Nostalgia for old Hollywood offerings was never something I experienced. It wasn’t until I was in high school that I learned what Hollywood actually was. To me, the place sounded almost like a fantasy — akin to Narnia or Hogwarts — where ambitious actors, filmmakers and everyone in between travel to realize their dreams.
At first, I didn’t understand why people gravitated toward this nostalgia. It was only after watching Damien Chazelle’s 2016 film La La Land that I understood why that longing exists in the first place.
Chazelle’s modern musical is made almost exclusively for those with ambitious dreams. It portrays classic Hollywood as a colorful, dazzling place that reels you in with promises of success. I have no ambitions to act or play jazz, but I cannot deny that the movie made me consider it, even if only a little.
At its core, La La Land is the flip side of the same coin when compared to Chazelle’s earlier film — 2014’s Whiplash. Both tackle the same themes of artistic ambition and the pursuit of success. But while Whiplash asks if we are willing to pay the price for success, La La Land goes further by introducing love into the equation. Can we really have it all?
La La Land, right from the very first scene, presents us with a bombastic musical number on a Los Angeles freeway. It portrays Hollywood as a character in and of itself — akin to a genie that grants wishes. Mia, played by Emma Stone, is an aspiring actress in search of her big break. Sebastian, played by Ryan Gosling, is chasing his dream of opening a jazz club. The two cross paths and are immediately drawn to one another because of their similar struggles. Despite the rejection, financial troubles and crippling self-doubt, the pursuit of success is romanticized. The movie makes it clear that it’s exhilarating to be swept up in the chase.
Mia and Sebastian’s relationship goes against the rocks as their pursuits pull them in different directions. Sebastian, struggling with money, is forced to join a band that compromises his artistic integrity. Mia, on the other hand, has lost hope that she’ll become an accomplished actress after failing more auditions than she can count. No matter how strong their love is, their pursuits demand more and more from them with each passing day. I went into this film blind, and by this point I was beginning to realize where it was headed: a relationship torn apart by differing aspirations.
My hunch was proven correct toward the end. After years apart, Mia and Sebastian meet one last time at Sebastian’s newly opened jazz club. And for an extra gut punch, the film’s final sequence shows us what could have been had they found success while still together. We, the audience, are presented with a montage of the couple being happy, content and full of vivid color. This whole sequence stuck with me long after I finished the movie. I knew that happiness wouldn’t last — and so did Mia and Sebastian. The lights fade out, and we are brought out of this dreamscape. Mia is now married. Sebastian knows that. And while they can’t be together anymore, the two share one last look — one that says they’re both proud of who they’ve become.
Perhaps that’s the bittersweet truth the film wants us to understand, that, sometimes, love and ambition are not compatible.
While this dilemma isn’t unique to Hollywood, the challenge of balancing personal fulfillment with career ambition resonates deeply. At some point in life, we’ve all had to choose between our relationships and our goals. And the hardest part may not be the decision itself — it’s the doubt that follows, when we ask ourselves if it was worth it.
Damien Chazelle knows how to frame the same ending in different ways. But just as in Whiplash, La La Land does not offer easy answers. It leaves us with a question both haunting and profound: When love and success are in the same picture, is it possible to have both?
