My wife and I saw "La La Land" on Christmas Eve. Great movie. I'm a sucker for films about people chasing their impossible dreams, facing down their fears and insecurities, being kicked in the butt by life then turning around to ask for more.
Watching the climactic scenes of La La Land, I was moved by how dedicated jazz musician Sebastian (Ryan Gosling) and aspiring actress Mia (Emma Stone) pursued their passions in the face of daunting obstacles.
At one point I remember thinking to myself in the darkened movie theatre, "I want to be like them!"
Then a second thought arose: "But they're a musician and an actress. They sing, dance, play the piano, audition in Hollywood, have cool conversations in jazz bars. I'm just a blogger and citizen activist."
Later, that just bothered me.
Because the core message that has stuck with me after seeing La La Land applies to everyone, not just the "cool kids." And since I'm obviously included in the Class of Everyone, that message is for me as well.
Also, of course, you.
A key scene is when Mia is auditioning for a part in a movie that doesn't have a script yet. Expecting to read for the part, she's surprised when asked to tell a story, any story she wants, as the script is going to be written around the personality and character of whoever is chosen to be the lead actress.
After a pause, Mia begins to sing. A review of La La Land said that the song comes from a one-woman play Mia wrote and acted in, a play whose debut didn't go very well, yet which led to her audition.
Here's a clip featuring some of the lyrics from the song, "The Fools Who Dream."
At the time, I grasped the basic message of the song, but I couldn't understand all of the lyrics. Which are:
My aunt used to live in Paris
I remember, she used to come home and tell us
stories about being abroad and
I remember that she told us she jumped in the river once,
Barefoot
She smiled, Leapt, without looking
And She tumbled into the Seine!
The water was freezing
she spent a month sneezing
but said she would do it, again
Here's to the ones who dream
Foolish, as they may seem
Here's to the hearts
that ache
Here's to the mess
we make
She captured a feeling
Sky with no ceiling
Sunset inside a frame
She lives in her liquor
and died with a flicker
I'll always remember the flame
Here's to the ones
who dream
Foolish, as they may seem
Here's to the hearts
that ache
Here's to the mess
we make
She told me:
A bit of madness is key
to give us to color to see
Who knows where it will lead us?
And that's why they need us,
So bring on the rebels
The ripples from pebbles
The painters, and poets, and plays
And here's to the fools who dream
Crazy, as they may seem
Here's to the hearts that break
Here's to the mess we make
I trace it all back, to that
Her, and the snow, and the sand
Smiling through it
She said
She'd do it, Again
I grew up in a family that most would call dysfunctional. As a child, I heard stories about relatives that were filled with foolish actions, alcoholism, divorces, infidelities, eccentricities. My divorced mother, who raised me, drank too much and smoked too much.
She also was an intellectual who read books obsessively, played tournament-level bridge passionately, expounded her conservatism proudly, and wrote a humorous Halloween play each year for me and my elementary school classmates that we performed happily.
In my teenage years, my mother, Carolyn Hines, drove me crazy as her alcoholism deepened. She also helped make as crazily sane as I am now. As the song says, she broke hearts. She made messes. Like mother, like son.
Unlike Mia, I never explicitly heard the words, "A bit of madness is key." However, I embraced that sentiment by experiencing it, both in my childhood and afterwards. Members of my family have done some crazy things. So have I.
The beautiful thing is, as Mia sings...
And here's to the fools who dream
Crazy, as they may seem
Here's to the hearts that break
Here's to the mess we make
I trace it all back, to that
Her, and the snow, and the sand
Smiling through it
She said
She'd do it, Again
Fools, rebels, dreamers, misfits.
The world would be so lacking without them.
But what I really mean to say is, without us. Because wherever I look, I see the sorts of people Mia sang about. We just usually aren't doing the sort of dramatic stuff movies like La La Land are made of.
No matter. We're all fools who dream, breaking hearts and making messes.
it's HMer and the snow and the Seine, not sand.
Posted by: Jay Stone | January 02, 2017 at 12:08 PM