Video Essay

My intention is to analyze how Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard (1950) presents and depicts the entire process of filmmaking, with a particular interest to how Hollywood is structured. I will also look at Matt Johnson’s The Dirties (2013). These two films are about moviemaking. Billy Wilder looks at the environment that surrounds filmmakers, Hollywood, the lavish life, the expectations, and all the nitty gritty details of the trade. In the video, I argue that filmmaking is not as it seems. To the untrained eye, filmmaking is a fun process, one that involves endless amounts of amusement, entertainment, and freedom. However, using Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard (1950) and Matt Johnson’s The Dirties (2013), I argue that filmmaking is a gruesome process, one that has very dark spaces in between, where despair, regret, and a complete lack of freedom dominate the industry.

To argue my point, I begun by focusing on how Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard (1950) depicts filmmaking including the process and the expectations from the entire industry. In my analysis, I follow up on the story of a washed-up Hollywood star, Norma Desmond, as she battles with her fall from fame. The societal expectations and the film industry demands force her to live in a fantasy world, where she has a complicated relationship with a film writer, leading to the latter’s death. The film sheds a lot of light on the Hollywood scene and the American film industry in general, revealing the truth about the glitz and glamour, and fake lifestyle of those who are major players in it. Norma Desmond is a critical part of the Hollywood star system. She is also a victim. I argue that she sees herself as a great star in line with how the filmmaking process, the film industry, and Hollywood system has made her. As she watches herself both on the screen and from the hundreds of pictures of herself in her disintegrating mansion, she does not realize that she has fallen from stardom, a characteristic feature of the film industry, particularly the Hollywood system of creating and destroying stars.

In a different perspective, I offer an insight into the independent filmmaking industry, as presented by Matt Johnson’s The Dirties (2013). Here, the filmmaker is more independent and not under the limitations or constraints of the film industry. The main characters Matt and Owen document the life of bullies and the revenge plan for two victimized students. While the movie is somewhat dark, it also shows the independence of the film world beyond those constrained by industry standards. Matt sinks into depression and proceeds to cry for help even though nobody notices. He asks embers of the student body about the process for rectifying instances of bullying. There are no avenues for getting help. In the process, the dark side of the filmmaking industry emerge as the bullying persists. The audience is treated to a classic case of making of a culprit from a victim. Matt and Owen’s exposure to bullying hardens them, strengthens their will for revenge, and opens them up to a dark side that they willingly explore. In the filmmaking experience, the daily stresses of writing, editing, and the constant ridicule from their audience get to them. Matt chooses to fight back, despite sinking into a hole of depression. Characteristically, the entire time, Owen has been a part of Matt’s journey without realizing how deteriorated the latter’s mental state has gone, until it is too late.

I think I was able to accomplish what I set out to do. I am satisfied with the way I analyzed the two movies in relation to how they depict filmmaking and how their content is relatable on a general level. However, I felt like I was not able to fully understand the intentions of Matt Johnson in making of The Dirties (2013).