Hollywood

Hollywood as a location exists in the "The White Album" in a number of essays; most predominantly in the essay 'On Hollywood' but also in a number of other essays as a place that occupies the American imagination.

Hollywood is presented as a bizarre place, a subculture which has its own conventions, rules and cultural conditions. During her time staying there working on a film script, Didion also takes the opportunity to study the neighborhood town of Hollywood and finds it strange in comparison to most of the rest of 'Middle America.' As a fantastical location, Hollywood also emerges as a place inside the American (and the world's imagination) as a place where the American Dream can most become manifest; where dreams can come true and ones' inner talent can reward oneself with Celebrity. What Didion actually finds is that these neighborhood of the imagination is...