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Lecture 2:Lecture 2:I’m Ready for My Close-UpI’m Ready for My Close-Up

Professor Michael Green

Sunset Boulevard (1950)Directed by Billy Wilder

Billy WilderBilly Wilder

• Major figure in Hollywood History

• Won six Oscars and was nominated for 15 others.

• Worked in a number of genres

Double Indemnity Double Indemnity (1944)(1944)

The Lost Weekend The Lost Weekend (1945)(1945)

Stalag 17 Stalag 17 (1953)(1953)

Sabrina Sabrina (1954)(1954)

Witness for the Prosecution Witness for the Prosecution (1957)(1957)

Some Like it Hot Some Like it Hot (1959)(1959)

The Apartment The Apartment (1960)(1960)

Sunset BoulevardSunset Boulevard

• William Holden (Joe)

• Gloria Swanson (Norma Desmond)

• Erich von Stroheim (Max)

• Nancy Olsen (Betty)

• Cecil B. DeMille (Himself)

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Analyzing the Film: GenresAnalyzing the Film: Genres

• Genres

– Film Noir

– Gothic Horror

– Melodrama

– Satire

Watch clip #1.

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Formal Film TechniquesFormal Film Techniques• High contrast black

and white photography

• Gothic mise-en-scene

• Vast interior sets filmed in high/low angles

• Flashback / Narration

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Themes/MotifsThemes/Motifs• Themes

– Hollywood culture is shallow, disposable and hypocritical.

– Money, success and vanity corrupt.

– L.A. and Hollywood are dystopias disguised as utopias.

• L.A. Motifs (rendered ironically)

– Cars

– Movie lots

– Swimming pools 13

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Analyzing the Film: GenderAnalyzing the Film: Gender• What does the film have

to say about gender roles and relationships? Consider the historical context.– Joe– Norma– Betty– Max

• Watch clip #2.

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Lesson 2 ReadingLesson 2 Reading

• “Hollywood and the Dawning of the Aquarian Age,” By Robert Sklar– The early moviemakers.

Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, D.W. Griffith and Charlie Chaplin, founders of United Artists

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Reading PointsReading Points

• The attractions of California.• Working in the young L.A. film business.• The emergence of film acting and stars.• The “movie-struck girl” and women in the

early movie business.– Norma and Joe in Sunset Boulevard

• A “new race” of men and women.• Early scandals and the relationship of

America to Hollywood.

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End of Lecture End of Lecture