Mick LaSalle - Dream State: California in the Movies

DREAM STATE

california

in the movies

MICK LaSALLE

Heyday, Berkeley, California

Copyright 2021 by Mick LaSalle

All rights reserved. No portion of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from Heyday.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: LaSalle, Mick, author.

Title: Dream state : California in the movies / Mick LaSalle.

Description: Berkeley : Heyday, [2021] | Includes index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2020045993 | ISBN 9781597145312 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781597145329 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: California--In motion pictures. | Place (Philosophy) in motion pictures.

Classification: LCC PN1995.9.C325 L37 2021 | DDC 791.4309794--dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020045993

Cover Design: Archie Ferguson

Interior Design/Typesetting: Ashley Ingram

Published by Heyday

P.O. Box 9145, Berkeley, California 94709

(510) 549-3564

heydaybooks.com

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

For Jennifer Hengen and in memory of Bob Graham.
They got me here.

The dream is always in sight and always out of reach. California as a state of being is aspirational, envious, driving toward something, often literally, always figuratively, and, in some fundamental way, never, ever getting there.

The tourists that walk along San Franciscos Marina Green, with the sailboats to their right and the Golden Gate Bridge in front of them, think to themselves, if only... If only I lived here I could get to that thing, that inner place Ive always wanted, that full arrival, that mix of assured achievement and complete relaxation, that feeling of purpose and victory, that balance of adventure and civilization, where you are always there at the center of things and always thriving, and everywhere you look theres splendor.

Likewise, the tourists in their rental cars, driving down Wilshire or Sunset or Santa Monica Boulevard, with music playing out of four speakers, and the warm breeze blowing, and the palm trees climbing and climbing into the sky for one small burst of life... they know it, too. Its the California feeling, Los Angeles version. Its the Randy Newman I Love L.A. feeling, of being unstoppable and brilliant, a glamorous big shot that can do all things and is part of the moment.

Many of those tourists having these feelings and sensations will, in only a matter of days, find themselves staring out the window of an airplane, taking a last look at the place, as the bridges turn into toys and the mountains into rocks, and they will feel like theyve been ejected out of paradise. But what they wont know is that the feeling that they had and will carry with themof seeing it and wanting it and not quite grasping itis how the natives often feel, too.

California is a place that breeds both spiritual satisfaction and spiritual envy. Most big cities in America feel like a challenge. They look hard, and they are indeed as hard as they look. But Californias big cities create an illusion of tranquility and loveliness, so that if youre in one of those cities and your life is anything but tranquil or lovely, glorious or triumphant, it feels like something is a little off. Obviously, theres a party going on. Obviously, you deserve to be invited. And obviously you just cant locate the address. So obviously something is very wrong, but not with youno, never with youand not even with the city or state. The problem is the universe in general.

THIS IS A BOOK ABOUT CALIFORNIA IN THE MOVIES, but its not a history of the film business in California, because that would come close to being a general history of American movies. Nor is it a chronicle of every time California has ever been mentioned or depicted on screen. The abridged version of that would run a good thousand pages. Rather, this is a book about two things, about the idea of California as depicted in movies, and about California ideas that have made their way into the culture, through movies.

These ideas, often subliminal, often unconscious, presented through a succession of arresting images, huge emotions, and beautiful places and people, have had a powerful impact on Americans sense of themselves and on the worlds sense of America. These ideas suggest values and a vision of life, and while this California vision cant be completely defined or encapsulated, a general summary is possible.

The California vision is, first of all, one of material splendor. It is a vision of glamour. It is often a vision of youth or of youthfulness. But it suggests more than material things. It suggests an environment in which individualism can be celebrated, and in which romanticized individualsour proxies, in the form of movie starsare iconicized as embodying particular moral values that we can, in turn, aspire to and emulate. This vision feeds a longing so intense that it feels spiritual, in that it promotes the idea of an ideal world in which we can be loved and worthy of love, not for anything we do, but simply for being ourselves.

In a sense, the California vision is the ultimate expression of an idealized capitalism: Hollywood celebrates the individual, not the collective. Indeed, even when it celebrates the collective, it still celebrates the individual. It shows a mass of citizens marching forward to rebuild San Francisco at the end of San Francisco (1936), but it shows Clark Gable front and center, practically leading the way.

Hitlers Germany and Stalins Soviet Union, which both arrived early in the history of the feature film, recognized the power of the medium for disseminating ideas through story, and so they took over the film industry. In the United States, at roughly the same time, censors tried to take over the film industry with a restrictive Production Code that stifled screen content and tried actively to promote traditional values. The censors enjoyed surprising success for a surprisingly long time, but eventually they could no longer hold back the tide of human nature and of movie-influenced morality. The movies steady drip of glamour, romance, and splendor did its job. Sometimes the ideas that filmmakers dont even know theyre expressing are more powerful than the things they consciously intend to say.

Of course, not all movies are set in California or even shot in California, and movies are not a monolith that say the same things all the time. There are movies that present a bleak vision of America, and of California, and we know, from the films that are frequently honored in foreign film festivals, that our European friends in particular gravitate toward the dark side of American life, if only to reassure themselves that theyre better off where they are. Half the time, theyre right to think so.

But I would maintain that even the bleaker depictions of American life usually celebrate and idealize individual personality and effort. Likewise, in a disguised form, they often celebrate the ideals of youth or youthfulness, glamour, individualism, and the notion that people are worth loving just for being themselves. Even the depiction of bleakness suggests an ideal in the opposite direction, and the very fact that heroes usually succeed in American movies at least offers the hope that some kind of California dream is within reach of everyone.