A Comparison Of The Film Mulholland Dr.

Sunset Boulevard and Double Indemnity, are just two out of the many incredible films directed by renowned director Billy Wilder. The two films which were released six years apart, (Double Indemnity- 1944, and Sunset Boulevard- 1950) are uniquely similar, in that both films share many of the same aspects, idea’s, and similar in narration, as one another. Both of these extravagantly, directed films are indeed classics. The films, both tell an intriguing story of spiritual loneliness of a female character, and how they use their power, money, and provocativeness, to “lure” the male character. We see the life of a once innocent (male) character, who is being hurtled towards his own self destruction, the character is “supposedly” unaware, of his own self harm through his seemingly ‘good/beneficial’ decisions that he makes.

What is horror? Webster's Collegiate Dictionary gives the primary definition of horror as "a painful and intense fear, dread, or dismay." It stands to reason then that "horror fiction" is fiction that elicits those emotions in the reader. An example of a horror film is "The Shining", directed by Stanley Kubrick. Stanley Kubrick was a well-known director, producer, writer and cinematographer. His films comprised of unique, qualitative scenes that are still memorable but one iconic film in his collection of work is The Shining. Many would disagree and say that The Shining was not his best work and he could have done better yet, there are still those who would say otherwise. This film was not meant to be a “scary pop-up” terror film but

The film’s main focus largely represents the Hollywood star system to which Norma Desmond is a victim of. The film particularly highlights the fantasy world in which Norma lives in, the world where she is the ‘greatest star’ (Norma Desmond, Sunset Boulevard, 1950). Sunset Boulevard steps into Norma’s mixed up world where hundreds of photos of herself clutter her crumbling mansion and where she watches herself on screen on a weekly basis. The crumbling and deteriorating mansion could be seen as a metaphor for Norma’s fall from stardom, the collapse of her career.

The original 1933 King Kong was created as a movie: to convey a story and entertain and audience. Peter Jackson’s 2005 remake took the foundation for King Kong and expanded upon it in almost every way in order to “make again” the amazement of the original for a modern audience. Audiences received the original King Kong very well. The stop motion sequences of Kong were amazing for their time and the movie grossed $90,000 in its opening weekend. In order to bank upon its success again sequels were made and then in 1976 a remake was made to improve upon the original. Paramount updated the movie to color, changed the story, and cast Jeff Bridges, a well-known actor of the time, as the lead. Although the movie received mixed reviews, it did

The film Sunset Boulevard (1950), directed by Billy Wilder, Norma Desmond exemplified a Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) by being demanding, intense and unstable. These behaviors that are consistent with the elements of abnormality include suffering, social discomfort, dangerousness, and irrationality and unpredictability. The first element that is consistent with Norma Desmond’s character is suffering. Desmond being one of the greatest movie stars in history suffers as she experiences the fall from stardom. She also suffers from identity disturbance as she reaches an unstable self-image notion. In one scene when Desmond recognizes for a moment about her age, she claims, “Look at me. Look at my hands, look at my face, look under my

Sunset Boulevard (Wilder 1950) explores the intermingling of public and private realms, puncturing the illusion of the former and unveiling the grim and often disturbing reality of the latter. By delving into the personal delusions of its characters and showing the devastation caused by disrupting those fantasies, the film provides not only a commentary on the industry of which it is a product but also a shared anxiety about the corrupting influence of external perception. Narrated by a dead man, centering on a recluse tortured by her own former stardom, and concerning a once-promising director who refuses to believe his greatest star could ever be forgotten, the work dissects a multitude of illusory folds to reveal an ultimately

Sunset Boulevard follows an unsuccessful screenwriter, Joe Gillis (William Holden), whom a past movie star, Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson), hires to help her return to the big screen. Police find the body of Joe Gillis in a swimming pool. In a flashback, Joe explains events that happen prior to his death. Joe tries selling a script to Paramount Studios to pay for his car but they refuse his script. When a group of men try to repossess Joes car, Joe escapes by hiding the car in a deserted mansion. Norma hires Joe to rewrite a script that she wants to star in and accepts his situation by moving into the mansion. Joe learns that Norma use to be a silent film star who believes that she’s still famous. Norma’s butler, Max Von Mayerling (Erich von Stroheim), explains that he writes Norma fan letters and that Norma has made suicide attempts. Later, Joe wants to leave the mansion but returns since Norma cuts her wrists. At nights, Joe sneaks out to work on a script with Betty Schaefer (Nancy Olson) and the two fall in love. Joe informs Norma that no one remembers her and that there will be no comeback causing Norma to shoot Joe who falls in the pool. Policemen and reporters appear at the

Curley’s wife’s dream was to one day become a famous Hollywood actress. Fame and fortune were the two things she desired most, and having expensive clothes living in extravagant hotels. Curley’s wife had met a famous Hollywood director who had told her that she was a natural at acting. He said he would mail her a letter about becoming an actress. He never mails her back, even though he promised he would. Her dream also becomes impossible because of her marriage to Curley. Curley will not let her leave now, and she has to tend to the ranch instead of pursuing her dream to potentially become a film actress.

Curley’s wife’s dream is to become a famous Hollywood actress. She dreams of fame, fortune, fancy clothes and large, expensive hotels. Curley’s wife is waiting for a Hollywood director to mail her about becoming an actress. This dream is destroyed by her marriage to Curley because once she is married she is not allowed to pursue an acting career because she has to look after the house, because Curley will not allow her to leave the ranch to become an actress. Her dream is also destroyed by a Hollywood director who believed she had the potential to become a film actress. Curley’s wife meets this director at a dance and he promises he would send her a letter about acting in one of his films, but she never gets the letter so she does not become an actress which is her dream. Her marriage to Curley and the Hollywood director who has not mailed her about her acting career destroys her dream.

In the movie A Better Life, the Main Character Carlos Galindo is an undocumented immigrant from Mexico who started working as a day labor worker when he first arrived in the country, however he has had steady work from Blasco Martinez who owns a gardening business which he tries to convince Carlos to buy from him as he says he is moving. The idea of being self employed is very appealing to Carlos but he knows he can never afford to do so and the risk of getting caught and deported is very high. Carlos has a son Luis who is reluctant to go to school on a daily basis and gets into trouble as he is influenced by his friends who are part of the

As the audience knows well already since the very first scene, Sunset Boulevard does not have what one would call a “happy ending.” In this sense, the movie gives itself away as film noir considering the fact that all such works of cinema which fall in this style category are known to have dark themes predominantly sending a message of hopelessness and meaningless existence. With Joe’s lifeless body floating around in a swimming pool in mind throughout the entire movie, audiences of this motion picture are filled with a sense of pointlessness for Joe’s life, since his personal resolutions and growth as a

The movie Blow is the story of George Jung, the man who established the American cocaine market in the 1970s. The film starts with George as a child, showing what his childhood was like and what his relationship with his parents was like. As it progresses George grows up and moves to California. While there he become caught up in the marijuana scene and eventually starts selling it for money. George expands his market and eventually becomes very wealthy. But, George becomes too complacent and gets caught by the police and sentenced to prison. While there he meets and makes friends with Diego Delgado and learns about the drug Cocaine. Together they find a way to traffic it into the United States and again George becomes extremely wealthy.

The main similarity in Sunset Boulevard and a typical film noir movie is that it was very melodramatic and over the top. Many film noir films have very dramatic storylines and characters. Whenever something sudden and striking would happen, the director would zoom in on the characters face in a very melodramatic manner. The girl in the film, Norma, is very over the top whenever anything bad happens to her. When the main character, William, is about to leave she threatens to kill herself and at one point even cuts her wrists screaming and crying that she “would do it again.” A lot of times Norma talks to herself in a very dramatic manner including after she slaps William in the face and storms off. William’s whole death is melodramatic in the fact that she only shot him because he was leaving her and she would rather he not be alive if he’s not going to be with her. Her psychotic break at the end of the movie is not out of nowhere, but is still flung on you out of the blue in a very sudden, melodramatic sense. The music is common with dramatic movies with the almost stereotypical, “dun, dun, duns” in the soundtrack whenever something serious and unexpected happens. Things move very quickly in this movie as well as other film noir films. For example, he moves in with a woman he hardly knows, she falls in love with him almost instantly, and he almost kisses an engaged woman the second time he meets her. This fast pace, melodramatic theme is common in all film noir movies, especially in Sunset Boulevard.

As a member of today’s society, it is easy to become largely aware of the need individuals crave to know everything about everything. Whether it be the topic of entertainment, environmental issues or politics we seem to have a lingering curiosity as a people to be aware of the ins and outs of the world we live in. Just as often as we see this constant curiosity we also see the lack of true initiative. Many areas of our society today call for both our interst and knowledge so that we may fulfill the position of being and active member of the society that we live in.

In recent years, it has become popular for many of America's great literary masterpieces to be adapted into film versions. As easy a task as it may sound, there are many problems that can arise from trying to adapt a book into a movie, being that the written word is what makes the novel a literary work of art. Many times, it is hard to express the written word on camera because the words that express so much action and feeling can not always be expressed the same way through pictures and acting. One example of this can be found in the comparison of Ken Kesey's novel, "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and the film version directed in 1975 by Milos Forman.