Film Noir Film Noir Essay
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Film Noir Assignment
1--How is the mood of Sunset Boulevard representative of the Film Noir style?
The mood of the film is immediately established as decadent and decaying by the posthumous narrator - a dead man floating face-down in a swimming pool in Beverly Hills. As we fade backward into the story, we quickly come to understand that this film is about "behind the scenes" Hollywood, self-deceit, spiritual and spatial emptiness, and the price of fame, greed, narcissism, and ambition. We see from the beginning that Joe is a struggling screen writer who cannot even afford to make his car payments, and is desperate for help from anyone to sell one of his scripts. As Joe continues on his path, the mood of the film becomes grimmer as more happens to Joe, and winds up in Norma’s house; who is depressed and highly suicidal. This film depicts Joe in traditional film noir style as we quickly see that he is somewhat of an innocent man momentarily and fatally tempted by luxury in this dark and sadistic film.
2--Does the protagonist follow the "pattern" typically set for this style of film?
In my opinion, Joe did not follow …show more content…
the role of protagonist in the film noir style of Sunset Boulevard, but did follow the traditional role of a protagonist, in a film not film noir style. In a typical fictional film, the protagonist is someone that we might feel empathy for throughout the movie as he travels through hardships and other problems, such as did Joe when he was out of work, and out of money. As the plot continues, Joe makes choices that are morally wrong such as staying with Norma so that she did not kill herself, so in that aspect he follows the pattern of protagonist quite well. However, in a film noir style film, the protagonists are usually someone who is morally-ambiguous or low-lives from the dark and gloomy underworld of violent crime and corruption, all characteristics we did not see from Joe. However, from the beginning of the film, we see that Joe is neither an evil man nor a man that is delusional, but merely a more traditional protagonist who is down on his luck and makes choices that lead him to the delusion of Norma and Max.
3--How do the female characters in Sunset Boulevard measure up, in terms of the typical film noir representation?
Norma and Betty did a fantastic job in terms of film noir style roles.
Betty proved to be dutiful, reliable, trustworthy and loving woman, all aspects of a female role in a film noir picture. She showed devotion when after seeing how Joe lived still wanted to take Joe away and love him regardless of the previous situation with Norma. Norma played the role as a femme fatale as she showed characteristics of being double crossing when she called Betty to tell her about how Joe really lived, unloving, irresponsible, manipulative in how she used her mental issues to control Joe, and how she continued to show desperation as she would always throw herself at Joe, especially in the scene where Joe comes back to her place and she is waiting outside of his bedroom door. Overall, each female character displayed the film noir style
exceptionally.
4--Did the setting match the mood and action of the film? Choose a particular scene, describe the setting, and tell how it affected what was going on in the film at the time.
From the very beginning of the film, we see the setting of Joe’s watery grave, which starts to set up the mood of the film. Upon Joe’s flight seen from the finance officers, he stumbles across a mansion that looks abandoned, where he is able to park his car. This setting sets up the mood of the rest of the film. At this time, we see the home of Norma and how it is decaying and dying, showing relevance to her acting career, a once glorious place that is now deserted and decaying. This matched the mood and action in the film by showing a dreary, cold, dark place, much like the place that Joe and Norma felt like they were at in their own personal lives. This all helped show what was going on the film as the plot turned into a darker, more cynical film. It also helped us to understand each character, as their personal settings seemed to depict their personalities.
5--What about plot structure? Explain how the story was told, and assess whether or not such a structure was effective. Give reasons to support your view.
This film was delivered in a flashback, linear structure. From the beginning of the film, we follow the Police as they head to Norma’s house while Joe phantom narrates the entire beginning of the film from beyond his watery grave. It is effective because it tells the tale of what will happen, and then starts out immediately after that of everything leading up to this event and how almost everything had to happen exactly the way it did in order for that opening event to occur. This film uses a classic three act structure and it was interesting throughout the film because no scene was overly long and never used more than what seemed like three characters. In this structure, the plot was able to unfold quickly and was able to keep me as the audience entertained. This linear plot takes us from the beginning as the police head to Norma’s mansion, to Joe’s apartment where we realize Joe’s struggle for work and money, through the climax where Joe is tormented by Norma and his love for Betty, and to the end plot destination or back to the beginning where we began the story and where we first see that Joe was shot and killed in the pool he always wanted.
Film Noir Assignment
1--How is the mood of Sunset Boulevard representative of the Film Noir style?
The mood of the film is immediately established as decadent and decaying by the posthumous narrator - a dead man floating face-down in a swimming pool in Beverly Hills. As we fade backward into the story, we quickly come to understand that this film is about "behind the scenes" Hollywood, self-deceit, spiritual and spatial emptiness, and the price of fame, greed, narcissism, and ambition. We see from the beginning that Joe is a struggling screen writer who cannot even afford to make his car payments, and is desperate for help from anyone to sell one of his scripts. As Joe continues on his path, the mood of the film becomes grimmer as more happens to Joe, and winds up in Norma’s house; who is depressed and highly suicidal. This film depicts Joe in traditional film noir style as we quickly see that he is somewhat of an innocent man momentarily and fatally tempted by luxury in this dark and sadistic film.
2--Does the protagonist follow the "pattern" typically set for this style of film?
In my opinion, Joe did not follow …show more content…
the role of protagonist in the film noir style of Sunset Boulevard, but did follow the traditional role of a protagonist, in a film not film noir style. In a typical fictional film, the protagonist is someone that we might feel empathy for throughout the movie as he travels through hardships and other problems, such as did Joe when he was out of work, and out of money. As the plot continues, Joe makes choices that are morally wrong such as staying with Norma so that she did not kill herself, so in that aspect he follows the pattern of protagonist quite well. However, in a film noir style film, the protagonists are usually someone who is morally-ambiguous or low-lives from the dark and gloomy underworld of violent crime and corruption, all characteristics we did not see from Joe. However, from the beginning of the film, we see that Joe is neither an evil man nor a man that is delusional, but merely a more traditional protagonist who is down on his luck and makes choices that lead him to the delusion of Norma and Max.
3--How do the female characters in Sunset Boulevard measure up, in terms of the typical film noir representation?
Norma and Betty did a fantastic job in terms of film noir style roles.
Betty proved to be dutiful, reliable, trustworthy and loving woman, all aspects of a female role in a film noir picture. She showed devotion when after seeing how Joe lived still wanted to take Joe away and love him regardless of the previous situation with Norma. Norma played the role as a femme fatale as she showed characteristics of being double crossing when she called Betty to tell her about how Joe really lived, unloving, irresponsible, manipulative in how she used her mental issues to control Joe, and how she continued to show desperation as she would always throw herself at Joe, especially in the scene where Joe comes back to her place and she is waiting outside of his bedroom door. Overall, each female character displayed the film noir style
exceptionally.
4--Did the setting match the mood and action of the film? Choose a particular scene, describe the setting, and tell how it affected what was going on in the film at the time.
From the very beginning of the film, we see the setting of Joe’s watery grave, which starts to set up the mood of the film. Upon Joe’s flight seen from the finance officers, he stumbles across a mansion that looks abandoned, where he is able to park his car. This setting sets up the mood of the rest of the film. At this time, we see the home of Norma and how it is decaying and dying, showing relevance to her acting career, a once glorious place that is now deserted and decaying. This matched the mood and action in the film by showing a dreary, cold, dark place, much like the place that Joe and Norma felt like they were at in their own personal lives. This all helped show what was going on the film as the plot turned into a darker, more cynical film. It also helped us to understand each character, as their personal settings seemed to depict their personalities.
5--What about plot structure? Explain how the story was told, and assess whether or not such a structure was effective. Give reasons to support your view.
This film was delivered in a flashback, linear structure. From the beginning of the film, we follow the Police as they head to Norma’s house while Joe phantom narrates the entire beginning of the film from beyond his watery grave. It is effective because it tells the tale of what will happen, and then starts out immediately after that of everything leading up to this event and how almost everything had to happen exactly the way it did in order for that opening event to occur. This film uses a classic three act structure and it was interesting throughout the film because no scene was overly long and never used more than what seemed like three characters. In this structure, the plot was able to unfold quickly and was able to keep me as the audience entertained. This linear plot takes us from the beginning as the police head to Norma’s mansion, to Joe’s apartment where we realize Joe’s struggle for work and money, through the climax where Joe is tormented by Norma and his love for Betty, and to the end plot destination or back to the beginning where we began the story and where we first see that Joe was shot and killed in the pool he always wanted.