Damien Chazelle's La La Land is one of the most critically acclaimed films of the year and stands a very strong chance of taking the Oscar for Best Picture. That said, it's not universally beloved. Multifaceted musician Rostam Batmanglij has taken to Twitter to explain his frustrations with the film.
The musical follows a love story between Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling. The jazz-centred film also features a cameo from John Legend as a piano teacher who abandoned jazz and sold out in favour of pop.
Rostam explains that the narrative of a white man preserving jazz after a black man sells it out is particularly problematic when compared to the history of the genre. Further, he criticizes the film for its lack of queer characters.
Read Rostam's tweets about La La Land below.
The musical follows a love story between Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling. The jazz-centred film also features a cameo from John Legend as a piano teacher who abandoned jazz and sold out in favour of pop.
Rostam explains that the narrative of a white man preserving jazz after a black man sells it out is particularly problematic when compared to the history of the genre. Further, he criticizes the film for its lack of queer characters.
Read Rostam's tweets about La La Land below.
La La Land didn't have a single gay person in it #notmylosangeles
— Rostam Batmanglij (@matsoR) December 21, 2016
furthermore the people of color written into the script were not really important to the story, john legend gave a great performance but ...
— Rostam Batmanglij (@matsoR) December 21, 2016
...his character was what? a sellout? who made uncool pop music?
— Rostam Batmanglij (@matsoR) December 21, 2016
black people invented jazz but now we need a white man to come save/preserve it? sorry this narrative doesn't work for me in 2016
— Rostam Batmanglij (@matsoR) December 21, 2016
except his music was purposefully corny / guitar center aesthetic ... he could have been improvising w Max/MsP scripts / doing cool shit https://t.co/TZPibDgxaa
— Rostam Batmanglij (@matsoR) December 21, 2016
