Editing City of Angels (film) (section)

==Themes==
[[File:A Fallen Angel LACMA M.84.21.jpg|200px|left|thumb|Seth's story invokes the mythology of [[fallen angel]]s.]]
''City of Angels'' invokes the idea of the [[fallen angel]] in Seth's transformation into a human. However, author Scott Culpepper argues this is not related to evil or exile from heaven, and is instead based on [[free will]].{{sfn|Culpepper|2016|p=28}} The fact that Maggie is killed very shortly after Seth's transformation poses the question of whether Seth left "heaven for ashes", but the conclusion is that "the very temporality of relationships, experiences and feelings are what make them meaningful".{{sfn|Culpepper|2016|p=28}} Seth's realization is followed by the concluding scene in which he dives into the ocean, and the otherwise "stoic" Cassiel smiles for him. Sociologists [[Albert Bergesen]] and [[Andrew Greeley]] write that this communicates "not only the glory of being alive ... but the seeming approval by heaven of that choice".{{sfn|Bergesen|Greeley|2017|p=115}}

Writer [[Brian Godawa]] interprets the film as having a "humanistic worldview" in which physical experiences humans can enjoy have more value to angels than the spiritual. However, Godawa feels this contradicts [[1 Peter 1]]:12, where "things which angels desire to look into" are spiritual truths in the gospel of the [[Holy Spirit in Christianity|Holy Spirit]].{{sfn|Godawa|2011|p=242}} Encyclopedist Andrew Tate writes Maggie is a surgeon with no spiritual faith and, through Seth, she "learns to trust the invisible", while Seth learns the wonders of life through her.{{sfn|Tate|2011|p=24}}

[[File:Paradise Lost 10.jpg|150px|thumb|Professor Christopher R. Miller contrasted ''City of Angels''{{'}} characters to the angels of ''[[Paradise Lost]]''.]]
Professor Christopher R. Miller observes Seth's book recommendation for Maggie is [[Ernest Hemingway]]'s ''[[A Moveable Feast]]'', but Miller suggests [[John Milton]]'s ''[[Paradise Lost]]'' would have been more interesting. Miller contrasted Milton's epic, in which "angels were matter and spirit" and "sybaritic show-offs", with the depiction of the supernatural beings in the film.<ref name="Miller">{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/98/05/24/bookend/bookend.html |title=Winging It |last=Miller |first=Christopher R. |access-date=August 15, 2017 |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=May 24, 1998 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170816111541/http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/05/24/bookend/bookend.html |archive-date=August 16, 2017 }}</ref>

Tate believes the fact that angels reside in libraries indicates that they represent "an age of reason, order and learning", though these principles led to decline in faith, contemplating Nathaniel's line "They don't believe in us anymore".{{sfn|Tate|2011|p=23}} Miller questions the "no one believes" line, pointing to 1998 [[New Age]] book sales, the play ''[[Angels in America]]'' and the television series ''[[Touched by an Angel]]''.<ref name="Miller"/>

On the choice of Los Angeles as a setting, Gabriel Solomons contrasts the depiction of the city as a door to heaven to other films depicting it as a "psychological dead end" or actual hell (as in ''[[Constantine (film)|Constantine]]'').{{sfn|Solomons|2011|p=6}} However, Professor Jeff Malpas says that, whereas ''Wings of Desire'' was informed by Berlin, Los Angeles, sometimes known in real life as the "City of Angels", "provides nothing more than a convenient location".{{sfn|Malpas|2008|p=150}}