I love your last paragraph -- it's emblematic of the very optimism you're writing about, and an optimism that I feel will be so essential in the coming years as we try to address increasingly dire problems!
For me, LA always represented the prospect of self-reinvention, the belief that it was possible to transcend the exhausting limits of the body and society and emerge like a phoenix, moisturized, unbothered, and flourishing. A place where the daunting metaphysics of late capitalism were suspended in time, and gridlocked traffic was somehow compatible with enlightened living and Pilates-toned figures, where choices were not sacrifices but manifestations of opportunity. The dystopian turn that has engulfed LA this year challenges those assumptions, but also inspires a deeper love for LA as a place in which the juxtaposition of violence and destruction against natural beauty and a culture of tolerance gives rise to a mental halt - a sense that “this should not happen here, and thus should not happen at all.” Hopefully LA will arise Phoenix-like from the ashes of broken systems and emerge as a beacon of what it is still possible to dream, of the reinventions of self and society not yet foreclosed.
LA as reinvention! That's exactly how I perceived the city growing up, and why it was so inspiring to me as a young person "inventing" herself to begin with. The destruction and subsequent community organizing that the city has faced this year challenges, but also facilitates that metaphor of rebirth.
I love your last paragraph -- it's emblematic of the very optimism you're writing about, and an optimism that I feel will be so essential in the coming years as we try to address increasingly dire problems!
This movie is going on my to-watch list immediately. (Aww the owl necklaces and peterpan collars brought back memories! )
Enjoyed reading this! Ingrid Goes West is such a great movie. It's like an Ellie Goulding song captured in film form.
Thank you!! And omg that’s the perfect description
For me, LA always represented the prospect of self-reinvention, the belief that it was possible to transcend the exhausting limits of the body and society and emerge like a phoenix, moisturized, unbothered, and flourishing. A place where the daunting metaphysics of late capitalism were suspended in time, and gridlocked traffic was somehow compatible with enlightened living and Pilates-toned figures, where choices were not sacrifices but manifestations of opportunity. The dystopian turn that has engulfed LA this year challenges those assumptions, but also inspires a deeper love for LA as a place in which the juxtaposition of violence and destruction against natural beauty and a culture of tolerance gives rise to a mental halt - a sense that “this should not happen here, and thus should not happen at all.” Hopefully LA will arise Phoenix-like from the ashes of broken systems and emerge as a beacon of what it is still possible to dream, of the reinventions of self and society not yet foreclosed.
LA as reinvention! That's exactly how I perceived the city growing up, and why it was so inspiring to me as a young person "inventing" herself to begin with. The destruction and subsequent community organizing that the city has faced this year challenges, but also facilitates that metaphor of rebirth.
Thank you for this beautiful essay
Thank you for reading :)