The Modern Musical Reimagined: The Impact of ‘La La Land’
When La La Land debuted in 2016, it mesmerized global audiences with its lively hues, captivating jazz, and poignant love story. Although it clearly paid homage to the classic days of Hollywood, the movie also played a significant role in advancing contemporary musicals. Alongside its visual flair and renowned cast, La La Land presented daring structural, thematic, and technical advancements that influenced filmmakers and viewers alike.
Reviving the Song-and-Dance Tradition
Musicals had slowly moved away from the primary cinema spotlight, with only a few making an impact from the late 1900s to the early 2000s. La La Land revitalized the public’s enthusiasm for this genre by incorporating timeless elements—unplanned street performances, imaginative sequences, and group routines. The film’s introductory scene, “Another Day of Sun,” immediately evoked recollections of past musical extravaganzas with its broad camera sweeps over a Los Angeles highway. Nonetheless, director Damien Chazelle brought a modern twist to the style with continuous-shot choreography, blending the vibrancy of modern urban life instead of restricting the action to studio sets. This depiction of urban authenticity, closely linked to the music, made the musical numbers central not just as spectacular elements but as a medium for expressing the characters’ emotions.
A Different Type of Musical Storytelling
Rather than following a purely optimistic trajectory, La La Land explored ambition, compromise, and the bittersweet cost of dreams. The narrative structure upends expectations: while it delivers moments of euphoric joy, the film culminates in an alternative-reality montage, facing the heartbreak of what could have been. By doing so, Chazelle challenged the tidy resolutions of classic musicals, infusing contemporary emotional complexity. Critics and audiences alike noted how numbers like “City of Stars” or “Audition (The Fools Who Dream)” deepen the narrative rather than serving as interludes, merging plot with music emotionally and thematically.
Narration through Imagery and Filmic Methods
La La Land elevated its storytelling through distinctive visual language. Cinematographer Linus Sandgren employed bold primary colors reminiscent of Technicolor films, but harnessed digital technology and innovative lighting to evoke mood and memory. The film’s use of long takes in dance sequences, practical sets on location, and homage-laden visual cues expanded the musical idiom for a new generation. For instance, the planetarium dance is both a tribute to the fantasy ballets of Vincente Minnelli and a contemporary expression of limitless aspiration. Such sequences benefit from digital effects not as spectacle, but as tools to heighten emotion.
The Importance of Music and Sound in Building Character
Composer Justin Hurwitz and lyricists Benj Pasek and Justin Paul crafted a soundscape that pays respect to jazz and traditional show tunes while incorporating contemporary music trends. The music’s diegetic and non-diegetic functions often blur: characters perform both for diegetic audiences (within the film) and for themselves, with layered implications for their psychological states. For example, Mia’s audition piece transforms from narrative exposition to personal catharsis, allowing the audience an intimate window into her internal conflict. Sebastian’s immersion in jazz reflects the tension between preservation and innovation, paralleling the film’s own genre-blending ethos.
Social and Cultural Impact
La La Land found resonance beyond cinephile circles, becoming a cultural touchstone worldwide. Its success at the box office—exceeding $440 million globally—and its sweep of awards, including six Academy Awards, signaled renewed viability for original musicals in the mainstream. The film’s setting in multicultural Los Angeles, with a globally diverse supporting cast and an embrace of immigrant ambition, positioned it as a universal story even as it dramatized specifically American dreams. In education and community theatre, the film’s influence is evident in the growing selection of contemporary musicals with original scores, movement-based staging, and realistic character arcs.
Legacy: Inspiring a New Creative Wave
Since La La Land, several musicals have been released targeting comparable artistic and commercial success, including The Greatest Showman, Mary Poppins Returns, and In the Heights. Streaming services have also started funding musical productions, while prominent award organizations have shown greater openness to the genre. Experts and reviewers observe that the movie’s ability to merge nostalgia with innovation established a benchmark, showing that musicals can thrive in the market while maintaining artistic goals and modern significance.
A Contemplative Summary
La La Land contributed substantially to the language and legacy of the modern musical. Its technical virtuosity, emotional authenticity, and willingness to embrace both the old and the new positioned it as a benchmark for innovation in a genre long defined by tradition. Rather than merely commemorating the past, the film expanded the vocabulary of the musical for a rapidly changing media landscape—inviting both creators and audiences to rediscover the magic and meaning of stories told through song and dance.
