arts // no. 8

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> Glorifying cocaine dealers in the entertainment industry

Greg Waldock Staff Writer

ark Ronson and Bruno Mars’ smash

hit Uptown Funk grooved its way into our hearts last year, with its smooth funk and slick ’7os veneer. Versions of it were sung in schools by teachers, in churches by the clergy, in shady car lots by shady car salesmen. It became so ubiquitous across so many groups, people forgot—or never realized—the song is far from innocent. It’s entirely about selling coke, and it’s not even vaguely veiled.

The first two lines in the song are

straight-up cocaine references. “This hit, that ice cold/Michelle Pfeifer, that

white gold.” Michelle Pfeifer is another name for coke, a reference to the actress’ role in Scarface. With opening lines as obviously drug-related as these, it’s pretty amazing how much mainstream popularity the song had, outside of radio. The song goes further: “Ride to Harlem, Hollywood, Jackson, Mississippi.” Ronson and Mars are singing about going to the biggest cocaine centers of America in the ’7os and slinging it, making massive amounts of money in the process. Cocaine had a very interesting role in the ’7os. This was the time when it started to become the drug of choice in the growing music and film industries, and it was also when the foundations

Life: A musical

> ‘La La Land’ film review

Jerrison Oracion Senior Columnist

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here are a lot of movies that pay tribute to different types of films, like the various genres in the films of Mel Brooks and silent films in The Artist. Now, the same person who brought you Grand Piano and Whiplash, Damien Chazelle, brings a film that pays tribute to the golden age of musicals in the modern era. La La Land not only references many things in musicals, but it is also about reviving pastimes.

It is just another day of sun in Los Angeles, and Mia (Emma Stone), an actress who works ina studio's café and is trying to make it big in the city, meets Sebastian (Ryan Gosling), a jazz pianist who is also trying to make his big break. They both work together to help Mia make a one-woman play and help Sebastian open a jazz club, and everything changes when Sebastian’s best friend, Keith (John Legend), offers him a position in his new band.

The first half of the film has what you would usually expect in a musical, and the second half looks like a film made by Jacques Demy. There are a lot of tracking shots throughout, like in most of Chazelle’s films. La La Land contains references to various things in musicals. The film begins with the Summit Entertainment logo in the style of the 1950s, and the screen expands to show

that the film is presented in Cinemascope

to reference This is Cinerama. There are

also references to West Side Story, the

musicals of Gene Kelly, and the films

of Jacques Demy. It is similar in ways

to Demy’s The Umbrellas of Cherbourg,

except that it does not look like an opera. While La La Land looks like a musical

from the 1950s, it also looks like a movie

made today, as there were handheld

shots midway through the film. The

musical numbers in it are elaborate,

like the piece in the beginning of the

film when everyone in traffic instantly

bursts into song. This might cause you

of the modern war on drugs would be laid. Cocaine dealers who sold in California or New York had, and have, a very different reputation from ordinary drug dealers. A certain style and pizzazz, accurately shown in the song and music video, was expected from people who sold coke to movie stars and massive pop artists. The persona was portrayed often in the film and television of the era, usually examining the darker implications of having a drug trade so sustained by professional industries. The entire song is a glorification of that drug trade and its dealers’ personalities. Ronson’s “character” is smooth, slick, attractive, and happy,

to wish that life was really like a musical and you could sing about anything.

The film is also an analogy of the past and present. In the beginning of the film jazz is very popular, but at end jazz popularity is declining. Sebastian makes a point that musicals began with jazz and that they should bring back live jazz, which is the reason he wanits to open a jazz club. It also shows that fixing something will not make it cool, in the case of Keith’s new band.

Despite the film ending with a big musical number that goes full force in the references to musicals, the ending is

theotherpress.ca

Screenshot via YouTube

revelling in the riches and women the coke brings. While the music video emphasized the historical ’7os feel given off by the groove, the lyrics themselves make no indication of the period. Though it’s probably not what Ronson and Mars intended, the song can easily come off as an endorsement of the drug trade today, and all the associated problems. To the song’s credit, however, the groove is solid. A strong bassline backed up with energetic vocals makes for a great song with a very upbeat and funky tune. And to its further credit, getting average white parents across America to tap their feet and sing about selling cocaine in the streets of Harlem is an impressive feat.

Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone in La La Land (2016)

somewhat disappointing. Still, by the time you are reading this review, the film might have gotten the Golden Globe for Best Comedy/Musical, and it could also get the Academy Award for Best Picture this year. La La Land shows that musicals are a great thing, and that it is possible to bring back something from the past. If you would like to see a film that is similar, I would recommend viewing The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, and if you would like to see what a jazz club looks like in real life, you can go to Frankie’s, which is located across the street from BC Place Stadium.