Media Metaphors and Conspiracies

Orpha 2022-04-21 09:01:03

As a Hollywood type film, "L.A. Confidential" includes the passionate performances of many stars, a fascinating storyline and a happy ending. At first glance, the film revolves around a more complex shooting case involving the intricate relationships between officers within the police department, underworld organizations and other parts of the government. The story takes place in Los Angeles, known as the "Dream Factory". The glittering starlight of this city hides its true colors, which is the reality and cruelty equal to survival. A line of dialogue in the film is quite impressive: "This is the city of angels, but you have no wings." The film uses the plot frame of a murder case to tell us the establishment of the bourgeois social order in a deconstructed way. , How to build the public image of the government department (in this film, the police station) by the newspapers and magazines.

The film sharply criticized the media's way of entertaining the public and subverting the way of thinking of the public's perception of the world. The so-called truth of the matter is the truth obtained by the public through the media, not the original appearance of the matter. All of this is built into the American political system. The establishment of the public image does not depend on the subject itself, but on how the media informs the public.

The characters inside the police station are set with flesh and blood. Good and evil, real heroes and fake villains. Various characters appear in it. The collision between individual heroism and traditional social values, and the collision of different values, which is right and wrong? It seems hard to tell. Different roles represent different personal ideals and demands. Can the police (government) be equated with justice? Are you on the side of justice?

At the end of the story, the incarnation of justice has two choices: one chooses to stay in the system and continue to work. Another chose a different life, it's about love and freedom

Originally published on Time Network, October 2011

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Extended Reading

L.A. Confidential quotes

  • Johnny Stompanato: You want an autograph? Write to MGM.

    Ed Exley: Since when do two-bit hoods and hookers give out autographs?

    Johnny Stompanato: What'd you say to me?

    Ed Exley: LAPD. Sit down.

    Lana Turner: Who in the hell do you think you are?

    Jack Vincennes: Ed...

    Ed Exley: Take a walk, honey, before I haul your ass downtown.

    Johnny Stompanato: You are making a large mistake.

    Lana Turner: Get away from our table!

    Ed Exley: Shut up! A hooker cut to look like Lana Turner is still a hooker.

    Johnny Stompanato: Hey!

    Ed Exley: She just looks like Lana Turner.

    Jack Vincennes: She *is* Lana Turner.

    Ed Exley: [stunned] What?

    Jack Vincennes: She *is* Lana Turner.

    [Lana throws a drink in Ed's face]

  • Bud White: Well, Captain, what do you want?

    Captain Dudley Smith: Call me Dudley.

    Bud White: Dudley... what do you want?