Diegetic and Non-diegetic Elements The title sequence of Sunset Boulevard is full of non-diegetic elements that initiate the unsettling feeling that viewers will likely feel throughout the movie. The sequence starts out with intimidating sounds from a trombone, and then the title appears, accompanied by abrupt trumpets in background. The title is shown at an awkward slant in all capital letters. The nature of the score and the title foreshadow a neurotic experience for the viewer. The opening credits are in a font similar to what one might see in the typewriter of a detective. The font, a non-diegetic element, provides a perfect transition into the first diegetic elements of the movie. The first elements in the story that we experience are screeching police sirens and rows of police cars racing down the street. A voice-over narration provides commentary for this opening scene. At first, it is unclear whether or not the voice-over narrator is a non-diegetic element or a diegetic element because the voice refers to the dead body in third person. After this scene, the voice starts referring to the character (just seen floating dead in a pool) in first person. This makes the viewer realize that the voice is the voice of the main character, Joe, who was referring to himself in third person because he was dead in that scene, and now that he is telling the story from the beginning, when he is alive, he is referring to himself in first person. Because the voice-over narrator is from a character in the story, he is considered a diegetic element. This is not the only time that the line between diegenesis and non-diegenesis is blurred. In the scene where Joe wakes up in Normas mansion to find that all of his luggage has been moved in, he runs outside to investigate, and organ music is heard in the background. One might initially think that this is the score,

adding to the eerie event, but Max turns out to be the one playing the organ, making it diegetic. Another example is when the title is shown at the beginning of the movie. The title is shown as a street name on a curb (of Normas street), which is in the story, so it is technically diegetic, but it also acts as a non-diegetic element because it is displaying the title of the movie. These elements, which are almost indistinguishable from being within the story or outside the story, disorient the viewer and immerse the viewer in the film noir experience. Setting The movie takes place in 1950s Hollywood (Los Angeles, California), a time when talkies were dominating the theaters. Silent movies were a thing of the past and so were most of the people who had anything to do with silent films because they could not make the transition to talking movies. Norma Desmond is an example of one of the silent film stars that was left behind after the silent film era was over. Her mansion is extremely large, and the inside is full of expensive draperies, woodwork, furniture, and the like, implying that she belongs to a very high social class. Upon closer inspection of the style of these items, it becomes apparent that most of these accessories would be considered antiques in the 1950s. The fact that her house is full of antiquities tells the viewer that she probably found her fortune several years ago and that she is reluctant to let go of the past. The numerous frames populating Normas house only contain pictures of Norma when she was a star. This emphasizes that she has not let go of her days of fame. The pictures and the high ceilings of the mansion combined with the lack of any residents other than Max, the butler, implicate that she has a very large ego and she yearns to be the center of

attention. The arrangement of her New Years Eve party reinforces these concepts. A three-person band, highly dressed for the occasion, is playing in the background, an extravagant cake and selection of champagne are on a long rectangular table, candles are lit, and Joe is the only guest. We see a party in a drastically different setting when Joe goes to Arties New Years Eve party. At Arties party, the rooms are packed full of guests, the walls are covered in pictures of different people, and there is a modestly sized punch bowl on a small round table for the whole party to share. The guests at Arties party are the entertainment of the party, indicating that they belong to a lower social class; whereas, Norma had paid services as entertainment and only one guest to keep the attention focused on her. Characters Norma is a round character because she has complexity. She was a movie star previously, which greatly influences her current state of being. She seems to be very self-centered and manipulative, but she also shows a human side, which is trying to cope with her abrupt loss of stardom. Her main goal is to get her script turned into a movie so that she can star in it, which, in the end, boils down to becoming famous again at any cost. She also has a secondary goal to find a significant other that will love her, but she seems to be completely indiscriminant about who it is, just as long as she has control over him. In the end of the movie, she has the exact same characteristics as when the movie started, making her a static character. Joe is a round character; he carries out various schemes to pursue the outcome that he desires, causing several changes in events throughout the story. In the beginning of the story, Joes goal is to keep his car. In the pursuit of his goal, he

ends up at Normas house, where he attempts to use Norma to pay off his car. When this does not work, he finds himself sticking around Normas house to enjoy the luxuries that come with it. Later on, upon a change of heart, he secretly entertains a romance between him and Betty. These different positions that he takes make him a dynamic character. Artie is a flat character because he has very little complexity and does not have a significant impact on the course of the story. He is Joes friend, and he hosts a party where Joe runs into Betty again. Artie is engaged to Betty, but later on Betty does not want to go through with it. Other than that, Artie does not play a significant role in the story. Narration When Joe spends his first night at Normas mansion, the story is told through restricted narration. Voice-over first-person narration is used in the beginning of the scene so that we know what Joe was thinking at the time while we also see his expressions and what he is saying out loud to Max. The result is a rich experience for the viewer because Joe does not show what he is thinking through what he is saying and doing in front of Max. After Max leaves the room, the visual narration reinforces his voice-over narration when he says that the whole place was crumbling apart and we are shown the view through the window, which shows an abandoned tennis court with a worn out net and an empty swimming pool overgrown with weeds and infested with rats. He gives outlandish descriptions of what he sees, which also add to the viewing experience. When we see him waking up, we are given a recollection of the strange dream that he had through voice-over

narration. He narrates his concerned thoughts as we visually see that his luggage has been moved into his room. This is all restricted narration because we only see, hear, and know what Joe sees, hears, and knows at that time. Suspense There are several pivotal moments throughout the movie that cause suspense, the most prominent being at the beginning of the movie when we see Joe dead, floating in a swimming pool at Normas mansion. We are given a wretched feeling in the pit of our stomachs because Joe is the main character and we know that he will end up dead in a swimming pool, but we do not know how he will end up there. This keeps the viewer engaged in the plot to find out how it happens. Another important scene that adds to this dreadful suspense is the one where Norma cuts her wrists after Joe leaves the party. At this point in the movie, we know that Joe will die in Normas swimming pool, but now we have to worry about what the fate of Norma and Max will be. Knowing that Norma can be suicidal sometimes opens up the door for Norma killing herself and possibly others. To add even more suspense, Betty falls in love with Joe, and Joe starts regularly meeting with Betty unbeknownst to Norma. Betty does not know that Joe is living with Norma, so there is suspense of how Betty will find out that Joe had been two-timing her. There is also great suspense because one can easily hypothesize the soon-coming disaster that will occur when Norma finds out that Joe has been seeing Betty.