanation to what a genre is. Learning about genres

is important. In Dirk’s “Navigating Genres” when explaining what the reason is for

explaining genres it states, “I hope to give you an awareness of how genres function by

taking what is often quite theoretical in the field of rhetoric and composition and making it a

bit more tangible” Dirk is explaining how using gernes can take our writing to the next level

and better it for the audience. Another source that helps explain gernes is in our textbook

under “Genres of Writing” where it explains, “Genres are kinds of writing that you can use to

accomplish a certain goal and reach a particular audience”. This furthers the point of Dirk’s

writing as we use genres to connect with our audience.

Music and movies have always complemented each other since the beginning of film.

Music in movies can be used to evoke emotion or be used as a tool to build on the

background of scenes. There are two basic types of music in movies; The soundtrack and the

score. The soundtrack is a collection of songs that are from various music artists. If you ever

hear a song you know in a film, this is a part of the soundtrack. The score I music specifically

made for the film and/or scene. Some famous examples of this include, Interstellar, Blade

Runner and The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly. Typically in the film industry the music plays
as a background to what happens on screen. In the case of La La Land this is not true (and not

just because it's a musical) I would argue to say that the music in La La Land is the most

important part of the movie.

When thinking about music in films the first movie that probably comes to mind is

StarWars, or maybe you think of The Breakfast Club’s lionized theme “Don't, you forget

about me”. In the case of The Breakfast Club this song fits perfectly and is used as a reminder

to the audience about what the characters are thinking. This is how most soundtracks in film

are used. Another example would be the ending of Almost Famous. Toward the end of the

movie after the band and the friends around them have a large fight they are all on the bus

together and Elton John’s “Tiny Dancer” plays on the radio and collectively one by one

everyone starts to sing together. The music in this scene is used to show that the characters

(even though they are not on good terms) still have friendship and respect for one other. All

of these scenes are great and the music fits them perfectly but, like I said before, the music

takes a backseat to the film. Sure these scenes live off the songs in them but they are not the

reason these scenes are so powerful. These Films and most other movies you watch expect

you to figure out why these songs are playing and sometimes they can just have no meaning

at all other than just being a song in the scene.

So, what makes La La Land different? La La Land uses music not as a secondary

noise but as a subject of the movie. The music in this movie is amazing but that's not what

makes it so powerful when watching. Unlike traditional movies, La La Land uses one main

theme called “Mia and Sebastian's Theme”. We first hear this song when Mia is walking

home and it is the first time we see the two main characters together. As the movie progresses

we see this theme reoccur in the film in many other versions. In Traditional film you would

see multiple songs play through multiple scenes. Most movies will use the song once then

you won't hear it for the remainder of the film. This is what makes “Mia and Sebastian's
Theme” so powerful. We hear it whenever the characters are together or thinking about one

another. To go back on my statement about how the song changes as the movie progresses.

We see this piece of music start off as a small gentle piano melody but, in the middle of the

film when Mia and Sebastian are finally alone and dancing this theme erupts into an positive

explosion of orchestra sounds. This is not the only time we see this track turn into something

other than the original. In the later half of the film we see the two characters get into a major

fight. After the fight a slow melodic version of this track plays over the character as if the

song is hurting with the characters. This is what La La Land does differently, it takes the

music and gives it personality. When the characters are happy the music is happy. When the

characters are sad the music is sad. Another way this film changes the way music is uses is

the characters are the one that we first or continue to see play these songs. Like the example

of “Mias and Sebastian's theme” we see Sebastian play this song multiple ways throughout

the movie on the piano. This shows the audience the way Sebastian is feeling throughout

certain times in the movie. I have done a lot of research trying to find movies that utilize

music like La La Land does but, I simply can't find any. Unlike films before it La La Land

evolves from the traditional way of using music in cinema. By almost creating a new use of

music in movies and showing how the music doesn't have to take a backseat to the film.

Simply it shows us how music can guild, show, and explain without having to use dialogue.

The music is just as much a character of the film as Mia and Sebastian. There is another key

piece of music that La La Land uses to convey the emotion of the audience; this piece is

called “City of Stars”. This song itself can be summed up as the “theme” for the movie, not

just their relationship. We rarely see this in films as you mostly see theme songs having no

association with the film other than its instrumental. Most of the time you use songs that can

be associated with a certain decade, location, or time. “City Of Stars” is sung multiple sings

through the characters of the film. This song starts off with the lyrics “City of stars
Are you shining just for me?”. This already states the entire theme of the movie as it's about

pursuing your dreams in LA. This song being sung through the main characters also adds an

element of self awareness. They understand why they are here and what their goal is. As far

as I know La La Land is the only film to do this, and it's genius. This makes the viewer feel

like they are a part of Mia and Sebastains journey through La La Land.

Lastly, I've noticed especially while working on this paper. That genre is just an idea

and that bending or going outside the genre norm can create amazing products. I'm not here

to say there's no point for genre because there is. We have to create categories, compare, and

be influenced by them. I just think genre, especially in the world of cinema, can be very

restricting. We see film creators with ideas that are outside the normal and they never get

funded because it's not the way movies have been done in the past and it's sad. I guess I don't

like the construct of genre. meaning the idea that something other than the normal is wrong.

My point being genre should never hold you back from going “outside the box”, and La La

Land proves this. This film shows us how when you break or bend the conventional way of

utilizing music in film it can cause for a pretty amazing outcome.