Inside Miss Los Angeles by Jerry Stahl

           The essay, Inside Miss Los Angeles by Jerry Stahl taken from the book, Another City: Writing From Los Angeles, which is a compilation of short essays and poems written by people from the city.  This essay in particular was very interesting because it addressed the darker unspoken side of Los Angeles being, the prostitutes, plastic surgery, drugs and other sexual affairs.

            This idea of sexaulity is prominent immediately when analyzing the title and play on words. Stahl writes about his faux Farrah Fawcett, Tammi who received a bad plastic surgery job to look like her for  night jobs and details the vulgarity of Los Angeles and the night life that many men take part in. Stahl states how “Los Angeles, [was] built on the horrify reality that reality is so horrifying we need an industry to re-create it” (231) which sends the message to the audience that L.A. is not a place of perfection and the fantasy that many people believe it to be. Aside from pointing out the flaws of the people of the city, he ends the essay by owning up to his lifestyle and accepting the place he calls home.

     However, in the essay I question his need to be very explicit in his word choice. The article was difficult to read for me because of the vulgarity and it made me to not want to look closely at what was being said. I understand that by providing detail it gives the reader a more vivid picture of the overall message but I question the message he is trying to send. Clearly Stahl does not deny the ill behavior of many men of Los Angeles but he embraces it. In the same way he criticizes the overall aura of L.A. and labels it an atmosphere that is undesirable and not a reality yet he constantly feels a desire to connect with it and accept it to be a part of who he is.