Swimming pool motif
Represents Joe’s dream of success, which ultimately kills him.
The chimpanzee funeral scene
Shows how Joe will become Norma’s “pet”
Shows how isolated and detached Norma is from reality. Her emotional world is completely warped.
Max’s role
Enables Norma’s delusion. Represents blind loyalty and self-sacrifice.
View on fame
Fame is temporary and destructive when tied to self-worth.
Joe leaving Norma
Moment of attempted moral redemption that costs him his life.
Improve a BP of your own writing - How many times have you used
“Wilder [verb] …..”
What I need to include more of
CAMELS, views and values, quotes/characterisation
“All right, Mr DeMille, I’m ready for my close-up.”
Norma fully loses touch with reality. Fame has consumed her identity.
View on success
Success without integrity leads to moral decay.
View on aging women
Film critiques how Hollywood marginalises older women.
Key mistake and how to fix
Plot retelling, explore views and values.
Norma’s mansion
Symbol of decay. Reflects her mental deterioration and isolation.
Opening line about the body in the pool
Establishes film noir tone and foreshadows Joe’s fate.
Betty Schaefer
Symbol of hope, integrity, and genuine artistic ambition.
Illusion vs reality
Central theme. Characters choose illusion to avoid painful truth.
“You’re Norma Desmond. You used to be big.”
Joe bluntly reminds her she is outdated. Highlights Hollywood’s cruelty.
“We didn’t need dialogue. We had faces.”
Shows pride in silent film era and resistance to change.
“The stars are ageless, aren’t they?”
Norma believes fame makes her immortal. Shows denial of aging.
Value of identity
Identity built only on external validation leads to emptiness.
Joe as narrator
Dead narrator creates cynicism and inevitability. Shows corruption of Hollywood.
Film noir style
Dark lighting and shadows reflect moral corruption and fatalism.
Instead of using quotes to summerise story
Analyse quotes, consider tone, literary devices, connotative language, syntax
Norma’s final staircase scene
Blurs performance and madness. Hollywood spectacle never truly ends.
“I am big. It’s the pictures that got small.”
Norma refuses to accept reality. Shows her delusion, and obsession with past fame.
