Licorice Pizza: What The title Meaning and Where Does It Come From Here What Is The Real Means of Title
In Paul Thomas Anderson's original plans, the film was supposed to be titled Soggy Bottom, but then the director chose to change the title, tying it to a memory from his adolescence.
The peculiar title of Paul Thomas Anderson’s film Licorice Pizza is not understandable to most, even after having seen the film. You must have been in 1970s California to understand the reference that the director tries to evoke but which is neither shown nor explained in the film. In fact, Licorice Pizza was a chain of record shops that met with great popularity in and around Long Beach in the years in which the film is set. In the 2 hours and 13 minutes of the film, however, he is never mentioned or appears in the background of the adventures of the two protagonists Gary Alana, unlike many Californian places famous all over the world and other symbols of the Valley of the time.
Initially the film, which does not tell an autobiographical story but is rather a collage of the director’s friends and acquaintances experiences related to that moment and those places where he spent his adolescence, had to have a different title: Soggy Bottom . In the film this is the name that the protagonist Gary gives to his fledgling business of selling waterbeds. As his friend and partner Alana points out, it’s not an inviting name. In fact, in English soggy means soaked, soaked, while bottom can refer to the lower back: therefore the association with the dirty diapers of newborns is immediate. In the film the business is soon renamed Fat Bernie.
What Does Licorice Pizza Mean
Anderson was also not entirely convinced of the title of the film and said he had been thinking about it for months, looking for a viable alternative. In the end he thought that, while having no direct connection to the plot of the film and being obscure to many, Licorice Pizza was an intriguing and eye-catching combination of words, but most of all:
“Those two words placed side by side literally make me salivate, they are a combination that reminds me of my childhood like perhaps no other”
The title of the film literally means “licorice pizza“, but it is not a reference to some gastronomic gamble. Among the music lovers of a few decades ago, the term was part of the slang of vinyl enthusiasts and referred to this support for the enjoyment of music. In fact, the vinyl record has the shape and size of a pizza and is made of vinyl, a material which, due to its brightness and intense black color, is reminiscent of processed licorice.
Licorice Pizza Was A California Record Store Chain
When James Greenwood founded his record shop in 1969, he chose this slang as his name. The first Licorice Pizza was located in Long Beach near the beach and sold vinyls to music fans. Between the 70s and 80s it became a musical institution in the area and managed to create a large group of loyal customers, so much so that in its moment of maximum expansion it came to have 34 branches throughout the district.
Licorice Pizza is still known today for the relaxed atmosphere that reigned in its premises. Music fans gathered at the shop to hear and buy the latest news, discussing artists and songs. The proximity to the sea was obviously a plus and the same clerks, once disconnected from work, went to the beach to have fun. Anderson has been a loyal customer of Licorice Pizza for many years: the title of the film is a tribute to that era and its spirit, perfectly embodied by the record shop of his adolescence.
