<P> Rather than trying to match L.A. to the charms of Paris or San Francisco, he focused on the qualities that make the city distinctive: the traffic, the sprawl, and the skylines . The style and tone of the film were inspired by Jacques Demy's The Umbrellas of Cherbourg and The Young Girls of Rochefort, especially the latter, which was more dance and jazz - oriented . The film also makes visual allusions to Hollywood classics such as Broadway Melody of 1940, Singin' in the Rain, The Band Wagon and An American in Paris . About An American in Paris, Chazelle commented: "That's a movie that we just pillaged . It's an awesome example of how daring some of those old musicals really were ." It shares some character development and themes with Chazelle's previous musical work, Whiplash; Chazelle said: </P> <Dl> <Dd> "They're both about the struggle of being an artist and reconciling your dreams with the need to be human . La La Land is just much less angry about it ." </Dd> </Dl> <Dd> "They're both about the struggle of being an artist and reconciling your dreams with the need to be human . La La Land is just much less angry about it ." </Dd> <P> He said that both films reflect his own experiences as a filmmaker working his way up the Hollywood ladder . La La Land in particular is inspired by his experience of moving from the East Coast with preconceived notions of what L.A. would be like, "that it was all just strip malls and freeways ." </P>

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