Los Angeles serves two distinct roles in the book: it is an example of urban development shaped by coordinated institutional interests, and the setting for a modern film adaptation of Bartleby. Together, these references present the city as both a product of political-economic forces and a contemporary backdrop for a story of refusal.

Urban Development and Conspiracy

In discussing conspiracy theories, the book points to the destruction of Los Angeles’s public transport network in the early 1950s. It presents this not as the impersonal outcome of an abstract economic logic, but as the result of an explicit arrangement among car companies, road construction companies, and public agencies. The example supports a broader argument: dismissing conspiracy theories as mere fantasies can obscure real, organized interests at work in urban development.

Los Angeles as a Modern Setting

The book also identifies Los Angeles as the setting of the 2001 film version of Bartleby, directed by Jonathan Parker. This adaptation relocates the story to a contemporary urban environment. In the book’s comparison of screen versions, the city is part of the adaptation’s modern frame, distinct from the historical example of public-transport destruction.