The scene from La La Land is not as efficient or explicit in revealing character motivations as the example from Psycho.

It relies on an earlier scene for context – where Sebastian brushes past Mia after being fired.

Based on that, we can assume that Mia’s immediate goal is to cause frustration or embarrassment to Sebastian by requesting a pop song, and for him to be explicitly aware that she was responsible for his torment – the dancing, eye contact and lip syncing.

Sebastians immediate motivations are clearer – he wants to be regarded as a serious musician and he literally says this. He also acknowledge his poor behaviour from the earlier scene which revealing that not only did he remember the incident but he felt bad about it.

 We can presume that Mia wishes to become an actress – though we could also interpret her quip about having an audition as a serious firefighter as a cheeky jab at Sebastians fashion sense.

The obvious obstacle to their connection is that Sebastian is needed to play the next set with his band, cutting their interaction short. The generally combative attitude of the characters could also be viewed as an obstacle.

It is because of Hollywood cliché that the audience would expect any kind of relationship to develop between the characters. Unlike psycho where the emotional stakes of the characters is clear and definitive, the La La land scene is very vague making it less relatable and in my opinion less realistic.