How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
Just as that imaginary body of water was a history of civilization in the form of marine junkyard, the studio lot was one in the form of a dream dump. (18.12)
That's some highfalutin' talk, but we think we understand what Tod is getting at. No one expects to see a realistic historical account in a Hollywood movie—there are way too few explosions in real life. Because of this, historical films are less about our actual past than our conception ofor dreams about the past.
Quote #8
"I'm a raw-foodist, myself," she said. "Dr. Pierce is our leader. You must have seen his ads–'Know-All Pierce-All.'" (19.76)
Of course, it wouldn't be California without some good old-fashioned hippie wackadoodles. (Okay, there weren't actually any hippies around at this point, but whatever.) To Tod, this is more evidence of the emptiness of modern American life. After all, how bad must things have become for people to buy so readily into the false promises of snake-oil salesmen?
Quote #9
The message he had brought to the city was one that an illiterate anchorite might have given decadent Rome. It was a crazy jumble of dietary rules, economics, and Biblical threats. (19.123)
Here's another example of the weird nonsense Hollywood-ians flock to like bees to honey. As Tod mentions, however, the ridiculousness of this message isn't as important as the fact that the entire audience buys into it hook, line, and sinker. There will always be crazy people out there, but you know things are bad when the crazy people are the leaders.