frances and lalaland

• Multiple Spectating Selves Theory

  Desiring; how you feel in the moment

  Private; personal experiences

  Social; ideologies and background

  Cultural; what you've seen eg songs, films
• Pastiches in both films

  La La Land - Classical Hollywood; Singin in the Rain, Rebel without a cause

  Frances Ha- French New Wave; Manhattan
• Reception Theory (Stuart Hall)

  Dominant; We align and understand the message

  Negotiated; accepts, rejects or defines

  Oppositional; we understand but we disagree
• Empathetic Entanglement


  our private selves may not align but the director try to empathetically entangle us with the character
• Uses and Gratifications Theory


  Theory that looks at the ways media consumers choose media to meet their needs
• La La Land themes

  Love in the modern day

  Ambition

  Pull of the past vs Demands of now

  Creativity vs Commercial necessity
• Frances Ha Themes


  Loneliness

  Friendship

  Failture
• Ideological Critical Approaches in La La Land

  Post Colonialism

  Marxism

  Feminism

  Post modern
• La La Land (context)

  Released at a time of craving escapism (trump election)

  Musicals meant people felt removed from reality
• La La Land challenging dominant ideologies

  -Mia is represented as a breadwinner at the end of the film; she's an actress and made her own life

  - At the end of the dinner scene she walks away calmly, subverting typical hysteria women are branded as

  - She writes, performs and produces her own play; own creativity
• La La Land conform to dominant ideologies


  - 'Needs a man'; when something goes wrong Seb saves her

  - She ends up in a family

  - Men are given more opportunities; Mia needs to work harder to achieve same level as Seb
• Cultural hegemony


  The way the ruling class world view is enforced on a society
• Representation of gender


  -Mia seen as passive; actions motivated by Seb (passively watches Seb at shows)

  -She drives the narrative, audience aligns with her

  -Mia most successful

  -Sebs insecurity over his masculinity

  -Seb has no power; stand off with bill; power imbalance- set is sat

  -Seb;'he doesn't tell me what to do'

  -Romance is secondary in Mias life

  -She has big dreams
• La La Land - Seb is whitespaining jazz to Mia

  -Ironic how a white man is explaining the ins and outs of jazz

  - links to post colonial theory; in films black identities are erased and constructed as other

  - class jazz in the background 'its dying' - who is he to say its dying

  - Creates 'us and them'

  -Mia and Seb positioned at forefront of the screen - black identities seen in the background; creates a divide - ironic due to the culture in America society

  - Keith who we see later is the only black character

  -passively meant to view Keith as antagonist due to the way Seb talks about him

  - active spectator would subject this reading and view Keith as significant for revolutionising jazz; cognitive response after watching
• La La Land - Dinner scene

  -Music stops abruptly on 'you're just an actress'

  -Room is green which connotes jealously

  -Staccato cutting between the pair shows the division; like a competition; creates claustrophobic environment

  -We can align with either depending on our own private selves

  -Positioned as a fly on the wall

  -Flickering candle; lights up their face emphasising on Mias expressions

  -Due to Mia being the drive of the narrative more likely we align with her

  -Only cutaway is when the record reaches the end; symbolic of the end of their relationship or downfall of relationship

  -Diegetic music stops which leaves them in silence and builds tension