1 Lecture 2: I’m Ready for My Close-Up Professor Michael Green Sunset Boulevard (1950) Directed by...
-
Upload
barnard-fisher -
Category
Documents
-
view
224 -
download
1
Transcript of 1 Lecture 2: I’m Ready for My Close-Up Professor Michael Green Sunset Boulevard (1950) Directed by...
1
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
Sunset BoulevardSunset Boulevard
• William Holden (Joe)
• Gloria Swanson (Norma Desmond)
• Erich von Stroheim (Max)
• Nancy Olsen (Betty)
• Cecil B. DeMille (Himself)
10
Analyzing the Film: GenresAnalyzing the Film: Genres
• Genres
– Film Noir
– Gothic Horror
– Melodrama
– Satire
Watch clip #1.
11
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
12
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
14
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.
15
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
16
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.