Blog Post for Sunset Boulevard

The film Sunset Boulevard, the work of Billy Wilder, is an interesting take on Hollywood in what we now call its “Golden Age.” Following the relationship between a young writer, struggling to keep his career afloat, and an aging and forgotten star of Hollywood’s silent films, it is both a critique of the cutthroat nature of Hollywood, as well as an insight into a peculiar relationship. A film about film making is refereed to as a “meta” film and always provides unique insights to the inner workings of Hollywood. This film specifically looks into the struggle of aging actors, especially female ones, whose careers have seemingly passed them by, and they must come to grips with their new presents. As Joe, the main character tries to explain, “there’s nothing tragic about being 50, not unless you try to be 25.” The world has cinema no longer cares for Norma Desmond and the movie is a tragic tale of her inability to cope with that, as she obviously succumbs to some sort of mental illness. No longer young, Norma’s career is done, and the film wants the audience to see the tragedy in that. If one wishes, they could look deeper into the gender dynamics of this and contemplate whether she still might have a career if she was an aging man? Or maybe she would still have one if she just would be willing to live in the present and let go of her past. The also shows the struggle of young up-and-comers such as Joe and Betty, contrasting that with the aging stars such as Norma. The audience is supposed to feel for the strugglers in Hollywood, it seems, though the average viewer might not necessarily sympathize with an actor or writer as much as they would someone more like themselves. In terms of the way MES establishes characters and themes, the setting of the movie in Norma’s run-down mansion sets the tone for the entire thing. Like her, it was once the grand star of the show, but the present has not been quite so kind.