Once Upon a Time in Hollywood: A Novel

The novel’s protagonist is Rick Dalton, whose main inner conflict centers on accepting that he’ll never be a Hollywood movie star. Rick is a dynamic character who changes throughout the novel. He styles his hair in an outdated, “glistening wet brown pompadour” (2), which reveals his obsession with the past and old Hollywood. Since Rick feels dissatisfaction with his career, he hides his insecurity behind his criticism of other actors and directors that he has worked with, which suggests that his time in Hollywood has created a “stinginess in spirit” (5).

However, although Rick blames other actors, the hippie movement, or network executives, Rick knows that the reason his career is failing is the effect of his past choices. Because of this knowledge, Rick struggles with self-loathing, which spirals because of an undiagnosed bipolar disorder that he tries to medicate via alcohol. However, because Rick is unaware of his mental illness for many years, he assumes that his “drinking [is] a sign of internal weakness” (94). The harsh way that Rick speaks to himself reveals the cycle of alcohol misuse and self-hatred that he puts himself through because he believes that he deserves it.