Sunset Boulevard (Wilder 1950) explores the intermingling of public and private realms, puncturing the illusion of the former and unveiling the grim and often disturbing reality of the latter. By delving into the personal delusions of its characters and showing the devastation caused by disrupting those fantasies, the film provides not only a commentary on the industry of which it is a product but also a shared anxiety about the corrupting influence of external perception. Narrated by a dead man, centering on a recluse tortured by her own former stardom, and concerning a once-promising director who refuses to believe his greatest star could ever be forgotten, the work dissects a multitude of illusory folds to reveal an ultimately …show more content…
When Norma asserts her self-worth, she does so surrounded by images of herself. “I am big,” she proclaims, with a thousand Norma Desmonds staring back at the camera from photographs, posters, and artistic renditions of the once famous face. “It’s the pictures that got small.” This convolution of reality, a reversal that gives Desmond the illusion of both control and continued adoration by nonexistent fans, provides the foundation for all her more severe misperceptions. As long as it is the cinema itself that has lost its appeal and not the former silent film star, a change of fates or Desmond’s own gracious compromise have the potential to restore her former glory. As she ultimately confesses, Norma feels that she left the spotlight (not the other way around) and that it has been waiting for her ever since. A belief that her seclusion is voluntary allows Desmond to avoid the finality of her fall from grace. The relationship between Joe Gillis and Norma Desmond also holds close corporeal ties to the protagonist’s material wealth and visual relationship with Desmond’s mansion. Joe’s car, the symbol of masculinity and independence, embodies the man’s desperation and his initial motivations for accepting a job with Norma. As Joe admits, the loss of his car is commensurate to “having (his) legs cut off” and represents the final blow to his dreams of Hollywood success. At first Joe sees in his venture with Norma a purely professional
In Casablanca, the prominent themes of unhappy love and self-sacrifice set this romantic melodrama apart from most in its genre. These themes are best expressed in the interactions of the three main characters: Victor Laszlo, a heroic political leader; Ilsa Lund, an enigmatic femme fatale; and Richard (Rick) Blaine, a seemingly morally ambiguous night club owner. An unusual love triangle forms with the two men’s mutual love for the intermediary woman. Unlike the archetypal romantic triangle which includes the betrayed husband and the victorious lover, this situation results in unhappiness and loss for all involved. All three are willing to sacrifice for this love,
Sunset Boulevard directed by Billy Wilder in 1950 is based on how Norma Desmond, a huge Hollywood star, deals with her fall from fame. The film explores the fantasy world in which Norma is living in and the complex relationship between her and small time writer Joe Gillis, which leads to his death. Sunset Boulevard is seen as lifting the ‘face’ of the Hollywood Studio System to reveal the truth behind the organisation. During the time the film was released in the 1950s and 60s, audiences started to see the demise of Hollywood as cinema going began to decline and the fierce competition of television almost proved too much for the well established system. Throughout this essay I will discuss how Sunset Boulevard represents the Hollywood
In the book The Outsiders by S.E Hinton, it's built around the class division between the Socs and the greasers. The kids in the Socs came from privileged and wealthy families while the greaser grew up in a unstable and poor environment, and it shaped who they are and how they act. The novel deals with issues important to urban teens, and the obstacles that are part of their daily lives, showing realism in Hinton's writing. In the article ¨The Urban Experience in Recent Young Adult Novels¨ by Sandra Hassell and Sandy Guild, it discuss the importance of urban teens worlds represented in literature. The article consists of many characteristics that are established in urban youth books such as, the usage of slang, strong sense of community,
In “A Century of Cinema”, Susan Sontag explains how cinema was cherished by those who enjoyed what cinema offered. Cinema was unlike anything else, it was entertainment that had the audience feeling apart of the film. However, as the years went by, the special feeling regarding cinema went away as those who admired cinema wanted to help expand the experience.
Sunset Boulevard is a drama/romance black and white film. It was released to the public on August 10, 1950 in New York City. The film was directed by Billy Wilder, and produced and co-written by Charles Brackett. The film was named after the boulevard that runs through Los Angeles and Beverly Hills, California. Film stars William Holden as Joseph C. Gillis, an unsuccessful screenwriter, and Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond, a faded silent film actress who drags him into her fantasy world where she dreams of making a great comeback to the big screen, with Erich von Stroheim as Max Von Mayerling, Norma’s devoted servant. Nancy Olson, Fred Clark, Lloyd Gough, and Jack Webb also make an appearance in this film and play supporting roles. Sunset Blvd. was nominated for eleven Academy Awards and won three. The film was noted to be “culturally and historically” by the U.S. Library of Congress in 1989. Sunset was also included in the first group of films selected for preservation in the National Film Registry. Sunset Boulevard was ranked number twelve on the American Film Institute’s list of the one hundred best American films of the twentieth century in 1998.
Have you ever wanted a bad memory erased? Is love erasable? These questions are attacked head on in the wonderfully complex drama Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind. After working together on the film Human Nature, director Michael Gondry and screenwriter Charlie Kaufman discussed the possibility whether or not they would have their memory erased of a bad relationship should the opportunity present itself (dvdtalk). Out of that discussion a movie idea was formulated, pitched to a studio, and a film was created showing the potential impact of doing so. Through Kaufman’s brilliant and strange storytelling, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind takes its audience on a journey challenging us to ask: what would we do
The Outsiders Essay – Describe an interesting theme from a text you have studied. Explain why this theme is interesting.
Oakland fell into the Alternative Education Law program. Students worked at their own pace and speed to complete school. Oakland High School generally graduated between 15-20 students a year. Several smaller programs existed within the school, such as Region 5, or ALC (Alternative Learning Center) program or Lincoln Tree Farm. Region 5 were for student who were in transition from just being released from either Echo Glenn or Green hill youth jail facilities. They worked with a JRA representatives and would complete school work and prepare to reenter the comprehensive high school setting. They would have no contact with the remainder of the building and programs. This program ended during the 2007-2008 school year.
In the novel Grand Avenue. Greg Sarris uses the theme thread of poison to connect all of his separate stories about the Toms’, a Pomo Indian family. He proves that the roots of a family are the basis which gives the family its structure, even if those roots are bad. In the Toms’ family they’re roots were poisoned from the very founding of the family starting with Sam Toms’. His poison was not the fact that he tried to steal a married woman away, but that he was filled with secrets, deceptions, and self hatred. His family was founded on these poisened roots and passes the poisen down generation after gerneration. The only way to stop the poison, or inner self hatred taken out in other forms, was to let go of past and
The Outsiders ThemeS.E Hinton’s realistic fiction book The Outsiders takes place in Tulsa, Oklahoma where the streets are divided among two groups of people, the Socs and the Greasers. Ponyboy, who is a greaser, is the youngest of his gang and always sticks with his brothers. One lesson the story suggests is no matter what happens always stick together. While some readers may believe the central theme of this story is childhood innocence, I argue that even in hard times and even in hard times and even when you do something wrong always stay connected with your friends and family as evidence by S.E Hinton’s use of dialogue, tone, repetition.From the beginning, the dialogue in the story shows how close Ponyboy and his brothers are. The text states, “`Hey, Ponyboy, ` he cried gleefully, `Long time no see. `’ (Hinton 106 ) Even
The characters Sherman portrays, lighting, clothing and expressions are cliché of what is present in cinema, so much that viewers of her work have told Sherman that they ‘remember the movie’ that the image is derived from, yet Sherman having no film in mind at all.[iv] Thus showing that her word has a pastiche of past cinematic genres, and how women are portrayed in cinema and photography and how Sherman has manipulated the ‘male gaze’ around her images so they become ironic and cliché.
Joel Barish and Clementine Kruczynski were a couple in love. Everything changed when Clementine woke up one day and just decided to have Joel erased from her memory. He was “boring” and she wasn’t happy and wanted to move on. Joel then decided he wanted to also remove Clementine from his memory. This was all possible due to Lacuna Inc. who asked those wishing to remove a particular person from their memories to remove anything from their homes that could possibly be associated with that person. They sit the patient down, map out where memories are located that are associated with each object. Then, the company sends a couple of their scientists/psychologists to the home at night after they’ve fallen asleep. They then track down any remaining memories as they appear while asleep
“Sunset Blvd” is not subtle in stating illusion will win out over reality. After all, Norma Desmond, the aged silent movie star who deludes herself into believing that she will be famous again, kills Joe Gillis, our involved narrator and voice of reason. But before we analyze the dramatic pool scene, which dispels any idea that “Sunset Blvd” sides with reality, we must first look at the characters, the embodiments of dreams and of reality in this movie. Norma Desmond, who dreams of rising to greatness again, refuses to believe that time has passed and that she no longer has any fans. Max, her butler and first husband, feeds into this facade by writing her fan mail, encouraging her
Have you ever wondered what it is like to live in Las Vegas, the entertainment capital of the world, a gambling mecca for millions every year? What could it possibly be like for a person to live in a city known as "Sin City," where the only thing hotter than the bright lights is the sun. According to lasvegasnevada.gov over 600,000 people live in Las Vegas now, which is triple what it was just twenty years ago. It is a city built as a railroad town that has turned into one of the most well known cities in the world. Las Vegas is not just a tourist destination, but a great place to live. With countless job opportunities, strong economy, beautiful weather and state of the art education, Las Vegas is
Brackett and Wilder began working on the script for Sunset Blvd. in 1948, but they weren’t satisfied with the final cut. They hired an extra helping hand and were impressed by the critiques given. Trying to keep the full details of the story from Paramount Pictures and avoid the censorship of the Breen Code, the duo summited a few scripts at a time. The script contains many references to Hollywood and screenwriters, a lot of Joe Gillis’ cynical comments were based on this. Wilder preferred to leave analysis of his screenplays and films to others.