Oh Norma!!!

In Thursday’s class (1/28/2010) we watched this crazy dramatic movie called Sunset Boulevard. There were many elements to this movie that I wasn’t even aware of. The genre of the film is suspense and filmoir. Filmoir movies tend to not have a happy ending. Also there is a lot of sleazy sex going on and violence.

The movie was in black and white so it gave it a more intense feeling and focused on the theme of the movie rather than the color. The transitions in the movie are faded while music is playing in the background. The movie has a wide shots but many close up shots as well. The main character Norma Desmond is also framed many times throughout the movie. The irony of the movie is awesome. Norma lives in this huge mansion it’s ugly, old, and weathered on the outside, but full of life on the inside. It describes the life of Norma, how she’s old but still feels young. There is also a lot of foreshadowing, similes, metaphors, and double-entendres. The movie has a narrator that tells the story. When the narrator is speaking, there is music playing in the background that makes it a continuing story. The music also sets the tone of the narration.

I usually don’t watch movies in black and white because it seems so boring, but this movie was totally opposite. Norma made the movie very interesting. Her lifestyle was one of the rich and famous at first, but that’s when movies “didn’t need dialogue, just faces”. Still rich and has all of the money in the world, she still has nothing. Her life is empty and she needs a companion. She fines that companionship in Joe. Joe brings her life. He helps her with her script which at the end is not successful. Her life is a script, a dramatic show that she lives, and Joe helps her with her life, which at the end is not successful as well, but she does get her time to shine. When ever Norma spoke, she spoke as if she was in front of an audience; she always gave a great performance. Joe was a character whose life was sort of like Norma’s. He was in a financial struggle but had the social life, which Norma lacked the social life but not the financial part. So they fit together like a puzzle, they were each other’s pieces. But like any other puzzle, there are more than just two pieces, which then comes in Betty. She is connected to Joe because he has the “eye” for a good story but needs Joe to help her write it.

This movie focuses on how film has changed throughout time but has still remained the same in that women have to be perfect.

Ending question: If everyone acted everyday of their life like Norma, would the world be more interesting or annoying?

P.S. When someone is dramatic I’m going to say Oh Norma!!!