Recommended for A Level and equivalent level Film Studies
This study day will use La La Land, Damien Chazelle’s follow-up to Whiplash, as its key text. Set in modern-day Los Angeles, this is a musical about everyday life which explores the joy and pain of pursuing your dreams. La La Land is an homage to classic Hollywood musicals as well as a contemporary take on the genre. We will explore aspects of film form and narrative during the course of the day. We will also consider how the film comments upon and plays with generic expectations.
Led by Dr Kirsty Fairclough, Reader in Screen Studies, Research and Knowledge Exchange Lead at the School of Digital Arts, Manchester Metropolitan University.
Screening: La La Land (12A)
Dir Damien Chazelle/USA 2016
129mins
Ryan Gosling/Emma Stone/Amiée Conn
Damien Chazelle’s award winning film has all the right moves: a love of jazz, a love of classic Hollywood musicals and a love of life. An ambitious jazz pianist (Ryan Gosling) and an aspiring actress (Emma Stone) fall in love while pursuing their dreams of stardom. This should be the stuff of cliché but in Chazelle’s hands becomes something incredibly wonderful and life affirming. The two leads are a match made in heaven and it’s impossible not to be seduced and beguiled as they sprinkle stardust across the screen.
Interested in other events? Please subscribe to our Schools and Colleges Newsletters.
Download our teachers’ guide and our risk assessment for schools.