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.