Three contemporary films set in Las Vegas, “The Hangover,” “Leaving Las Vegas,” and “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,” can offer a fairly good idea of the kinds of films being made about the city these days. They offer a glimpse into the worlds that are here, and also reflect the extraordinary imaginations of the filmmakers. Seen in another light, they also speak of a cultural history in the U.S. in general. Las Vegas has always served as a kind of litmus test for the rest of the country when it comes to film, because of the unusual things that films can reveal that are not possible in other art forms.

It also has a lot to do with how the city is perceived in the rest of the world, and what it stands for in the imagination. Since the film industry got off the ground in the 20th century, Las Vegas has been a primary setting for movies, and there are literally hundreds of movies about Las Vegas in the past hundred years. Recent popularity of the above-mentioned films also suggests that this isn’t something that’s on the decline. Las Vegas stands, then, as a kind of archetype that continues to haunt the imagination, and the archetype tells as much about the imaginations of the people as it does about the city itself.

It’s often the case in Las Vegas movies that the hotel plays a big role in the content of the film. Hotels aren’t simply locations where the characters happen to be staying, but often play a significant role themselves, and this gives them a certain metaphorical weight. The luxurious hotel in a movie speaks to the fortunes of the characters, and also tells the audience that they are in the city inhabiting another space. Being in a new space, for any character in literature, usually means that the story is an adventure, where they are stepping out of themselves in order to let their real essence come through.

The dislocation of people in time and space is an old literary device, putting them in a kind of crucible, where they will be tested. In some of the movies, the test is one where sudden good fortune becomes a means of bringing out the darker sides of human nature. In others, the location becomes something of a last chance, to discover something that was lost or fading away, and the movie then become about the characters struggling with what was left behind, in order to change and become the next thing. Much like the city itself, always in flux, and always on the way to something else.

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