What I found most interesting about Murakami’s writing so far was South Bay Strut. While I know his writing drew heavily from hard-boiled literature popularized by Chandler, and generally speaking, the story was meant to create a fantastical description of a fictional space in Southern California to some degree, I wanted to point out that the South Bay is actually a real area in California. South Bay is a region that is made up by smaller cities outside of LA, but some are part of LA county; these cities include Carson, El Segundo, Gardena, Hawthorne, Hermosa Beach, Inglewood, Lawndale, Lomita, Los Angeles, Manhattan Beach, Palos Verdes Estates, Rancho Palos Verdes, Redondo Beach, and Rolling Hills. The reason I want to point this out is that, in reading South Bay Strut, Murakami managed to describe this region of Southern California rather accurately. He was able to contextualize the culture of this region, which you can see if you are ever in that region, especially with how he described it as a place where kids can’t remain eternally young, and it isn’t a place where you see movie-star mansions. I was wondering if he had ever actually visited the region or if he somehow knew about the nefarious reputation of that region of California. For added context, Pulp Fiction's Jules and Vincent are both from the South Bay, and the entire movie takes place in areas considered part of the South Bay region.
-Pilar Diaz
No comments:
Post a Comment