Hollywood menace: Los Angeles Mid-Century Modern Dens of Vice

Solomons, Gabriel

Abstract

This paper will discuss the use of Los Angeles Mid-Century Modern homes in context of Hollywood films from the 1950s until the present day, with particular focus on the association these houses have with movie villains.

A wealth of writing and discourse has emerged on this subject since film-maker and University lecturer Thom Andersen highlighted the connection in his 2003 documentary ‘Los Angeles Plays Itself’. Since then writers, designers, musicians and bloggers have either tried to explain this relationship or simply have fun with the notions of drug dealers, pimps and other ‘undesirables’ occupying modernist homes that were often designed with higher ideals in mind.

The essay will attempt to tie together the various strands of written material on the subject while discussing a range of filmic examples to illustrate key points. I will discuss the ways in which German Expressionism played a crucial role in formulating ideas that would filter through into both Modernist architecture and Film-Noir, and how these two ‘artforms’ were drawn together by film-makers to create villainous dens of vice.

Houses designed by John Lautner, Richard Neutra, Frank Lloyd-Wright and Brent Saville will be discussed as will their architectural philosophies, many of which are often inverted when their creations are cast as homes to movie villains.

The conclusion will show how there has been a shift in perception by Hollywood of late and a reappraisal of modernism as a whole, resulting in a more sympathetic role played by these homes recent films.

Citation

Solomons, G. (2016). Hollywood menace: Los Angeles Mid-Century Modern Dens of Vice. In E. Clift, M. Guaralda, & A. Mattes (Eds.), Filming the City - Urban Documents, Design Practices And Social Criticism Through The Lens (97-110). Intellect Books

• Publication Date: May 31, 2016
• Deposit Date: Jan 9, 2019
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 9, 2019
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Pages: 97-110
• Series Title: Mediated Cities
• Book Title: Filming the City - Urban Documents, Design Practices And Social Criticism Through The Lens
• ISBN: 9781783205547
• Keywords: film, architecture, Hollywood, representation, crime, German expressionism, Film Noir, Mid-Century Modern, Richard Neutral's, John Lautner, design
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/1433890
• Publisher URL: https://www.intellectbooks.co.uk/books/view-Book,id=5178/