los angeles wp2 final

8/19/2019 Los Angeles Wp2 FINAL

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Los Angeles: Realistic vs. Constructive?

Los Angeles is a beautiful city that many people know and love. Many people who do not

live in Los Angeles love it because they only know the surface of it. Los Angeles is known to be

a place where peoples dreams come true. Los Angeles is portrayed in two different ways! which

are constructive views and realistic views. Constructive views come from the cinema and media

studies discipline because they emphasi"e what parts of the city will work with the certain type

of film that they will be making. #n the realistic view! a more historical approach is used. $hen

speaking of history! a realistic view is used because history does not lie. #n history it %ust e&plains

what happened without giving a personal opinion. #n the novel! Los Angles 'la"a: (acred and

Contested (pace , by $illiam )strada he e&plains the history of Los Angeles in the sense that he

gives a voice to the people who were not shown to the public. $illiam )strada writes the

historical view as a way to present facts to the audience and to give a voice for those who were

overshadowed throughout history. Another form that the city is viewed is from Cinema and

media studies! which characteri"es certain parts of the city to emphasi"e the setting in a

particular film. #n the article! *+he City in ,ilm- by 'amela $o%cik! she e&plains how certain

parts of the city are used as backdrops for different types of genres of films. oth $illiam

)strada and /enise Mc0enna both characteri"e the city of Los Angeles from different angles!

Mc0ennas film and media analysis focuses more on the constructed view of Los Angeles! where

)stradas historical analysis describes a more realistic view of Los Angeles which is more

effective because it gives a more realistic view and lets the audience know about the real Los

Angeles.

+he cinema and media studies discipline manipulated the city of Los Angeles in the sense

that it only lets the audience see what the director wants them to see which does not let the

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audience see the full truth behind the city. $ol%cik e&plains in her article! *+he rise of cinema

followed on the heels of urbani"ation and industriali"ation! and early cinema production and

e&hibition was largely urban. Moreover! the city has proved to be a rich and diverse cinematic

setting and sub%ect.- by saying this she is e&plaining how the producers of movies only use

certain parts of the city to enhance their film. (o when she states! *the city has proved to be a

rich and diverse cinematic setting- she is e&plaining that the producers know that there are good

sides of Los Angeles and there are bad sides of Los Angeles but it is up to the producer when it

comes to how much of that that they want to show and how they want to show it. +herefore! it is

constructed. +he viewer or the reader is not getting the whole story. (o the audience does not

know what the *real- Los Angeles is1 they are only getting a constructed view of the city.

#n particular! the audience that is connected to the cinema and media studies discipline

are people who are interested in knowing about the sub%ect of who have prior knowledge.

ecause these articles are hard to read! the audience must know what many of the terms mean

prior to reading the article. #f someone does not have prior knowledge in this discipline is going

to make it very hard for people to understand what is being said.

Cinema and media studies articles use a lot of %argon throughout their articles. +hat is!

they use a lot of language that only people who are familiar with that sub%ect would understand.

+his makes the article hard to read for someone who does not have any background in cinema

and media studies. ,or e&ample in the article $ol%ick lists different types of films such as!

*2angster films! 2erman )&pressionism! and ,ilm 3oir4- someone who is not familiar with

cinema and media studies would not know these different types of genres within the film genre.

,or e&ample! film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish 5ollywood crime

cinemas! particularly such that emphasi"e cynical attitudes and se&ual motivations. $hen

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$ol%ick says *film noir- that would confuse the public because they would not know what the

author is saying. # only know what that means because # have prior knowledge of the sub%ect

being taken a course of cinema! the audience would not know what film noir is. +herefore in

order to really understand and grasp what this article is saying one would have to be

knowledgeable in the area of cinema and media studies. +his then makes it hard to e&plain the

city of Los Angeles in this sense because the audience! who is %ust the public! would not be able

to grasp the ideas that they are trying to portray. +herefore this discipline does not appeal the

public as a whole1 it inly appeals a certain group of people! which would be those who are

interested in cinema and media studies. eing that the article is hard to read it does not make it

reliable when e&plaining what Los Angeles is therefore it is not as credible as from the

perspective of history.

+he history discipline clearly describes the city of Los Angeles because it gives a more

realistic view by only presenting facts about the city. )strada! the author of Los Angeles 'la"a!

uses a tactic in his book by separating the information into chapters! acknowledgements! and an

introduction to be able to affect the audience in a way that would move them by telling them the

history of Los Angeles. #n the chapters of Los Angeles 'la"a )strada separated them into the

oppressions of different parts on Los Angeles and different times. y having chapter to separate

the information )strada is making it easier to identify what the audience wants to read and find

out. 6nlike in the $ol%ick article! )strada is making his novel easy to ready by presenting the

information and giving a guide to where the certain information that you! the audience! wants to

know. . +he story of the Los Angeles 'la"a in told in chronological order. +he reason for doing

so is because it allows )strada tell the history of Los Angeles in the order of which it happened.

y making his story in chronological order he is also making it easier for he audience to follow

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along. #f one were to bet lost within the readings then they would know that the beginning of the

history is in the beginning of the novel and the most recent history is toward the end of the book.

(o this makes it easy to follow and understand the reading. #t would not make sense to tell the

audience about the history of Los Angeles out of order. #f )strada were to do so then the

audience would easily become confused and the historic strategy of telling the history of Los

Angeles would no longer be effective. y having the facts about history told in chronological

order it allows the audience to follow along and actually feel as if they are living in the time!

which makes it an effective strategy. +o be able to *feel- as if you are in the time period in which

the author is writing about is powerful because it lets the reader empathi"e with what is

happening in the story. +he reader will able to engage more with the novel because they will be

feeling what the characters feel. +his then makes this a more reliable discipline when speaking

about Los Angeles because it gets the audience to engage and really understand what is going on

and understand the city of Los Angeles as a realistic view not constructive.

Another effective strategy that is used to talk about Los Angeles through a historic

perspective is using parenthesis to e&plain a location that has been renamed because it allows the

reader to know where in current history the specific event occurred. y doing that it makes it

more personal for the audience when reading the novel. . ,or e&ample in )stradas te&t he

e&plains! *real estate development in Los Angeles e&panded southwest toward Central 'ark 7later

renamed 'ershing (8uare9-. )strada used parenthesis after he mentions Central 'ark because

now! in current times! it is no longer name Central 'ark. #t is not renamed 'ershing (8uare. 5e

does this because he is trying to let the reader or the audience imagines what he is talking about.

$hen he says central park he is talking about the past and many people may not know where that

is located which is why he then says later renamed 'ershing (8uare so that the audience can have

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an idea of where e&actly in Los Angeles he is talking about. +oday! Central 'ark does not e&ist!

but 'ershing (8uare does. +herefore people would relate more to the place called *'ershing

(8uare- rather than the place called *Central 'ark-. y )strada making the reading for relatable

to the people who know of places in Los Angeles! it makes the audience feel want to put

themselves into the situation. Many times we hear about things happening in the world! but it

takes a lot more than hearing of an event to get people moving. y relating the history of Los

Angeles to the people who live there in todays history makes people feel as if they could be

effected to it and more connected because it what they know or where they walk through on a

daily bases. +hat is what makes this strategy more effective than %ust giving information that

does not relate to the audience because it allows the reader to have the truth of Los Angeles and

it allows them to decide what they want to do with the information. +hey are not being persuaded

to choose any side they are %ust presented the information of the city of Los Angeles.

Another strategy that )strada uses to convey the history of Los Angeles is by

demonstrating that there are no sides in history. 5e is only providing facts for the audience. #n

one of the chapters he is giving an argument that has two sides which demonstrated how he id

only presenting the argument because he is presenting it from two sides rather than resenting it

from only one side which he could have done. 5e does this when he states! *Me&ican immigrants

in particular reclaimed the landscape slightly north of the 'la"a in (onora town! creating a

uni8uely *Me&ican- sense of place downtown! a Me&ico de afuera Me&ico outside of Me&ico-.

$hen he writes 8uotations around the word Me&ican! he is referring to the Me&ican culture in

the way that the Americans view it. 5e is showing both sides of the culture and not saying that

one is write or that one is writing. 5e is %ust showing the contradictions and the differences

between the two. +his is effective because it does not make the reader feel attacked. y not

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making the writer feel attacked the author is keeping an ob%ective point of view and is only

presenting facts on what happened and not giving his opinion or trying to persuade the audience

to think any certain way. Many times in history there is a *good guy- and a *bad guy-! but

)strada is moving away from that in order to show the bigger picture! which is to inform the

public about what really happened in Los Angeles. +hat is a prime e&ample of how he is trying to

keep an ob%ective point of view because he is giving both sides of an event. 5e is not making an

event only one sided or from only one perspective1 he is giving different perspectives so that the

audience can make up their own mind on their opinion of Los Angeles without the help of any

third party. +herefore history is more effective because it only presents facts and the real Los

Angeles and lets the read decide for them how they are going to view the city of Los Angeles.

Clearly! )strada gives a more valid representation of the City of Los Angeles. )strada is

illustrating the history to inform the public on the truth of Los Angeles rather than what people

want Los Angeles to be. 5e is letting the public make up their on mind and their own

interpretation of the city of Los Angeles. y giving this realistic point of view )strada allows for

the audience to create their own *real- Los Angeles. )veryone has a different perspective and

)strada is allowing the audience to have their own perspective on Los Angeles. $hereas in the

discipline of cinema and media studies your opinion on Los Angeles solely based off that would

be constructive because that discipline does not give the audience the truth! it only shows the

audience bits and pieces of the truth! Clearly the way to speak about Los Angeles is to inform the

audience about the truth of Los Angeles. 5istory is what gives a city character so by e&plaining

Los Angeles throughout history! the audience is getting the character of Los Angeles.

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los angeles wp2 final

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