La La Land

2. What do Mia and Sebastian want from their lives in LA? What drives each of them to pursue their respective dreams? What does LA represent to them, and how do they experience the cit

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An important theme in the film is the interconnection and larger patterns that shape life. Even though Mia and Sebastian are individuals with their own particular dreams, love, hopes and fears, there are greater patterns at work, and their lives are just two of many.

The film begins with a traffic jam, and Mia finds herself in a similar traffic jam at the end of the film. Despite the journey we've been on with Mia and Sebastian by the end of the film, L.A. is unchanged - there are still people chasing their dreams and trying to get where they're going on the freeway. Life moves on and repeats its patterns; it's just the individuals that change. Of course we also see Mia at the start of the film as a barista in a coffee shop—the same one she goes into at the end, as a customer. And presumably some day the barista who serves her will one day move on and be replaced too.

It is also thus significant that Mia and Sebastian retrace the steps of the actors in Rebel Without a Cause. It is their particular romance that we are watching, but their paths have been trodden before, and—it is suggested—will be trodden again.

The structure of the film also reflects this circularity. We start with winter and roll all the way back to winter again. Whatever is going on for Sebastian and Mia, the seasons are constant and keep moving, whatever the weather.