Sunset Boulevard Discussion - Movie Review Example

The film ‘Sunset Boulevard’ exposed the ruthlessness of the motion picture business masked with fame, glamour and beauty of the seemingly prestigiousfilm industry. Three of the various characteristics of the motion picture business depicted in the film were the continuous cycle of manipulation, deception and the deteriorating morality that gradually ruin the lives of these people. Illustrating the continuous cycle of manipulation, the film shows that the motion picture business is manipulated by only a few influential people such were represented in the film as Sheldrake, a studio producer, former film director Max Von Mayerling and a former silent film actress Norma Desmond. The cycle of manipulation starts with film director Max Von Mayerling’s manipulation of Norma Desmond by paving her way to stardom and later on exerted his manipulative efforts to prevent the former star’s depression from plummeting further. In the persisting cycle of manipulation, Norma Desmond also plays the part of a manipulator as manifested in her relationship with writer Joe Gillis wherein she pays Gillis to keep her company later on caused her to murder the young writer. Sheldrake the producer also plays the manipulator as he profited from Joe Gillis’ writings but refused to be of assistance to the young writer when he needed financial help. This manipulation continues its cycle in Hollywood at present with young actors and actresses being manipulated by the film industry who benefited from these actors and actresses when they were young and later on became less profitable as the young stars became exposed with the privileges of fame resulting to self-destruction and eventually losing their jobs as actors and actresses. The film industry produced child stars who in the long run became either self-destructive, had unstable family life, end of their acting careers or sadly, leads to their death An example of such is actress Lindsay Lohan who is currently on the news because of her drinking problems. Producers and other influential people in the motion picture business can’t even intervene and help Lohan on her drinking problem. Another example is actor Brad Renfro who had a constant problem with drugs and died only this year. Fans are also manipulated by these producers and influential few in the film industry by covering up the repulsive acts of the hottest stars while making profits out of these stars while feeding the fans with illusive stories and façades of the profitable stars and later on withdrawing their support on these stars when they are no longer profitable because they had become uncontrollable in their wayward activities. Although some fans still remain devoted to celebrities, producers will not even consider these faded stars for neither a lead role nor a tiny role in their new films. Some fans maintain their admiration and respect for these blemished stars. This can also be seen in ‘Sunset Boulevard’ wherein some admirers of Norma Desmond went near her to welcome her during her unannounced visit to DeMille at the Paramount studios. Meanwhile, the aspect in ‘Sunset Boulevard’ about film industry writers who were not well-compensated and not given the proper recognition is in a way, relevant to the matters brought forward by the Writers Guild of America when they went on strike which started last year. ‘Sunset Boulevard’ boldly narrated how writers are being treated when they experience temporary unemployment and the way their talents are exploited by the influential few of the film industry. Relatively, the issues the Writers Guild of America are battling for was mainly on the compensation for their hard work. Another characteristic of the motion picture business which includes the stars and their star struck fans as well is deception. Fans and viewers were made to believe that Hollywood is full of glitter, glamour, fame and all the good things in life. The industry of deception masked the downbeat side of Hollywood by perfect bodies, smiling faces and the seemingly endless fame and luxury. The real stories behind actors and actresses are scrupulously concealed from the star struck patrons while the producers earn huge sums of money, the actors and actresses are no exception to the deception because soon after they lose their popularity they are consumed by the fleeting luxury, fame and privileges of being a star. This deception clearly seen in ‘Sunset Boulevard’ when Norma Desmond was mislead by her former husband and former director turned butler, Max Von Mayerling to believe that she still receives a lot of fan mails and that she remains a famous star. She had all the luxury and fame during the hype of her career which slowly caused the dilapidation of Norma’s sanity. Bolstering the deception of Norma are the people from Paramount Pictures one of which was Cecil B. DeMille who added up to Norma’s delusions and tried to steer clear of having contact with Norma to avoid telling her the rejection of her script after Norma’s unannounced visit at the Paramount studio. The character Max Von Mayerling did not escape the deception; being a former film director who paved the way to stardom for the young Norma, he was deceived that he can maintain Norma’s lifestyle by feeding her delusions with faux fan letters and constantly addressing her as a great star. Also taking part of the deception was Joe Gillis, the young writer who had a tumultuous relationship with Norma Desmond. He didn’t have the courage to tell Norma about the real purpose when Paramount studios called her house. And when he had summoned the courage tell her the truth, it triggered Norma’s insanity causing her to pull the trigger on Gillis. This deception in the film industry still prevails at present; ending in substance abuse, failed marriages, senseless killings and at times shocking deaths and suicides. Most of these film industry people cannot handle the stress of being famous, the demands of their work and the downfall of their acting career which causes them to resort to alcohol and drugs. Some of these present-day stars were Brad Renfro, Heath Ledger, Lindsay Lohan and Drew Barrymore among others. Fans of these stars, especially the young ones, are shocked to hear news involving their teen idols with drugs, alcohol and law offense. These shocking realities burst the deception which fans were made to believe about their idol stars being perfect, nice and infinitely charming and beautiful. The present-day deception in Hollywood extends to the physical aspects of the actors and actresses. They were led to believe that they need to achieve a perfect face and body which leaves them narcissistic and obsessed with cosmetic enhancements of their face and body. Some of these stars who had fallen to the deception of perfection and have developed the addiction to cosmetic surgery an example would be Melanie Griffith. Incidentally, this narcissism in Hollywood was also shown in ‘Sunset Boulevard’ as Norma Desmond underwent numerous and various beauty treatments. This deception also extends to the fans who take after the looks of their idols. Admirers go to their plastic surgeons wanting to have the nose, the chin and even the entire faces and bodies of these celebrities. This deception causes the fans to have serious degrees of obsession on the celebrities which some turn out to be fatal. Furthermore, Hollywood deception also includes the delusion that film stars are above everybody else and sometimes they believe that they were above the law. In ‘Sunset Boulevard,’ Norma believes that she still has the authority to influence Cecil B. DeMille and even the security guard at Paramount studios. She was totally convinced that she can still stage a return to the film industry that she visited DeMille expecting that the film director to discuss the plans for the script she had sent. She was later on gently directed towards the exit given the promise of a movie which will never materialize. Nowadays Hollywood celebrities suffer a quite similar delusion since a growing number of law offenders are often on the news. Some of these celebrities are Mel Gibson, Lindsay Lohan, Kiefer Sutherland and Mickey Rourke among others. A number of these celebrities serve time in prison, in rehabilitation centers and in some cases they had to spend time for community service as penalty for their offense. The third characteristic of the motion picture business as seen in the film ‘Sunset Boulevard’ is the deterioration of morality. In the film, Norma Desmond had three husbands, one of which was Max von Mayerling who was serving her as a butler. Right under her ex-husband’s nose, she was having a vague, tumultuous and one-sided love affair with the young writer, Joe Gillis. The scenes from the film portray the decadence of morality among the people in Hollywood. At present, the frequent affairs, marriages and divorce are common news items. This carousel of marriage and divorce degrades the morality of the actors and actresses while the children from the failed marriages suffer the consequences. On other instances, the actors and actresses themselves suffer the consequences of their failed marriages similar to what happened with Norma Desmond’s mental health in ‘Sunset Boulevard’. To name a few of these celebrities who had quite a number of marriages and divorce are Jennifer Lopez, Pamela Anderson, and Nicholas Cage. Some celebrities who had several marriages and divorce produced children and sometimes battle for custody on their children turn into traumatic events in their children’s lives. Some causes of divorces in Hollywood result from the infidelity of their partners while some points to the irreconcilable differences of the husband and wife. These activities show the moral decay in the film industry wherein short-termed marriages and divorce has become accepted. The moral decay in the motion picture business also includes the rampant substance abuse, suicides and other non-discreet atrocities. ‘Sunset Boulevard’ had shown the disturbing characteristics and realities of Hollywood during the 1950’s and it served as a visionary film foreseeing the fate of Hollywood in the forthcoming years. The characteristics of the motion picture business decades ago had gone from the worse to its worst at present. The three characteristics previously cited still exist in Hollywood land and reminiscent of Hollywood in the 1950’s, these characteristics are still painstakingly covered and exhaustively concealed from the public eyes to continue the endless cycles of fraud and deception. These characteristics will always be outshined by the smiles, glitters, camera flashes and the false glamour of the fairytale land of Hollywood. CITED WORK Sunset Boulevard. Dir. Billy Wilder. Paramount Pictures. 1950. Read More