For over a century, movies have been our window into Los Angeles, capturing a mean, superficial, carinfested city. How much if that is actually true, though?

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Featuring the voice talents of:
Vivian Strange ‪@vivianstrange‬
Zack Paslay ‪@ZackPaslay‬
Simón Gómez
Rachel Duncan @ raetheforce on Twitter
William White ‪@thesecondglassbeachchannel‬

Other Video Essays:
Roger Rabbit and the Fall of Los Angeles Public Transit:    • Rabbits, Railways, Racism: Roger Rabb...  
Decolonizing Adventure: A Cinematic Road to El Dorado:    • Decolonizing Adventure: A Cinematic R...  
Encanto: One Hundred Minutes of Solitude:    • Encanto: One Hundred Minutes of Solitude  
Walt Disney's Politics: Farthest Star to the Right?:    • Walt Disney's Politics: Farthest Star...  
The Ancestral Storytelling of Over the Garden Wall:    • The Ancestral Storytelling of Over th...  
Wes Anderson: Style and Substance and Being Alive:    • Wes Anderson: Style and Substance and...  
Oppenheimer: Why Tell Stories of Great Bad Men:    • Oppenheimer: Why Tell Stories of Grea...  
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SECTIONS
0:00 Prologue: My Idea of Cinema
02:22 Part 1: The Loneliest and Most Brutal
05:12 Part 2: Originary Sin
13:06 Part 3: Worship Everything and Value Nothing
21:42 Part 4: The Tar Pit
28:45 Part 5: What Are the Possibilities?
34:54 Credits
35:10 Closing
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SOURCES

Film
20th Century Women (2016)
(500) Days of Summer (2009)
Annie Hall (1977)
Argo (2012)
Babylon (2022)
Blonde (2022)
Boogie Nights (1997)
Booksmart (2019)
Boyz n the Hood (1991)
Bugsy (1991)
California Conquest (1952)
Chinatown (1974)
C'mon C'mon (2021)
The Disaster Artist (2017)
Dolor y Gloria (2019)
Dope (2015)
Double Indemnity (1942)
E.T. the Extraterrestrial (1982)
El Norte (1983)
Erin Brockovich (2000)
Falling Down (1993)
Hail, Caesar! (2016)
Her (2013)
The Holiday (2004)
Ingrid Goes West (2017)
Intolerance (1916)
Kit Carson (1940)
L.A. Confidential (1997)
Los Angeles Plays Itself (2003)
La La Land (2016)
Lady Bird (2016)
The Last Black Man in San Francisco (2019)
The Learning Curve (2001)
Licorice Pizza (2021)
The Long Goodbye (1973)
Magnolia (1999)
Mank (2020)
Marriage Story (2019)
Mean Girls (2004)
Mi Vida Loca (1993)
Midnight in Paris (2011)
Mulholland Drive (2001)
The Muppet Movie (1979)
The Muppets (2011)
The Nice Guys (2016)
Nightcrawler (2014)
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019)
Pulp Fiction (1994)
PunchDrunk Love (2002)
Real Women Have Curves (2002)
Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
Saving Mr. Banks (2013)
Singin' in the Rain (1952)
Slums of Beverly Hills (1998)
Somewhere (2010)
A Star is Born (1937)
Starstruck (2010)
Sunset Boulevard (1950)
Tangerine (2014)
Vertigo (1958)
Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)

TV Shows
Barry (20182023)
Batman (19661968)
Big Time Rush (20092013)
BoJack Horseman (20142020)
Crazy ExGirlfriend (20152019)
Difficult People (20152017)
Insecure (20162021)
Transparent (20142019)
Victorious (20102013)

Books
Caro, Robert A. The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York (1974)
Jacobs, Jane. The Death and Life of Great American Cities (1961)
Kerouac, Jack. On the Road (1957)