Rostam Criticizes La La Land’s Problematic Narrative, Lack of Queer Characters

Rostam Criticizes La La Land’s Problematic Narrative, Lack of Queer Characters

Rostam has taken to Twitter to express his misgivings with the recent film La La Land, the musical starring Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone set in Los Angeles that also features a cameo from John Legend. In the film, Legend plays Keith, an old schoolmate of Gosling’s jazz pianist character, Sebastian. Sebastian joins Keith’s band and is disappointed when he discovers that Keith has abandoned his jazz roots for a more pop-oriented sound. “The people of color written into the script were not really important to the story,” Rostam wrote. “John Legend gave a great performance but his character was what? A sellout? Who made uncool pop music?” He continued, “Black people invented jazz but now we need a white man to come save/preserve it? Sorry, this narrative doesn’t work for me in 2016.”

In another tweet, he criticized the lack of queer characters in the film, saying, “La La Land didn’t have a single gay person in it #NotMyLosAngeles.” Find all the tweets below.

La La Land didn’t have a single gay person in it #notmylosangeles

— Rostam Batmanglij (@matsoR) December 21, 2016

furthermore the people of color written into the script were not really important to the story, john legend gave a great performance but …

— Rostam Batmanglij (@matsoR) December 21, 2016

…his character was what? a sellout? who made uncool pop music?

— Rostam Batmanglij (@matsoR) December 21, 2016

black people invented jazz but now we need a white man to come save/preserve it? sorry this narrative doesn’t work for me in 2016

— Rostam Batmanglij (@matsoR) December 21, 2016

Watch Hamilton Leithauser + Rostam perform “1959” on Pitchfork.tv:

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