Los Angeles

Los Angeles first appears in Mama's Boy when Lance is a child. It is described to him by his mother as a hedonistic place to be avoided. Despite this childhood characterization, Lance moves to Los Angeles as a young adult to pursue a career in film. Los Angeles not only becomes Lance's long-term home, it is the place where he is finally able to come out of the closet and be his true, authentic, and honest self. It is through Lance's peripheral association with the LGBTQ+ community in Los Angeles (through his friend Ryan) that Lance begins to feel comfortable enough to eventually come out. Los Angeles is also a place where LGBTQ+ people have a considerably better quality of life and relative human rights protections compared to other places in the United States. Realizing that he has a relative degree of safety and privilege as...