Exploring Los Angeles as a Character in Film

In film, the construction of Los Angeles as a character has been defined through a series of specific theories that have seemingly misrepresented the unique and diverse nature of the city. Broken into two discussions, my paper will attempt to address 1) the way in which urbanization has influenced the landscape of the city of Los Angeles and how the creation of a heavy materialist culture in Amy Heckerling’s Clueless, the illusionary nature of Hollywood in Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard, and corruption and abuse of power within the LAPD in Curtis Hansen’s L.A. Confidential manifest themselves as products of the this process and 2) the dominant narratives and themes that have been used to construct Los Angeles as a character in film