Crash

by Benji Raymond

"It's the sense of touch. I think we miss that touch so much that we crash into each other so we can feel something. Any real cities you walk, you know, you brush past people, people bump into you. In Los Angeles nobody touches you. We're always behind this metal and glass," Crash (2005)

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During my recent travels in L.A I came across a girl at a college bar and for those of you who know me, you would no doubt have heard me talk about the beauty of her sadness. Nevertheless, while I would be the first to admit that a night or two doesn't decide your love for someone, that night left an embedded imprint on my mind. I was curious as to why this girl did not let go of some sort of hurt she had experienced in the past. Eventually I decided to ask her if she had been hurt by a guy and she shot back, 'This is L.A' and presented me with a cold look that left my personal questions to a bare minimum.

Why is it that L.A has become synonymous with superficiality? Perhaps this notion is based on the parallels drawn between L.A. and Hollywood's apparent craving for box office earnings. The hunger of raising money, critics assume, is achieved through any means, even at the cost of hollywoodization. Either way, L.A. is home to many distinguished celebrities, yet also home to intense poverty. Despite this I still remain certain that superficiality exists within both these worlds.

We continuously crave depth in our lives and are so hungry for some sort of meaning that we tend to seek self understanding in alternative locations to the ones in which we currently exist. Yet the simple truth remains that superficiality exists in almost all our lives, no matter where we live. L.A. has merely been branded as the capital of superficiality and remains a solid symbolic reference to 'metal and glass', a world which is laced with misunderstanding, miscommunication and loneliness.

A Long December