SUNSET EVIDENCE

you will..

you will read about it in all the latest additions

• destructive nature of media

no-body...

no-body important really, just a movie writer with a couple of b pictures to his credit

• shows how one’s identity is defined by their success in hollywood

as if..

as if she was laying to rest an only child, was her life really as empty as that

• isolation that fame brings

great..

great stars have great pride

you heard..

you heard him, i’m a star

• shows max’s role in entrenching her delusions

• illustrates norma’s inability to accept her obsoleteness

they want..

they want me, they want me, i get letters everyday

• demonstrates how max’s actions have contributed to norma’s delusion

i am..

i am big it’s the pictures that got small

there’s nothing..

there’s nothing wrong with being 50, not unless you’re trying to be 25

• cult of youth

• fear of obsoleteness

with more..

with more courage and wit and heart than ever came together in one youngster

• illustrates how hollywood has destroyed norma, her questionable morals are not innate but rather brought on by the destructive nature of hollywood

it’s from

it’s from hunger

• demonstrates how aspiring writers are forced into acts of desperation in an industry that celebrates profit-making films rather than talent and authenticity

that was..

that was last year, this year i’m trying to earn a living

• implying you can’t be creative & earn money

did you know..

did you know the finest things were written on an empty stomach

• ironic and shows how hollywood is exploitive as morino says this as he is enjoying the luxuries of life - playing golf, while joe is ‘three payments behind’

maybe that’s..

maybe that’s why it’s good, it’s true, it’s moving

i don’t want..

i don’t want to be a reader all my life, i want to write

• betty’s ambition

she was like..

she was like all of us writer’s when we first hit hollywood, itching with ambition

• juxtaposed with joe who now lies on a couch resting waiting for norma

• illustrates how hollywood can break down ppl’s drive and ambition

couldn’t we..

couldn’t we work in the evenings? 6 o’clock in the morning

• shows betty’s ambition + work ethic

• juxtaposed with norma who will only work 10-4

if i lost..

if i lost my car it’s like having my legs cut off

• Joe likens losing his car to having his 'legs cut off', demonstrating the dependence he has on the car as not only a mode of transport, but as a symbol of mobility and agency. Without it, Joe sinks deeper into the entrapment that Norma has placed him in.

all my things..

all my things, my 18 suits, all the custom made shows, and my 6 dozen shirts

• joe became materialistic when he was with norma

look at this..

look at this street, all cardboard, all hollow, all phony

• superficiality of hollywood

• surrounded by fabricated streets, being painted in the background

you and..

you are artie can be admirable

• joe accepting that he is not

we all earn..

we all earn buttons and bows

• diegetic music

• poor but happy

• not trapped by fame

i’ve waited..

i’ve waited 20 years for this call

• shows her age, long shit depicting norma wearing a silent film outfit, shows how she is still stuck in the silent film era

creeping paralysis

• norma’s mansion

her cel..

her celluloid self

the heartless..

the heartless so and so’s

• critique of media, accompanied by high angle of joes body, showing all the reporters and the lack of respect they have for his death

a dozen..

a dozen press agents working overtime can do terrible things to the human spirit

• how the hollywood industry has destroyed norma

they didn’t..

they didn’t like my nose

• Exposing the superficiality of Hollywood, Betty was restricted from becoming an actor, as the film industry 'didn't like [her] nose', demonstrating that appearance outweighed talent and individuality at the time in Hollywood. Her rejection from acting because of a minor physical feature reveals how Hollywood, and the broader American society, prescribed disproportionate value to women based on their appearance, reflecting the unrealistic beauty standards that were imposed on women.

as long..

as long as the lady is paying for it, why not take the vicuna

• extreme close up

• joe looks surprised however he is later seen wearing the coat, demonstrating his fall into cynicism

the ash..

the ashtray joe dear

• norma taking joe for granted

__ getting caught as joe leaves

joe’s watch chain getting caught as he attempts to leave on new years

• Joe's watch chain getting caught as he exists Norma's house on New Years Eve symbolises that something was holding him back, a part of that being his financial dependency on Norma, as she was the one who bought him the watch chain. While it also suggests that inevitably Joe would return to Norma as the watch was a symbol of time, and in time he would return.

close up shots of norma getting beauty treatments / she went though…

a merciless series of treatments

Close up shots of Norma’s face covered in a thick impasto of beauty cream, her shoulders smeared with mud, her body pummeled by a masseuse and her face masked by heavy steam hoods that resemble medieval torture devices

• The close up shots of beauty treatments highlights Norma's belief that she must become more beautiful in order to fulfil her supposed role starring in a film. This reveals how Hollywood imposes rigorous and unhealthy beauty standards upon its actresses.

The photos Norma has displayed of her younger self all over the mansion represent her inability to move on from the past. Instead, her deluded self-perception is one entrenched in youth and beauty.

norma as a young girl in a silent film

swanson’s face surrounded by lighted tapers

• Norma watching her younger self in silent films demonstrates her inability to move on from her past life and allow herself to indulge in contemporary films. Norma's face being surrounded by the lighted tapers in the film also shows how she constantly romanticised the past of her being a film star, and added a sense nostalgia to the film.

the diegetic music of the orchestra playing..

The diegetic music of the orchestra playing Auld Lang Syne when Joe returns on New Year’s Eve

• When Joe return to Norma's mansion on New Years, the diegetic music of the orchestra playing Auld Lang Syne is playing in the background. While the song has a warm and wholesome tone, and is about long term friendships, Wilder subverts the meaning of the song by hinting how Joe has become entrapped once more by Norma. Joe returned as he feels morally obligated to as the cause of her distress, rather than true love and care.

i found everything..

i found everything unendurable after she left me

• Demonstrates Max's emotional dependence on Norma, and his inability to find meaning outside her presence. While it also underscores how loyalty can become a form of self-imposed imprisonment through destructive attachments.

you don’t yell..

you don’t yell at a sleepwalker

• Joe likens Norma to a 'sleepwalker' emphasising her fragile detachment from reality, and her inability to awaken from the dream of her past stardom. The 'giddy heights of her lost career' evokes the exhilaration and prestige of her silent film days.

norma’s mansion

emblematic of her fleeting stardom, normas gothic mansion embodies a depressing ‘abortion’ of her ‘silent-picture days’, a lone survivor of her lost fame. Indeed, this ‘grim' mausoleum embodies the classic gothic trope of a haunted house, with this deterioration embodying a metaphorical portrait of this faded idol's own bodily corruption, as 'a neglected house gets an unhappy look.

Dead chimpanzee and its funeral rites

The dead chimpanzee and its elaborate funeral represent Norma’s extreme isolation and detachment from reality, Once a celebrated Hollywood star, she now fills the void with grotesque rituals, treating an animal as though it was a fellow celebrity. The funeral also foreshadows Joe's role as her next 'pet', ultimately also leading to his death.

fake fan letters

Max forges fan letters for Norma out of loyalty and a misguided sense of protection, shielding her from the reality that she is no a star of Hollywood as she was in her silent film days. These letters also reveal Max's tragedy, where his devotion to Norma has blinded him, resulting in him feeding into Norma's delusion while sacrificing his own dignity, demonstrating the dependency Max has on Norma. The fake letters also become a symbol of the decline that all stars in Hollywood eventually face, and how easy Hollywood can discard actors once they are no longer needed. Moreover, the fake letters feed into Norma's delusion and ultimately are one of the factors that cause her breakdown at the end of the film due to her not being able to distinguish fantasy from reality.

do you know..

do you know how he lives, do you know where he lives, do you know what he lives on

• When Norma calls Betty, she bombards her with pointed questions including if she knows 'what [Joe] lives on?' This lines exposes Joe's dependency on Norma: he lives in her mansion, wearing clothes she has bought him, and survives off her money. While Joe manipulates Norma for her money, this line also reveals that Norma may not be as naive as she lets on, and that she is not blind to the arrangement. Instead, she uses her financial control over Joe into manipulating him to stay with her, reinforcing their toxic, co-dependent relationship.

it was always..

it was always her pictures that’s all she wanted to see

30 million..

30 million fans have given her the brush

what about the…

what about the studio, what about demille

stars are..

stars are ageless

i’ve got a good…

i’ve got a good deal here, a long term contract with no options

long shot of a street of hollywood

natural lighting, palm trees, lots of cars

• illusion of hollywood

Long shot of joe about to walk into Paramount

the shot makes Joe look small and Paramount Studios large

• paramount determines artists life

joe’s clothing transformation

Joe wears suits that are very oversized, cheap looking before meeting Norma, will later be juxtaposed with the expensive suits Norma buys him

Norma’s claw like hands

Swanson's clawed hands symbolise her fervent desire to reclaim her irrecoverably lost stardom

High angle shot of Joe looking down on Norma while she is lying down on the couch in a relaxed position

• joe dominance as this was the first time he had stood up to norma, ‘what right do you have to take me for granted’

• yet she still embodies a relaxed persona, still has the control, almost as he is a child who is throwing a tantrum

Tilt shot that depicts Max's sombre face

Tilt shot that depicts Max's sombre face as he watches Joe and Norma dancing on New Years

Panning shot of all the self-portraits Norma had in her house

• shows her reluctance to move on from her past stardom and her inability to accept the inevitable process of aging

betty’s clothing

betty wears practical, formal, light coloured, conservative clothing

• Norma's glamorous clothing compared to Betty's practical skirts and sweater reveals the mindset that Hollywood has instilled in Norma, one where she has to adhere to certain beauty standards, dressing in glamorous clothing in order to feel as though she is wanted by the film industry. This is juxtaposed with Betty's practical clothing she chooses what is practical, as a result of not being in the film industry's light.

intro

‘sunset boulevard can no longer be associated with fame and luxury, rather its disconcerting introduction in a gutter with ‘dead leaves' and ‘straps of paper’ alludes to its fading relevance as emphasised by the high contrast black and white photography