Sunset Boulevard: An analysis

Sunset Boulevard (Wilder, 1950)

References to the star system and the Golden Age of Hollywood:

Hollywood producers went for easy-to-sell, accessible stories - didn't care for quality

Depend on writers but writers depend on them

Transition from silent to talking pictures left many stars behind - they were great at silent acting but not dialogue

Stars that aren't wanted anymore are left behind - at a young age - with wealth and prestige but nothing else

Older women aren't valued in cinema

Female stars don't have films and genres built around them, so                                                                    are seen as disposable almost

Norma Desmond represents both the forgotten star from the silent era but, also, the Hollywood studios itself - trapping a budding, young writer in its grasp and forcing them to conform to what the studio wants.

Focuses on female mental health disorders - Norma is delusional

Film noir: 

-Stylistic features: lighting, mood, ambience, atmosphere, settings
-Symbolic effects of chiaroscuro, shadows, low key lighting
-Budget constraints: creating crowds from silhouettes
-Thematic features: deception, intrigue, female leads - vulnerable and duplicitous
-'Femme Fatale' - dangerous and scheming
-'noir' - moral darkness and ambiguity, moments of transition


Links between Sunset Boulevard and Some Like It Hot:

Both critique common practices and ideas of the time by using both literal and metaphorical representations (SB: film industry, aging women, mental illness/SLIH: female representation, sexuality, cross-dressing, alcoholism, depression)

Parallel sound and music

End on an iconic line (Nobody's perfect/I'm ready for my close-up)

Strong female leads

Low key lighting in intense scenes

Structure of the plot - important characters emerge in the middle and move on through to the end

Wilder uses own experiences - scriptwriters

Actors/performers - self-referential

Film noir elements within Sunset Boulevard and Some Like It  Hot:

SB: Chiaroscuro - high contrast between light and dark
       Strong femme fatale - dangerous and scheming against Joe - more dominant than him
       Dark atmosphere; Joe starts the film losing his car and his flat and having his script rejected and is         plunged into even more desperate times when he meets Norma and then falls in love with Betty
       Mostly in one setting - the mansion - reflecting possible budget constraints but also a feeling of               entrapment
       Moral ambiguity of what Norma is doing - manipulative but you can still feel pity

SLIH: Dark lighting surrounds light humour - reflects the shadiness of illegal activity at the time plus               the film is dealing with depression and feeling out of place 

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