The Use Of Deception In Sunset Boulevard By Billy Wilder

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.

    F. Scott Fitzgerald published a Novel known  as the Great Gatsby in the year of 1925. At the time of it’s release it wasn’t very successful it was only after a couple years afterwards that it started to gain success. In modern day it is very well-known to a majority of High School Students, College students, and adults. The era in which this novel takes place in is during the 1920’s a historic time in America’s History which was known as the Roaring Twenties. Businesses and Stock markets were doing so well and it was the highest point of America’s Economy. Fitzgerald introduces a couple of interesting characters that fit together and really sets the tone for the novel. The first character introduced into the storyline is Nick Carraway and throughout the story he follows a character who goes by the name of Jay Gatsby. Throughout the novel Gatsby is very mysterious towards everyone especially towards Nick, no one really knows who is Jay Gatsby or the details of his past or in what manner he was able to gain all the wealth he has. Gatsby is an example of character deception.

In an excerpt from Empire of Illusion, Christopher Hedges argues that “the most essential skill in political theater and a consumer culture is artifice...Those who are best at deception succeed. Those who have not mastered the art of entertainment, who fail to create a narrative or do not have one fashioned for them by their handlers, are ignored. They become “unreal”” (Empire of Illusion). Today, the ideology of “the most essential skill [being] artifice” to reveal the truth or reach the favored outcome is prevalent and portrayed across various media. For instance, in Hamlet written in the early 17th century, William Shakespeare portrays Polonius as a nobleman who advocates for techniques of deception to achieve his goal. In addition, detectives implement this method of misleading in interrogation rooms to evoke a true confession. Similarly, politicians, like Donald Trump, delude the public by creating distractions that sway their attention from the more pressing topic. Examples from literature to modern government demonstrate that many hold the belief that “the most essential skill...is artifice” to achieve the desired outcome (Empire of Illusion).

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.

Moreover, the fake identity and lifestyle that the wealthy portray capture the reaction to knowing the truth and using it to dismiss it; this is necessary for the process of the characters to come to terms with accepting the truth and as a result having a new beginning captured by windows. Likewise,

One must always be weary of the truth because it is quite often manipulated to serve the needs of any person who requires that the truth be on their side. Quite often, the only way to discern the truth from the fiction is by way of a deceptive act, because an act of deception always exposes both its self and the truth to be two quite different things. Nowhere is this more true than in William Shakespeare's, Hamlet. One of the major themes in the play is in fact, deception. This central theme is expressed throughout the play in three major forms: the fear of being deceived, the act of deception, and the ultimate result of the deceptive act. The first facet of the deceptive

The Departed, a film written by William Monahan, Alan Mak, and Felix Chong, directed by Martin Scorsese, was in my opinion a spectacular crime-thriller deserving of less criticism from overly sentimental viewers. Though this film is in some scenes brutal and vicious, I praise Martin Scorsese’s refusal to cower away from the undeniable truth that organized crime in the United States is murderous in nature just to satisfy certain viewers as critics advocated he should. Being a four time Oscar winning film with sixty-three other awards for numerous aspects in the movie industry, I don’t believe anyone can contradict that The Departed is profoundly unforgettable to masses of moviegoers.

The filmmakers make use of a variety of tools such as the use of music and wide-angle camera shots to further portray meaning. In the beginning scene of the film, as Olive carefully watches the crowning of the next pageant winner, soft background music plays, most notably beginning to build up as the scene continues. As it switches to a wide angle shot of Olive in front of the tv with more steady music, it not only creates a steady atmosphere, but in addition subtly conveys the beginning of the pursuit of a dream, or success and what is to come in order to achieve it. Another notable scene is where we see a wide-angle camera shot of both Dwayne and Frank staring out over the beach as we hear the song, “America the Beautiful.” This is notable irony, as Dwayne and Frank once had dreams of

2016: Many works of literature contain a character who intentionally deceives others. The character’s dishonesty may be intended either to help or to hurt. Such a character, for example, may choose to mislead others for personal safety, to spare someone’s feelings, or to carry out a crime. Choose a novel or play in which a character deceives others. Then, in a well-written essay, analyze the motives for that character’s deception and discuss how the deception contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole.

“Isn 't it what we wait for? To meet someone... and they 're, they 're like a lens and suddenly you 're looking through them and everything changes and nothing can ever be the same again.” (Gilroy)

Although set in the 1930s, Nathanael West’s The Day of the Locust ironically resembles contemporary Hollywood. Within the glamorous setting of Hollywood, West’s characters take on multiple roles instead of assuming individual personalities. They put on and remove these imaginary personality masks, similar to those in the Commedia dell’Arte, to exhibit a range of emotions that only their character type would exhibit. Consequently, West’s characters are trapped in this restrictive atmosphere, especially at the end of the novel when they become part of a collective mob. In these manners, the characters in The Day of the Locust exhibit qualities akin to modern actors,

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

Deception is an act intentionally inflicted upon others in order to, satisfy one's wants and needs. In the novel, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jay Gatsby deceives others for both his personal gain and love. While Jay Gatsby lives day by day deceiving others, he thinks not much of it. Gatsby sees himself has merely just moving on from the past and onto a new life. However, through his acts of deception he is stirring up a fatal situation. Fitzgerald portrays Jay Gatsby as a man who is wealthy and as some may say “living the life”. Jay Gatsby however, is merely a mask put on by James Gatz, the same man, to live the life he has always desired. Once settled in as Jay Gatsby, he starts to find it difficult to maintain an image expected by others. In this novel, James Gatz lives a false life as Jay Gatsby to satisfy his wants and needs, but has his act of deceiving others comes to an crumble Fitzgerald is able to showcase the struggle and cost of deception.

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

By deceiving others, one can live a pretentious life in which reality is blocked. This form of defense mechanisms, aided Willy in hiding the reality of his career from his family. For many being demoted is a large change that is often shared with one’s family. Willy, unable to take the blow to his pride and reputation began to borrow money and play it off as a salary. “When he has to go to Charley and borrow fifty dollars a week and pretend to me that it’s his pay? (Miller, 57). Willy underestimates how aware Linda is of his financial situation. His delusion leads him to borrow money from his brother rather than facing reality and accepting the changes to his career. Willy would often play mental games on himself saying things that could never occur in an attempt to deceit others. Little thoughts as Huh! Why did she have to wax the floors herself? Every time she waxes the floors she keels over. She knows that! Willy’s reaction at the sight of Linda waxing the floor demonstrates just how in denial he was regarding their economic status. Despite their disability to hire someone to wax their floors, Willy would often say such things to hid from his failed