Los Angeles is among the largest cities in the United States, population-vise and territory-vise. The shiny streets of this metropolis are considered to be the prototype for futuristic downtowns. The glamour, which surrounds LA is almost world-famous: Hollywood, Beverly Hills, legendary Los Angeles beaches. The megapolis claims to be California’s lost paradise, the city of diversity and tolerance, the capital of international business, the metropolis of luxury. This is the text written almost in every guidebook in Los Angeles. However, these guidebooks and commercial texts deliberately make LA look like paradise. “Journey Beyond the Stars” written by Deepak Narang Sawhney, presents Los Angeles as a capital of paradox, the reasons for which will be reviewed in this essay.
The paradox of the city can be observed throughout the essay. For example, the author describes it as the capital of the First World with all the fancy and luxurious buildings, endless possibilities, movie stars, Hollywood, and Beverly Hills. At the same time, the author calls it the metropolis of the Third World with all the poverty, homeless people, and immigrants, who struggle every single day to survive in the city that wants to conquer them. All the chapters demonstrate the real situation in the city instead of the perfect image everyone tries to build around LA. Los Angeles is rather multicultural, but at the same time, it illustrates social inequality. Deepak Narang Sawhney does not give the polished image that had been constructed over the city throughout the years; instead, he exhibits the peculiar mixture of wealth and poverty fused.
The majority of people worldwide cannot see this city as the author of “Journey Beyond Stars” saw it. The perfect appearance of Los Angeles was commenced by mass media, journalists, business agents, and Hollywood movies (which initially make some naïve souls move here permanently only to be disappointed in the fake image of the city). Some think that LA is the greatest place to achieve the American Dream, but instead, the city appears as a cloak of criminal scum and poverty. According to the author, this is the place where the American Dream is experienced and lost, which is a poetic way to describe one’s disappointment in the ‘luxurious’ city of stars.
If taking Westside LA as an example, it is portrayed as an ideal coastline territory of calmness with beaches and popular people. However, this place is also populated by gang members, who are estimated to make the majority of assaults on that particular territory (Pulido et al). Nevertheless, the movies, such as The Wonder Woman, portray this territory as the safest and the most attractive place on the planet. This is how utopia and dystopia are fused in the beautiful city of Los Angeles.
Los Angeles is shown as a utopia where the American Dream is attainable, but not for everyone. The majority who come here usually end up on the luxurious streets, begging for the mercy of God and the luckier individuals (Deepak). The American Dream is unachievable; it opens the eyes of naïve people to the dystopia that surrounds them. Many persons were driven to LA dreaming to obtain the American Dream, including the immigrants who suffered through discrimination and lots of documentation processes only to be thrown out on the street’s mercy.
Los Angeles is the most global city in the world; it is majorly commercialized to look pretty and cover its somewhat grotesque soul. The metropolis is not as rich as the media portrays; it is just good at selling its lying face to everyone that dares to believe. LA has been trying to cover the crime rates inside their city similar to a pretty lady trying to cover the imperfections on her face with lots of foundation. If one were to ask whether they imagine a set of crime statistics in LA, they would not answer because the city hides the information about the borders of neighborhoods.
Any American city usually publishes the names and boundaries for their neighborhoods, but not Los Angeles. People can see how high or low the crime rate is in their neighborhood, but the same cannot go for LA (Deepak). They are secretive and elusive, covering everything to preserve the perfect image of the city. No one knows where each neighborhood in LA exists and how long it is. The author explains the process of naming the streets, the city, and the endless procedures of renaming the districts. He also notes that these changes have been implemented because the real estate agencies, aimed to improve their business model. He also mentioned how ‘Little Bangladesh’ near the Korean town was controversial to some residents.
The author also writes about the politicians, who renamed streets without a problem after their loved ones, contrasting to the regular people, who had to collect thousands of signatures to change a single word in their street. His essay explains how the names of these neighborhoods are an important part of identification for each citizen of LA, although there are no distinct boundaries between them. Some residents prefer to be associated with a specific neighborhood for the reason of status; they lie about their birthplace only to be considered ‘better’ than others (Deepak). This is a true face of Los Angeles – people deliberately disinform to appeal to the rest. Individuals deceiving others are similar to the city trying to appear better than it is by hiding the truth.
‘Journey Beyond Stars’ reveals the traces of the Third World behind an impeccable image of the First World capital. It examines the social, cultural, and other aspects of the city and the reason why it appears so perfect in commercials. It demonstrates the paradoxes of the city, which are even more real than the face of Hollywood. The essay showcases how behind the place, where every day a new star is born, there is an extreme increase in homelessness and poverty, especially at the times of the worldwide crisis.
To conclude, Los Angeles a tale of disharmony, the attempted extermination of their poorer citizens, and a territory of an endless conquest. White people appear to be the masters of that city, deliberately throwing everyone else out of the picture. Immigrants are typically at the lowest in Los Angeles, which is unfortunate and sometimes unfair. At the same time, LA is a multicultural capital of luxury, the center of former slave-owners, the municipality of refugees and migrants, the city of stars, the port of homeless and drug addicts, and all kinds of Americans. Foreigners idealize Los Angeles, but it is not as pretty as it appears to be. It is similar to the poisonous frog: cute at the first sign but deadly to those who have no idea how to exist near it. Los Angeles is progressive and tolerant, but it is also full of prejudice and hate. The city is highly controversial, which is the main problem commercial representations leave out.
Work Cited
Deepak, Narang-Sawhney. “Journey Beyond the Stars”. Unmasking L.A.: Third Worlds and the City, 2002, pp. 1-20.
Pulido, Laura, et al. “An Introduction to the Westside.” A People’s Guide to Los Angeles, 2004, pp. 194–217.