Angels and Joan Didion

Of all the major cities in the United States, Los Angeles is, arguably, one the strangest. Resting near the southwestern edge of the United States, the city has not only determined itself to be the final resting place of many major interstates and highways, but has also awakened itself to the role of “dream-maker”, producing the majority of popular films now embraced by the modern world. It sets the tone for the rest of the nation, with regard to fashion, the cultural norm, the socially acceptable, and provides the endless gossip and myth of its own movie icons. One day in Los Angeles crisply exposes the visitor to a concept of “aesthetic quality without real substance”. Entertainment can be derived from eavesdropping upon conversations about current makeover trends, lavish retreats, or the scoop on “who’s sleeping with whom”. Joan Didion’s 1970 novel, Play It as It Lays, offers similar imagery through the visions of Maria Wyeth, a thirty-one year old woman whose exposu...