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Contrasting personalities in Sunset Boulevard
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Sunset Boulevard: A Film Analysis Sunset Boulevard is a film noir movie shot in 1950. It tells the story of a washed up silent movie star Norma Desmond from the 30s trying to gain her fame with the help of a screenwriter by the name of Joseph Gillis. Even though this story mainly focuses on Desmond, it is told in the eyes of Gillis in past tense. The whole movie is told as a flashback. Sunset Boulevard is characterized by its symbolic usage of light, complementary main characters, camera angles and choice of sound. Overall, The music played in this movie were either suspenseful and mysterious, urgent or wistful. In the opening credits, we are struck with the sound of banging drums and blaring trumpets and baritones. Police cars and motorcycles …show more content…
He tells her all about Desmond and his living with her in exchange to ghostwrite her script. The audience and Desmond think that he is going to stay with Desmond because she is all he really has but once Schaefer leaves, he packs up all of his things and is ready to find someplace else to live. Both Desmond and Gillis complement each other because they are both manipulative and will do anything to get what they want and rise above trying circumstances. Gillis tries to escape his poverty by getting into a relationship with Desmond. He quit trying to write like he normally does because that wasn't helping him bring in money. He sold out. Desmond tries to make her return back into Hollywood by using Gillis. She, on the other hand, doesn't want to sell out. She wants to stay true to how she normally acts and the type of films that she acted in. The light in Sunset Boulevard showed a extreme amount of significance. Shadows and direct light upon the actors face played a big part in the message that the director is trying to portray. When we first see Desmond, the shadow covers half of her face and she is wearing glasses. It comes across as if she doesn't want to be known and that she is ashamed of herself when this is anything
Sunset Boulevard is a hollywood classic film that digs into the aftermath of the sound era caused. Sunset blvd came out on August 10, 1950. The film was directed by Billy Wilder, produced by Charles Brackett, and starred William Holden and Gloria Swanson. Sunset blvd shows us the aftermath of Norma Desmond and how she is stuck in the past of silent hollywood. The darkness and bitterness that many silent movie experienced after they were kicked to the curb once sound came. The film is has a classic dark drama/comedy that is one of the most acclaimed films in film noir history. The film touches on the loneliness and narcissism that silent legends were enduring. The mood of the film is immediately established as decadent and decaying by the narrator of a dead man floating face down in a swimming pool in Beverly Hills.
The entire movie is littered with anxiety. The movie makes you anxious as to what may happen next. This primary example is the scene where Skeeter ask Aibileen to tell her personal stories for the book Skeeter is writing. This rose a very serious anxiety in both women. Skeeter also found other maids to also share their personal stories. This scenario caused extreme anxiety because in that day and time if you were to publish or talk about what the maids have to endure, you could be prosecuted or maybe even killed.
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 Studio System, as well as exploring post war literature giving reasons as to why the system began to crumble.
Two of the greatest stories told about the city of Los Angeles come from different art forms, but both tell just as equally thought-provoking tales. Twilight: Los Angeles, written and performed by Anna Deavere Smith, is a one woman play that recalls several interviews of LA community members that talk about their experiences during the 1992 Rodney King trial verdict. Crash, directed by Paul Haggis, is a story about racial tensions amongst citizens of Los Angeles. Although both stories tackle similar issues, they differ in terms of critical race theory, feminist views, and their narrative structures.
“There once was a time in this business when I had the eyes of the whole world! But that wasn't good enough for them, oh no! They had to have the ears of the whole world too. So they opened their big mouths and out came talk. Talk! TALK!” (Sunset Boulevard). The film Sunset Boulevard directed by Billy Wilder focuses on a struggling screen writer who is hired to rewrite a silent film star’s script leading to a dysfunctional and fatal relationship. Sunset Boulevard is heavily influenced by the history of cinema starting from the 1930s to 1950 when the film was released.
The noir style is showcased in Sunset Boulevard with its use of visually dark and uncomfortable settings and camera work, as well as its use of the traditional film noir characters. In addition, the overall tone and themes expressed in it tightly correspond to what many film noirs addressed. What made this film unique was its harsh criticism of the film industry itself, which some of Wilder’s peers saw as biting the hand that fed him. There is frequent commentary on the superficial state of Hollywood and its indifference to suffering, which is still a topic avoided by many in the film business today. However, Sunset Blvd. set a precedent for future film noirs, and is an inspiration for those who do not quite believe what they are being shown by Hollywood.
The film, Fruitvale Station, is based upon a true story of a young, unarmed African American male, Oscar, who was shot by a Caucasian BART police officer. The film displays the final twenty-fours of Oscar Grant’s lives going through his struggles, triumphs, and eager search to change his life around. There will be an analysis of the sociological aspects displayed throughout the movie that show racism, prejudice, and discrimination.
The film starts out with orchestral music, and shows James Dean's character, Jim, drunk on the ground of a sidewalk. The sound of a police siren is heard and used as a transition into the next scene that takes place, understandably, in a police station. While in the police station, Jim is yelling along with the sound of the siren, and humming loudly to give the impression that he is drunk. At one point in the scene he is brought into another room with an officer, and begins to punch a desk. The sound effects are loud, and the he pauses, and music begins again when he begins to hurt. Again, a siren is played at the transition to the next scene. However, for the most part, score music is played during all transitions.
Moonlight is a motion picture with a tender, heartbreaking story of a young man's struggle to find himself, told across three chapters in his life as he experiences ecstasy, pain, and the beauty of falling in love, while grappling with his own sexuality and dealing with his more difficult past. Moonlight describes a touching way of those moments, people and unknown forces that shape our lives and make us the way we are. A major theme of Moonlight is the black male identity and its interactions with sexual identity. The motion picture combines acceptance and love with pain and narrow-mindedness. In it’s simplicity the movie is a chronicle of the childhood, adolescence and burgeoning adulthood of a young black man growing up in a rough neighborhood of Miami.
The music suited the movie very nicely. By the type of music playing, you could determine what sort of scene was coming up, either fast and light...
Stereotypes were present in the film in regards to Asians. Jackie Chan, playing Lee, was the first to stand out in the film. In the film, Lee is a martial arts maniac. This is a very common stereotype talked about in the film, The Slanted Screen. The Slanted Screen discussed other stereotypes such as uncultured Asians that speak with foreign accents, restaurant workers and gangsters. These stereotypes were prevalent in the film, Rush Hour. Sang and the Juntao’s men are the perfect example of Asian gangsters in the film. Some of the subservient positions, especially for Asian women in the film featured restaurant workers, Lydia Look as the waitress at Foo Chow and Ai Wan as the hostess at Foo Chow, and the flight attendants played by Christine Ng, Ada Tai and Arlene Tai.
This was not my first time viewing Sunset Boulevard. I once watched it in my high school English class and enjoyed it very much. Sunset Boulevard’s main plot was about Norma Desmond, a silent-screen “goddess“ whose pathetic belief in her own indestructibility has turned her into a demented loner, who falls in love with Joe Gillis, a small-time writer who later on becomes her lover. Their relationship, which rarely leaves the walls of the crumbling Sunset Boulevard mansion where they live with only Norma’s butler, Max in their self-contained world, leads to murder and total madness.
Ms. Kubleik’s character transforms throughout the film. She is Mr. Sheldrake’s mistress. She gets taken advantage of, lied to, and is constantly let down, but is completely in love with him. Mr. Sheldrake is C.C. Baxter’s top executive and is conniving, powerful, and privileged. Ms. Kubleik is not his first mistress and pretty much tries to pay her for her services treating her like a prostitute or an object of his desire. Mr. Sheldrake also brings up divorce, which was uncommon during the 1950’s and 1960s. The language created here makes corporate executives come off as cheating pigs. Once Mrs. Sheldrake’s wife finds out about the affairs she kicks him out of the house and files for divorce. This is an example of women exercising their
The Wolf of Wall Street produced and directed by Martin Scorsese tells a story of Jordan Belfort, a stockbroker living a luxurious life on Wall Street. Due to greed and corruption, Jordan falls into a life of crime and abusive activities. Belfort made millions of dollars by selling customers “penny stocks” and manipulating the market through his company, Stratton Oakmont, before being convicted of any criminal activity (Solomon, 2013). Jordan reveals behaviours and impulses all humans have, however, on an extreme level. This movie illustrates “why ethics is another tool whose importance cannot be overstated” (Delaney, 2014). Without ethics and morality, individuals can never truly live an honest and happy life.
Wall Street is a movie that exposes corruption and disguises all values, beliefs, and other ethical philosophy. Throughout the movie, Wall Street shows how ethics adapts to a person’s personality by power and wealth alongside honesty and truth. Bud Fox, a young stockbroker is looking for a way to make a name for himself. He is determined to get as many clients as he can to become successful. He later meets a ruthless man named Mr. Gekko where learns how to reach to the top by illegal actions such as insider trading. Bud Fox was an honest living man who had good ethics but was later showed what true power is became money hungry. The power of greed is fascinating the code that everyone lives by is inevitable once money comes into play. There are five types of interpersonal power; reward power, coercive power, legitimate power, referent power, and expert power. These types of power will be used to correspond relationships throughout the movie. In Wall Street we realize how Gordon Gekko uses Bud Fox for his benefit. In this paper I will show the types of powers that are used by Gordon Gekko and how they are used. One clear type of power that Gordon Gekko uses in his relationship with Bud Fox is the Referent power base. This power stands out because it is clear that Bud wants to become a top notch in the industry. Bud is striving to be successful when he exposes what he’s able to do at the meeting with Gordon Gekko he instantly become closer to his goals. There were scenes where Gordon had legitimate power. His knowledge and information was what made him rich. Bud Fox had to listen to what Gordon was telling him in order to become successful. This was an example of Gekko having legitimate power over Bud Fox. Expert power which is an ...