Over winter break, I saw the cinematic masterpiece that is La La Land, mostly because Ryan Gosling is a total dreamboat (did I just say dreamboat?), but also because the rest of the world was raving about it. I was entranced throughout the entire two hours and eight minutes, but I’ll admit that when I strolled out of the theater, I wasn’t sure how I felt about it. How could Sebastian and Mia not end up together? I was, admittedly, pretty devastated, but it wasn’t until I went home and thought about it more that I realized, this movie. Is. Everything. I mean really, it has consumed my soul.
Sebastian and Mia’s love story was definitely one for the books. The two found each other living in Los Angeles, both trying to make it in the entertainment industry– Sebastian, an aspiring jazz musician, and Mia, an aspiring actress. One thing I really loved about this film is that Sebastian and Mia not only loved each other dearly, but they also inspired one another to set higher goals and achieve them. At one point in the film, Sebastian joins a jazz band, despite the fact that they aren’t really producing music he is passionate about. Mia confronts him about this, and this causes an argument. Eventually, however, Sebastian leaves the band because he knows it didn’t make him happy. I think the best kind of love is where each person encourages the other to do better, and that’s exactly what Sebastian and Mia did. By seeing the other chase their dream, Sebastian and Mia strived to achieve more than they had before. Can I also just say that the both of them had impeccable style? As if they weren’t perfect enough, now they have better wardrobes than the rest of us.
After listening to the soundtrack roughly five hundred times, I remembered a beautiful quote that my beloved high school Latin teacher, Mr. Pfeiffer, shared with my class junior year: “Some people are meant to be in your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime.” And then it dawned on me: although Sebastian and Mia did not end up together in the end, they were They inspired each other to create, and I think that’s probably the most important takeaway from this movie; Sebastian ended up opening his own jazz club, and Mia became a famous actress. I feel that even though this film didn’t end the way most people wanted, it really emulates real life situations and that makes it all the more relatable.
So, if I could sum up La La Land in three points, I would say that first of all, Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone should just be the stars of every movie, ever. Next, it’s important to connect with people who inspire you to do better. There’s nothing worse than feeling like you’ve reached a plateau in life. You should always surround yourself with people who want you to achieve higher, more complex dreams, whether it be platonically or romantically. Lastly, sometimes the greatest things in life are only temporary. Sebastian and Mia gave each other the world, but occasionally, it isn’t meant to be. In the words of Mr. Pfeiffer, some people are meant to be in your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. If they aren’t in your life forever, then they served their purpose, and sometimes, that’s more beautiful in the end.