Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Police Brutality, Corruption, and Systemic Racism
Healing, Progress, and Collective Consciousness
Justice, Perspective, and Ambiguity
Individuals vs. Institutions
Action vs. Symbolic Gesture
Summary
Analysis
Smith interviews Betye Saar, an artist, who lives in Laurel Canyon. Saar describes the space between night and day that the sky inhabited as she and her companion, Tony, made plans for dinner. The unrest had already begun, and Tony, who was very political, predicted “trouble.” Saar and Tony made their way toward West Hollywood but had trouble getting through the streets because of all the people. The area was mostly populated by the gay and lesbian community, and there were many gay men in the streets protesting the not-guilty verdict. Saar shifts her focus back to the sky, reaffirming its “surreal” quality. To her, twilight is a “sort of limbo time […] because it’s in transition.” It’s magical, though magic isn’t necessarily a positive thing, since “evil / and control” are forms of magic, too.
Saar’s observations expand on those Bhabha made in the previous scene. Saar, too, sees LA as existing in a state of limbo following the riots. However, while Bhabha saw hope and possibility amidst the uncertainty, Saar seems to adopt a more negative or ominous view of the situation. She associates twilight’s ambiguity with magic, “evil / and control.” Saar seems to suggest that LA has emerged from the crisis too helpless and vulnerable to undertake the task of rethinking and rebuilding its social infrastructure. She seems to suggest that it’s more likely that the city will respond to the riots with fear and enhanced surveillance, not a fresh start and hope for the future.
Themes
