Sunset Boulevard is a movie that takes place in Hollywood and is about making movies. The movie follows the main character, Joe Gillis as he tries to get his writing green-lit by the executives at Paramount Studios. As he tries to write out his screenplay, he comes across a mansion located on Sunset Boulevard that was owned by famous silent film actress, Norma Desmond.
Norma Desmond has an interesting character, to say the least. She was a washed up silent film actress that no longer performs anymore because she is afraid of the outside world. She is constantly addicted to having someone around her, along with being in front of a camera. She also comes across as extremely self-centered and egotistical, where she makes everything about herself. It is revealed that in her house, she has tons of pictures of herself.
When Joe comes across Norma’s mansion, he was driving away from men who wanted his car. After staying at the mansion for a day, Norma immediately wants him to move in. There, she wants him to read a script that she made where she plays the starring role, which Gillis finds terrible. He is then willing to help her fix the script into something better. As time goes by, Gillis starts to gain a similar mentality to Norma with getting a lot of money out of the script and not really caring about the quality of it.
Later in the film, Joe secretly works at night at Paramount to write an original screenplay with Betty Schaefer, who is another screenwriter at Paramount. The two then fall in love with each other and Norma finds out about the two of them. Norma finds out about the script that Joe and Betty wrote, and then starts threatening Betty by talking bad about him. When Joe overhears this going on, he tells Betty to come over to the mansion and see for herself on what is going on. After Betty briefly finds out about this place, she had to leave for Arizona to get married to Artie. Joe then leaves the place, but then Norma threatens him that if he leaves, then she will shoot him. Joe then proceeds and then Norma shot him three times as his body is found in her swimming pool.
This movie portrays the film industry as a large moneymaking machine where people have to look a certain way in order to become famous. When Betty started working at Paramount Studios, she had to get a nose job because the studio didn’t like it. It also shows how the film industry can have an impact on people. After working with silent films, Norma Desmond felt that the fame would never leave her and that she was some legacy. She also felt the need to be in front of a camera at all times, along with being afraid of the outside world. The studio would tend to blow stories completely out of proportion just to make more money. After working with the studio, Norma was afraid to go outside of her mansion because the media put it out there that she was dead. Overall, this movie tends to portray the film industry under a negative light and shows the effect that it has on people.
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