Although film and media invent and fabricate this concept of glamour in Hollywood, it is all just a simple illusion. The public only see the smiling celebrities, black limos, red carpets, and extravagant parties. They don’t truly have any insight into what actually happens, behind closed doors, away from the cameras.
When watching Sunset Boulevard, audience members quickly observe Norma Desmond’s sumptuous home, filled with expensive furniture. Viewers immediately get a taste into the glamour and glitz that exist in Norma’s home and further in the movie industry. When Nora’s time on the screen has passed, she is no longer of the same relevance in Hollywood. As the movie industry sees it, she grew old and no longer is the same beautiful, talented, actress drawing in profit; therefore she is dropped. Typically when people work years in a company, they end up quitting at a certain age for retirement. In Hollywood however, as you progress through different stages of life and the viewing rates go down, you instantly become irrelevant. That brutal truth definitely isn’t expressed in social media pictures; it’s all an illusion. The public only sees the best parts of their lives, the parts that Hollywood chooses to show, in media. In Sunset Boulevard, after her time being “up” Norma completely loses all sense of reality to the point where she even kills another human being and can’t even process or understand what she did. There’s simply nothing glamorous about that.
In, “A Table At Ciros”, Jenny blew off her Saturday night plans with Bill, to attend the Ciro with Nathan. She describes her experience as, “it seemed to her that everybody in the room must be saying, ‘There goes A.D. with another one.’ But she tried to smile, tried to be having a terribly good time, thinking, If I want to be an actress, this is part of the job” (277). Jenny plasters on a smile with bright eyes, pretending to have a wonderful evening, when she could have been with Bill. Along with the countless other actors/actresses trying to achieve fame/riches, personal happiness is sacrificed first to get ahead. She puts her job and desire to “make it” in the industry before her own personal emotions. Forcing oneself to do something they don’t want to do is the norm and acceptable in the movie industry. In fact it’s expected to put oneself second and do whatever they can to get ahead.
This directly relates to yet another concept in Sunset Boulevard. Audience members watch Norma undergo intense beauty treatments as she thinks she’s making a comeback to the screens. Facials, massages, waxings, etc.the list goes on as to what Norma will undergo in hopes to be considered beautiful. Unfortunately, this is not far from today’s reality, specifically in Hollywood. To become “more beautiful”, as demonstrated by the movie industry, in society’s standards with hopes of achieving riches and fame, people “must” go as far as plastic surgery or starving themselves. Clearly, extreme measures are being met to achieve this definition of success.
Hollywood culture facilitates Norma Desmond’s delusions because Hollywood gave her heaps of money and allowed her to live in this fantasy-land for some time. She was so accustomed to her old glamorous lifestyle that when it suddenly was all over, delusions were just one of the coping mechanisms she experiences. Further, Hollywood culture facilitate Ira’s immorality. He becomes successful rapidly, and the fame quickly gets to his head, neglecting his sanity. The text describes, “Voyd’s mother ran in and found her husband beating the still unconscious son with a series of towels” (135). Similar to Norma, Ira also loses complete touch with reality. Whether consuming aspirin tablets several times a day or drinking nonstop, Hollywood culture changes Ira in ways that bring out his immorality. It’s interesting to observe through the film and readings that Hollywood can create some stars, but it can also bring out the worst in most.
Scrolling through celebrities Instagram feeds or watching Hollywood movies, the public easily labels Hollywood as this place of glamour and luxury. Yet films like Sunset Boulevard and text like “A Table at Crico’s” are beginning to debunk this illusion. Living on “that side”, in Hollywood, isn’t rainbows and sunshine. It’s sacrificing personal happiness, risking being dropped from the industry at any time, and worrying endlessly about the way you look. Unfortunately in today’s society though, this is all strictly hidden from the public so that Hollywood’s imaginative, innovative, dreamy fantasy-land continues to persist.
Alexis Livin' Life in Los Angeles 