The novel "Day of the Locust" and the Hollywood dream dump

Picture from "Singing in the Rain" - a film that indulges in Hollywood's art of artifice


From Day of the Locust:


"In the center of the field was a gigantic pile of sets, flats and props. While he watched, a ten-ton truck added another load to it. This was the final dumping
ground. He thought of Janvier's "Sargasso Sea." Just as that imaginary
body of water was a history of civilization in the form of a marine
junkyard, the studio lot was one in the form of a dream dump. A Sargasso
of the imagination! And the dump grew continually, for there wasn't a
dream afloat somewhere which wouldn't sooner or later turn up on it,
having first been made photographic by plaster, canvas, lath and paint.
Many boats sink and never reach the Sargasso, but no dream ever entirely
disappears. Somewhere it troubles some unfortunate person and some day,
when that person has been sufficiently troubled, it will be reproduced on
the lot."



"But not even the soft wash of dusk could help the houses. Only dynamite
would be of any use against the Mexican ranch houses, Samoan huts,
Mediterranean villas, Egyptian and Japanese temples, Swiss chalets, Tudor
cottages, and every possible combination of these styles that lined the
slopes of the canyon.

When he noticed that they were all of plaster, lath and paper, he was
charitable and blamed their shape on the materials used. Steel, stone and
brick curb a builder's fancy a little, forcing him to distribute his
stresses and weights and to keep his corners plumb, but plaster and paper
know no law, not even that of gravity."


Hollywood is a hub for parallel worlds. Movies can take you to any time, to any place without being there. Movies also depict places that actors aren't actually present in. Blue screens and painted dropbacks (from the time of author West) can be the showcase of your dreams.

Moreover, the actual neighborhood or landscape of Hollywood also provides residents the possibility to live in any kind of house-- a palace, a tudor home, or even in the style of a buddhist temple. People can live and indulge in their fantasies- the artifice in the studio migrates to (an artifice of) the home.


Read the novel here for free: http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks06/0609041.txt


Singing in the Rain scene: