Sunset Boulevard is an entertaining portrayal of the dramatic side of Hollywood in the 1950’s through the film noir genre and thoroughly does so through repeated themes of entrapment.
Sunset Boulevard is the name of the street Norma Desmond, a renowned silent film actress, resides in. She confides within a film writer to restore her fame back to what she had as a silent film actress in the newly introduced “talkies”. The writer, Joe Gillis, is thus stuck with the task of aiding her to help out his economic status.
The film noir genre as a whole is an uncommonly used term in the mainstream film industry towards younger viewers. Most neo-noir films such as Nightcrawler are not marketed as noir but instead in broader terms like “thriller” or “Action”. This all kept the use of the term within the 1940’s to 50’s and eventually dropped off everyone's vocabulary list (besides film connoisseurs). Sunset Boulevard fits perfectly into the category of “dark films” as there are readily apparent motifs within the movie such as a femme fatale, an ordinary man, a conflicting interest and entrapment. Most notably in the film, the aspect of
…show more content…
The shadows that are projected onto a face from a harsh source of light makes the film turn a sinister look adding more depth to film in a black and white world. Sunset Boulevard of course contains the stereotypical harsh lighting of film noir and the aspect of soft lighting in the appropriate times such as during the day and during times where there is little conflict in the movie such as their trip to Paramount Studios. Not only does Sunset Boulevard have undisputed film noir lighting to set the mood, but it also has the bizarre eyes of Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson) to accentuate both her mental state and the scene of the film in which it appears, giving a vibe of insanity to the
Film noir movies often have stylistic characteristics such as exaggerated lighting and shadows. Scarlet Street contained many subjective camera shots while also using exaggerated shadows, for example during the first scene in the movie, there is an emphasis on the mans shadow as he walks into the room. Which brings me to a crucial point, Black and white filmmaking. Black and white style is considered to be an essential attribute for a film noir movie, black and white allows the director to emphasize on distorting images, for example use of the venetian blind shot. Another continuous pattern of film noir is to include main stock characters, this film contains: an anti-hero and a femme fatale, these stock characters are always seen in noir films.
Sunset Boulevard (1950), directed by Billy Wilder, is a black and white film, where Norma Desmond, a famous actress of the silent film era, cannot come to terms with her career’s end. Desmond meets a guy named Joe Gillis, a struggling writer who is in financial trouble. The two come to an agreement that Gillis will polish up her script, which Norma believes will be her ticket back to the big screen, and Norma will take care of Joe financially. The one thing Norma and Joe have in common is that Hollywood has deemed both of them as undesirable. Norma experiences delusions of grandeur, and Joe cannot get his scripts picked up by a studio.
Hyperreal L.A. in The Big Lebowski and The day of the Locust Nathaniel West’s The Day of the Locust is based in the thirties in Hollywood and focuses on a group of charters lives that is supposed to resemble that of what it was really like in L.A. at this time. The Coen brother’s The Big Lebowski is about a charter who goes by the dude, and is adventure to try and find who kidnapped Bunny Lebowski and who peed on his rug. It is also set in L.A. but in the nineties instead of the thirties.
Questions Episode 8: Boom (The Story of Us) In 1910 I California, a column of oil nearly 200 feet high explodes out of a derrick and sets off a chain of events that will turn America into a superpower. Mass production and job opportunities prompted by the First World War draw African American to northern cities like Chicago, but racial conflict follows. A popular campaign to ban alcohol succeeds, yet when it comes, Prohibition triggers a wave of organized crime. Several things happened simultaneously during this period of America’s history.
The film Sunset Boulevard, made in 1950 is a black and white film. The film is about Norma Desmond an old actor, who has issues accepting that she is becoming old. Gloria Swanson, the main character is Norma Desmond, suffers accepting that she is aging. Desmond has issues in her life regarding her age and does not accept that Hollywood does not want her anymore. Next, character Joe Gillis is William Holden, has financial problems and turns himself into a gigolo.
The scene of Norma and Joe watching Norma’s old film in the living room is filled with low key lighting. The scene is shot with a wide-angle lens showing both the character and some headroom above for the projection light. The projection behind Joe and Norma lights up both of their faces while everything else is
In Sunset Boulevard (Wilder 1950), the space of mise-en-scene is used to ‘guide the audience 's attention across the screen, shaping the sense of the space that is represented and emphasising certain parts of it ' (Bordwell 2001, p.176). For instance, when Joe Gillis is escaping the repo men at the beginning of the clip, the main focus is the speeding cars coming from the background to the foreground of the shot. Another notable scene is when Norma Desmond 's character lifts the rug and the chimpanzee 's arm flings out and swings back and forth, it instantly captures the audience 's attention. This is done because ‘moving items draw the audience 's attention more quickly than a static item does ' (Bordwell 2001, p.176). This method of presenting action corresponds with the structure of classical Hollywood as it was ‘designed for on-screen events to
Bad Day at Black Rock Kathryn Abbott October 29 2015 DRAMA 3030 The unexpected arrival of a stranger to a small, Midwestern town creates a feeling of scepticism and suspicion, and through this the explicit meaning is revealed: Fear of the unknown and the moral and physical deterioration of a town left to its own devices. The film exemplifies these concepts through the use of mise-en-scène, and vivid cinematographic elements. The blood red coloured train stands out against a muted background.
In the film Sunset Boulevard many characters struggled with wishes, lies and dreams of fame and fortune. The film states the corruption in Hollywood and that people will do anything to get ahead. With hope and delusion each character tries to gain happiness, while only being self-destructive and isolating themselves. The characters ultimately deny their problems and confuse those around them. One character in the film who struggles with her wishes, lies and dreams is, Norma Desmond, a washed up actress.
In the film Sunset Boulevard many character struggled with wishes, lies and dreams of fame and fortune. The film states the corruption in hollywood and that people will do anything to get ahead. With hope and delusion each character tries to gain happiness, while only being self-destructive and isolating themselves. The characters ultimately deny their problems and confuse those around them. One character in the film who struggles with her wishes, lies and dreams is, Norma Desmond, a washed up actress.
The most common archetype seen in noir is the femme fatale. The femme fatale becomes a distinct part of film at the end of World War II as well as a threat to transgress the patriarchy (Grossman, p.4). The origins of the femme fatale comes from "the historical need to reconstruct an economy based on a division of labor by which men control the means of production and women remain within the family, in other words, the need to reconstruct a failing patriarchal order" (Jancovich, 2011, p.100). Furthermore, Jancovich claims that the femme fatale was created as an effort to encourage women to revert back to their womanly duties and to quit their jobs that they took on while the men were overseas. He calls them a “demonization of the independent working-woman” ( 2011, p.105).
"Love in L.A.," written by Dagoberto Gilb, is a story full of irony and multiple themes. The story is set in Hollywood during the summer time. Written in third person objective, "Love in L.A." guides the reader along through the story as opposed to an omniscient point of view Dagoberto Gilb, the author, expected from this story on to relate to virtually whatever crowd. This story isn 't fundamentally A "love" story Eventually Tom 's perusing At whatever means, nobody is scooped up Toward their knight in gleaming shield onto a supernatural white steed that might proceed will ride off under those nightfall. This story will be set in a reasonable setting, stuck in the congested, guard to bumper, la movement.
An Award-Winning, Unique Resource of Film Reference Material for Film Buffs and Others, with Reviews of Classic American-Hollywood Films, Academy Awards History, Film Posters., www.filmsite.org/wests.html. Accessed 25
The movie Spotlight, recounts the true events that occurred in Boston and were brought to light back in 2002. The movie talks about the massive cover-up scheme by the catholic church to conceals the fact that several priests were abusing and had abused hundreds of kids without any action from the Archdiocese. In this paper I will summarize the movie, discuss the type of victims shown in the movie, asses the risk level of the victims, and lastly relate the different theories of victimization and how each relates to the movie. The movie follows a group of journalists working at the Boston Globe, who are known as the spotlight team.
Wall Street “Greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right, greed works, greed clarifies—cuts through and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all its forms—greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge—has marked the upward surge of mankind” (O. Stone). In 1987 the by Oliver Stone directed movie Wall Street was released, starring Michael Douglas and Charlie Sheen.