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Los Angeles: Realistic vs. Constructive?

Los Angeles is a beautiful city that many people know and love. Many people who do not
live in Los Angeles love it because they only know the surface of it. Los Angeles is known to be
a place where peoples dreams come true. Los Angeles is portrayed in two different ways, which
are constructive views and realistic views. Constructive views come from the cinema and media
studies discipline because they emphasize what parts of the city will work with the certain type
of film that they will be making. In the realistic view, a more historical approach is used. When
speaking of history, a realistic view is used because history does not lie. In history it just explains
what happened without giving a personal opinion. In the novel, Los Angles Plaza: Sacred and
Contested Space, by William Estrada he explains the history of Los Angeles in the sense that he
gives a voice to the people who were not shown to the public. William Estrada writes the
historical view as a way to present facts to the audience and to give a voice for those who were
overshadowed throughout history. Another form that the city is viewed is from Cinema and
media studies, which characterizes certain parts of the city to emphasize the setting in a
particular film. In the article, The City in Film by Pamela Wojcik, she explains how certain
parts of the city are used as backdrops for different types of genres of films. Both William
Estrada and Denise McKenna both characterize the city of Los Angeles from different angles,
McKennas film and media analysis focuses more on the constructed view of Los Angeles, where
Estradas historical analysis describes a more realistic view of Los Angeles which is more
effective because it gives a more realistic view and lets the audience know about the real Los
Angeles.
The cinema and media studies discipline manipulated the city of Los Angeles in the sense
that it only lets the audience see what the director wants them to see which does not let the

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audience see the full truth behind the city. Woljcik explains in her article, The rise of cinema
followed on the heels of urbanization and industrialization, and early cinema production and
exhibition was largely urban. Moreover, the city has proved to be a rich and diverse cinematic
setting and subject. by saying this she is explaining how the producers of movies only use
certain parts of the city to enhance their film. So when she states, the city has proved to be a
rich and diverse cinematic setting she is explaining that the producers know that there are good
sides of Los Angeles and there are bad sides of Los Angeles but it is up to the producer when it
comes to how much of that that they want to show and how they want to show it. Therefore, it is
constructed. The viewer or the reader is not getting the whole story. So the audience does not
know what the real Los Angeles is; they are only getting a constructed view of the city.
In particular, the audience that is connected to the cinema and media studies discipline
are people who are interested in knowing about the subject of who have prior knowledge.
Because these articles are hard to read, the audience must know what many of the terms mean
prior to reading the article. If someone does not have prior knowledge in this discipline is going
to make it very hard for people to understand what is being said.
Cinema and media studies articles use a lot of jargon throughout their articles. That is,
they use a lot of language that only people who are familiar with that subject would understand.
This makes the article hard to read for someone who does not have any background in cinema
and media studies. For example in the article Woljick lists different types of films such as,
Gangster films, German Expressionism, and Film Noir someone who is not familiar with
cinema and media studies would not know these different types of genres within the film genre.
For example, film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime
cinemas, particularly such that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. When

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Woljick says film noir that would confuse the public because they would not know what the
author is saying. I only know what that means because I have prior knowledge of the subject
being taken a course of cinema, the audience would not know what film noir is. Therefore in
order to really understand and grasp what this article is saying one would have to be
knowledgeable in the area of cinema and media studies. This then makes it hard to explain the
city of Los Angeles in this sense because the audience, who is just the public, would not be able
to grasp the ideas that they are trying to portray. Therefore this discipline does not appeal the
public as a whole; it inly appeals a certain group of people, which would be those who are
interested in cinema and media studies. Being that the article is hard to read it does not make it
reliable when explaining what Los Angeles is therefore it is not as credible as from the
perspective of history.
The history discipline clearly describes the city of Los Angeles because it gives a more
realistic view by only presenting facts about the city. Estrada, the author of Los Angeles Plaza,
uses a tactic in his book by separating the information into chapters, acknowledgements, and an
introduction to be able to affect the audience in a way that would move them by telling them the
history of Los Angeles. In the chapters of Los Angeles Plaza Estrada separated them into the
oppressions of different parts on Los Angeles and different times. By having chapter to separate
the information Estrada is making it easier to identify what the audience wants to read and find
out. Unlike in the Woljick article, Estrada is making his novel easy to ready by presenting the
information and giving a guide to where the certain information that you, the audience, wants to
know. . The story of the Los Angeles Plaza in told in chronological order. The reason for doing
so is because it allows Estrada tell the history of Los Angeles in the order of which it happened.
By making his story in chronological order he is also making it easier for he audience to follow

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along. If one were to bet lost within the readings then they would know that the beginning of the
history is in the beginning of the novel and the most recent history is toward the end of the book.
So this makes it easy to follow and understand the reading. It would not make sense to tell the
audience about the history of Los Angeles out of order. If Estrada were to do so then the
audience would easily become confused and the historic strategy of telling the history of Los
Angeles would no longer be effective. By having the facts about history told in chronological
order it allows the audience to follow along and actually feel as if they are living in the time,
which makes it an effective strategy. To be able to feel as if you are in the time period in which
the author is writing about is powerful because it lets the reader empathize with what is
happening in the story. The reader will able to engage more with the novel because they will be
feeling what the characters feel. This then makes this a more reliable discipline when speaking
about Los Angeles because it gets the audience to engage and really understand what is going on
and understand the city of Los Angeles as a realistic view not constructive.
Another effective strategy that is used to talk about Los Angeles through a historic
perspective is using parenthesis to explain a location that has been renamed because it allows the
reader to know where in current history the specific event occurred. By doing that it makes it
more personal for the audience when reading the novel. . For example in Estradas text he
explains, real estate development in Los Angeles expanded southwest toward Central Park (later
renamed Pershing Square). Estrada used parenthesis after he mentions Central Park because
now, in current times, it is no longer name Central Park. It is not renamed Pershing Square. He
does this because he is trying to let the reader or the audience imagines what he is talking about.
When he says central park he is talking about the past and many people may not know where that
is located which is why he then says later renamed Pershing Square so that the audience can have

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an idea of where exactly in Los Angeles he is talking about. Today, Central Park does not exist,
but Pershing Square does. Therefore people would relate more to the place called Pershing
Square rather than the place called Central Park. By Estrada making the reading for relatable
to the people who know of places in Los Angeles, it makes the audience feel want to put
themselves into the situation. Many times we hear about things happening in the world, but it
takes a lot more than hearing of an event to get people moving. By relating the history of Los
Angeles to the people who live there in todays history makes people feel as if they could be
effected to it and more connected because it what they know or where they walk through on a
daily bases. That is what makes this strategy more effective than just giving information that
does not relate to the audience because it allows the reader to have the truth of Los Angeles and
it allows them to decide what they want to do with the information. They are not being persuaded
to choose any side they are just presented the information of the city of Los Angeles.
Another strategy that Estrada uses to convey the history of Los Angeles is by
demonstrating that there are no sides in history. He is only providing facts for the audience. In
one of the chapters he is giving an argument that has two sides which demonstrated how he id
only presenting the argument because he is presenting it from two sides rather than resenting it
from only one side which he could have done. He does this when he states, Mexican immigrants
in particular reclaimed the landscape slightly north of the Plaza in Sonora town, creating a
uniquely Mexican sense of place downtown, a Mexico de afuera- Mexico outside of Mexico.
When he writes quotations around the word Mexican, he is referring to the Mexican culture in
the way that the Americans view it. He is showing both sides of the culture and not saying that
one is write or that one is writing. He is just showing the contradictions and the differences
between the two. This is effective because it does not make the reader feel attacked. By not

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making the writer feel attacked the author is keeping an objective point of view and is only
presenting facts on what happened and not giving his opinion or trying to persuade the audience
to think any certain way. Many times in history there is a good guy and a bad guy, but
Estrada is moving away from that in order to show the bigger picture, which is to inform the
public about what really happened in Los Angeles. That is a prime example of how he is trying to
keep an objective point of view because he is giving both sides of an event. He is not making an
event only one sided or from only one perspective; he is giving different perspectives so that the
audience can make up their own mind on their opinion of Los Angeles without the help of any
third party. Therefore history is more effective because it only presents facts and the real Los
Angeles and lets the read decide for them how they are going to view the city of Los Angeles.
Clearly, Estrada gives a more valid representation of the City of Los Angeles. Estrada is
illustrating the history to inform the public on the truth of Los Angeles rather than what people
want Los Angeles to be. He is letting the public make up their on mind and their own
interpretation of the city of Los Angeles. By giving this realistic point of view Estrada allows for
the audience to create their own real Los Angeles. Everyone has a different perspective and
Estrada is allowing the audience to have their own perspective on Los Angeles. Whereas in the
discipline of cinema and media studies your opinion on Los Angeles solely based off that would
be constructive because that discipline does not give the audience the truth, it only shows the
audience bits and pieces of the truth, Clearly the way to speak about Los Angeles is to inform the
audience about the truth of Los Angeles. History is what gives a city character so by explaining
Los Angeles throughout history, the audience is getting the character of Los Angeles.