WEBVTT - Sunset Boulevard 0:00:01.000 --> 0:00:03.960 On the Bechdel Cast, the questions asked if movies have 0:00:04.120 --> 0:00:07.960 women in them, are all their discussions just boyfriends and husbands, 0:00:08.039 --> 0:00:11.879 or do they have individualism? It's the patriarchy. Zephy and 0:00:12.119 --> 0:00:15.320 Beast start changing it with the Bechdel Cast. 0:00:16.320 --> 0:00:19.000 Mister Jamie, I'm ready for my close up. 0:00:20.440 --> 0:00:28.400 Bad news. You're under arrest. No nor acab includes particularly 0:00:28.720 --> 0:00:32.400 the cops that arrested Norma Desmond. She did nothing wrong. 0:00:33.880 --> 0:00:35.280 All she did was have a dream. 0:00:35.920 --> 0:00:39.560 Murdering a male screenwriter is not against the law. 0:00:40.360 --> 0:00:43.640 Brutal, brutal. I feel like the movie does feel that 0:00:43.680 --> 0:00:48.440 way a little bit, but maybe I'm just prigeting. Welcome 0:00:48.479 --> 0:00:53.600 to the Bechdel Cast. We are washed up podcast stars. 0:00:55.920 --> 0:00:58.680 They're oh god, you know, really, is it like the 0:00:58.720 --> 0:01:01.480 second you turned thirty that you're like, oh, Norma does 0:01:01.560 --> 0:01:02.920 but you know, bushy wrong. 0:01:03.040 --> 0:01:07.760 She's got some interesting ID you know, maybe she's onto something. 0:01:07.880 --> 0:01:10.960 Maybe I should live with a little chimpanzee at my 0:01:11.040 --> 0:01:13.440 house and would that be so bad? Oh? 0:01:13.520 --> 0:01:17.280 I felt so bad for that really weird looking chimp. 0:01:17.360 --> 0:01:20.440 I don't know what the prop department was doing, but. 0:01:20.480 --> 0:01:24.039 It was like, what, Okay, I'm not even gonna say it, 0:01:24.040 --> 0:01:26.600 there's something Nope, never mind, Okay, Yeah, I'm washed Up 0:01:26.600 --> 0:01:28.960 Podcast star Jamie Loftus. 0:01:28.560 --> 0:01:31.920 And I'm Washed Up Podcast star Caitlin Dernte And this 0:01:32.000 --> 0:01:38.160 is our washed Up podcast. Hell yeah, where we examine 0:01:38.160 --> 0:01:42.800 movies through an intersectional feminist lens, using the Bechdel Test 0:01:43.040 --> 0:01:45.120 as a jumping off point. 0:01:45.360 --> 0:01:50.880 Oh, this movie has a fun pass there. Yeah, what 0:01:51.080 --> 0:01:53.840 just happened to my brain? Holy shit? Happy New Year? Yes, 0:01:53.960 --> 0:01:57.400 and here's what the Bechdel test. We're too washed up 0:01:57.440 --> 0:02:00.760 to even talk. Oh my god, so sorry. Our brains 0:02:00.760 --> 0:02:04.040 are just so old and decaying that we don't even know. 0:02:04.080 --> 0:02:06.560 We think we're on the set of soloam or whatever? 0:02:07.200 --> 0:02:08.920 Can you keeps spacing out in the middle of this 0:02:08.960 --> 0:02:13.720 recording and being like solo where what? Anyways? Sorry, our 0:02:13.720 --> 0:02:16.920 feeble little brains aren't working. The Bechdel Test is a 0:02:17.040 --> 0:02:21.680 media metric originally created by queer cartoonist Alison Bechdel with 0:02:21.960 --> 0:02:24.520 her friend Liz Wallace, which is why it's often called 0:02:24.639 --> 0:02:28.239 the Bechdel Wallace Test. It was originally created just as 0:02:28.280 --> 0:02:32.079 a one off joke in her excellent comic Dikes to 0:02:32.120 --> 0:02:34.680 Watch Out For, as a way of drawing attention to 0:02:34.760 --> 0:02:39.200 how little queer representation there was and how infrequently women 0:02:39.320 --> 0:02:41.680 spoke to each other. Lots of versions of the test. 0:02:41.800 --> 0:02:46.280 Our version is this, we require that a character of 0:02:46.320 --> 0:02:50.560 a marginalized gender with a name speak to another character 0:02:50.639 --> 0:02:53.400 of a marginalized gender with a name about something other 0:02:53.440 --> 0:02:57.120 than a man, for two lines of dialogue. Most movies 0:02:57.600 --> 0:03:01.000 don't do it. Past present, and I'll say it future. 0:03:01.200 --> 0:03:03.640 I don't think we moved the needle very much, but 0:03:04.040 --> 0:03:08.240 that's okay. And today we are discussing a movie that 0:03:08.440 --> 0:03:12.760 has been on our request list forever and one that 0:03:12.880 --> 0:03:15.000 just felt like it would be fun because it features 0:03:15.040 --> 0:03:18.320 the most depressing New Year's Party ever committed to film, truly, 0:03:18.800 --> 0:03:21.760 And we just hit the New Year, and so it's 0:03:21.840 --> 0:03:25.760 high time we cover Sunset Bulevard nineteen fifty directed by 0:03:25.800 --> 0:03:33.720 Billy wild At. That's so true. Who is German not Australian? Yeah? Wait, 0:03:34.160 --> 0:03:38.080 huge news. Caitlin and I were talking to an Australian 0:03:38.080 --> 0:03:39.960 guy the other night at a New Year's party that 0:03:40.040 --> 0:03:42.200 was not depressing. It was very fun. It was very fun, 0:03:42.480 --> 0:03:45.000 and he complimented your Australian accent. 0:03:45.320 --> 0:03:49.040 He did and did. I felt so honored. 0:03:48.960 --> 0:03:51.720 It was truly like, in the seven years we've been 0:03:51.800 --> 0:03:55.119 doing this, the first time we've received active encouragement from 0:03:55.120 --> 0:03:59.080 an authority and it felt really good. Yeah, so thank 0:03:59.120 --> 0:04:05.280 you Trint for for the compliments that did not pass 0:04:05.320 --> 0:04:07.760 the Bechdel test. So hope you're taking notes, Hope you're 0:04:07.800 --> 0:04:08.840 keeping up correct. 0:04:08.960 --> 0:04:12.440 You know what is going to pass the Bechdel test though, 0:04:13.080 --> 0:04:15.760 is when we take a little detour to plug the 0:04:16.000 --> 0:04:18.520 tour that we have coming up. 0:04:19.040 --> 0:04:21.520 Yes, it will totally pass the Bechdel test because a 0:04:21.560 --> 0:04:24.360 tour is famously genderless. 0:04:23.839 --> 0:04:26.880 And it's about Barbie, the Barbie Movie. 0:04:26.960 --> 0:04:30.440 I'm really excited. I just don't have a bone of 0:04:30.440 --> 0:04:32.200 hate in my body for the Barbie Movie, except for 0:04:32.240 --> 0:04:34.080 the few that we'll talk about at the show. Yeah, 0:04:34.080 --> 0:04:37.200 we were touring five cities coming up at the beginning 0:04:37.240 --> 0:04:40.760 of February. We are covering the Barbie Movie in every city. 0:04:41.160 --> 0:04:45.039 February first, we'll be at SF Sketch Fest in San Francisco. 0:04:45.520 --> 0:04:49.080 February second will be going over to Sacramento. Oh, Greta 0:04:49.120 --> 0:04:53.760 Gerwig vibes much everything about that Lady Bird. Our Barbie 0:04:53.760 --> 0:04:55.720 show there is sold out, but we still have tickets 0:04:55.720 --> 0:04:58.640 available to our second show, which is about the Wolf 0:04:58.680 --> 0:05:01.680 of Wall Street, which is like basically the same movie 0:05:02.240 --> 0:05:06.640 on same experience. You'll be fine, too much. Bring the luds, yes, yeah. 0:05:06.720 --> 0:05:09.640 Then after that we are heading to Texas and doing 0:05:09.720 --> 0:05:13.279 a show in Dallas on February third, a show in 0:05:13.440 --> 0:05:18.320 Austin on February fifth, and then we are circling back 0:05:18.360 --> 0:05:21.680 around to southern California and doing a show in San 0:05:21.720 --> 0:05:26.640 Diego on February tenth, recovering Barbie at all of those shows, 0:05:27.080 --> 0:05:30.400 and tickets are still available, although they're going fast, so yes, 0:05:30.800 --> 0:05:33.320 make sure you grab your tickets, which you can do 0:05:34.120 --> 0:05:38.600 at Link Tree Slash Bechtel Cast. And you're gonna want 0:05:38.600 --> 0:05:42.320 to see us live because here's the thing we put 0:05:42.360 --> 0:05:46.800 on a show. It's a spectacle. Okay. We are ready 0:05:46.839 --> 0:05:50.240 for our close up at these live shows, you know 0:05:51.240 --> 0:05:54.240 we are. Certainly we wear outfits, we do slide shows 0:05:54.320 --> 0:05:56.600 if we have time, we do audience Q and. 0:05:56.600 --> 0:06:00.680 A sound really exciting. We wear close and there's we 0:06:00.800 --> 0:06:04.920 played games, we've sung, we've danced. We really put on. 0:06:04.920 --> 0:06:07.600 The eat sometimes on stage. 0:06:07.120 --> 0:06:09.360 We do didn't have to be fed. It's kind of like, 0:06:09.480 --> 0:06:13.080 you know, a crossover between like a fetish video and 0:06:13.440 --> 0:06:17.479 a sexy college lecture, so so coming down and then 0:06:17.520 --> 0:06:20.279 we always we have tour exclusive merch and then we 0:06:20.320 --> 0:06:22.880 do meet in greats afterwards. So yeah, it's it's always 0:06:22.880 --> 0:06:26.600 a fun time and we hope to see you there. Indeed, 0:06:26.920 --> 0:06:29.760 don't believe we could have a fun time talking about 0:06:29.760 --> 0:06:34.440 a movie. Well, listen to this, Caitlyn, what's your experience 0:06:34.920 --> 0:06:36.520 with the movie Sunset Boulevard. 0:06:37.600 --> 0:06:41.000 So I saw it for the first time either late 0:06:41.040 --> 0:06:43.800 in high school or early college. I would have been 0:06:44.040 --> 0:06:47.120 like seventeen eighteen something like that. I knew that it 0:06:47.160 --> 0:06:52.320 was a very culturally significant movie, you know, one of 0:06:52.320 --> 0:06:57.839 the greats from the classic Hollywood era. So it's been 0:06:57.880 --> 0:07:01.120 on my radar for a very long time. And yeah, 0:07:01.200 --> 0:07:07.320 I watched it once then probably once again for like 0:07:07.440 --> 0:07:11.480 a film school assignment, and then maybe even a second 0:07:11.520 --> 0:07:13.960 time for a film school assignment when I did go 0:07:14.360 --> 0:07:17.960 and get my master's degree in screenwriting at Boston University, 0:07:18.040 --> 0:07:21.760 a fact that I never mention, and you know who 0:07:21.800 --> 0:07:25.400 probably doesn't have a master's in screenwriting from Boston University 0:07:26.160 --> 0:07:27.800 is Joe Gillis. 0:07:28.040 --> 0:07:32.880 Oh, I was like, whoa, why are we yelling at me? Yeah, 0:07:32.920 --> 0:07:35.360 it's true, it's true, and that's why he's such a 0:07:35.760 --> 0:07:40.200 failure exactly, and maybe that's why he died. It makes 0:07:40.200 --> 0:07:43.960 you think, Yeah, I have a similar experience with this movie. 0:07:44.200 --> 0:07:45.840 I hadn't seen it in a bit, but I would 0:07:45.840 --> 0:07:48.440 consider it in sort of my top tier of movies. 0:07:48.480 --> 0:07:51.040 I've seen it many times. I saw it for the 0:07:51.080 --> 0:07:55.440 first time, I think in college first just for fun 0:07:55.680 --> 0:07:59.400 or like the film program, like we've discussed like, oh, 0:08:00.000 --> 0:08:02.120 I have to watch this movie because like this movie 0:08:02.240 --> 0:08:05.720 is I think, like fantastic, and it's also heavily assigned. 0:08:06.160 --> 0:08:08.440 I've like a lot of people watch this movie for school, 0:08:08.840 --> 0:08:10.640 and maybe more people should watch it for fun because 0:08:10.680 --> 0:08:14.119 it's fun to watch. But yeah, I think I've mentioned 0:08:14.120 --> 0:08:16.160 this in the show in past years. I took this 0:08:16.240 --> 0:08:21.280 class in college that not only aged tremendously poorly, but 0:08:21.400 --> 0:08:24.200 at the time students were like what the fuck. I 0:08:24.240 --> 0:08:27.920 had a class called Wilder, Allan and Kaufman, and I 0:08:28.120 --> 0:08:32.000 took heavy objection to it exactly one of those directors. 0:08:32.040 --> 0:08:33.520 I didn't want to. I wanted to study the other 0:08:33.559 --> 0:08:36.440 two and not the middle one. Blah blah blah. It 0:08:36.520 --> 0:08:41.480 was like twenty thirteen, and they were like, shut up. Anyways, 0:08:41.800 --> 0:08:46.000 I quite enjoyed the Wilder portions of that class, in 0:08:46.040 --> 0:08:48.160 the Kaffman portions, but for the sake of this conversation, 0:08:48.320 --> 0:08:53.160 I sort of became a proper Billy Wilder fan through 0:08:53.200 --> 0:08:57.439 taking that class. I think he's a really fascinating person, complicated, 0:08:57.880 --> 0:09:01.520 certainly imperfect, but like I really like his work. And 0:09:01.640 --> 0:09:05.480 I mean, I think this is my favorite Billy Wilder movie. 0:09:05.520 --> 0:09:08.080 But I mean it is like kind of not to 0:09:08.200 --> 0:09:10.520 like start the episode out by like handing it to 0:09:10.559 --> 0:09:13.520 a man, but I really really like, I mean, the 0:09:13.559 --> 0:09:17.520 amount of incredibly influential movies that he turned out in 0:09:17.559 --> 0:09:20.440 this course of his career is absolutely I'll say it 0:09:20.480 --> 0:09:21.560 is Wilder. Wow. 0:09:21.679 --> 0:09:24.640 I mean, You've got Double Indemnity, which we have covered 0:09:24.640 --> 0:09:28.000 a couple of years ago on the show with Anita Sarkisian. 0:09:28.559 --> 0:09:31.840 We have not covered, but other very notable movies of 0:09:31.840 --> 0:09:36.120 his include The Seven Year Itch, The Apartment, and Some 0:09:36.320 --> 0:09:39.760 Like It Hot, which is probably my favorite Wilder movie. 0:09:39.840 --> 0:09:42.000 I mean, like it's almost like a three way time 0:09:42.080 --> 0:09:45.360 between ugh, because we were also talking about covering The 0:09:45.360 --> 0:09:48.400 Apartment this week, because it's also like a holiday time movie. 0:09:49.360 --> 0:09:51.560 It might be a tie between the Sunset Boulevard and 0:09:51.559 --> 0:09:53.760 The Apartment for me, but some like it Hot is 0:09:53.800 --> 0:09:58.320 also so great. See he also directed Sabrina like he 0:09:58.400 --> 0:10:02.280 did a lot of great work. And I was trying 0:10:02.280 --> 0:10:05.439 to read where I know that he had contentious relationships 0:10:05.480 --> 0:10:08.400 with actors and actresses. It seemed like but I think 0:10:08.600 --> 0:10:12.840 he's been through several rounds of film buff discourse of 0:10:13.679 --> 0:10:16.120 is his work pro women, is his work anti women? 0:10:16.120 --> 0:10:19.280 I think the answer, as with most people, is like 0:10:19.960 --> 0:10:23.040 somewhere in the middle, and it depends from text to text, 0:10:23.080 --> 0:10:25.320 and it depends on the years coming out all this stuff. 0:10:25.920 --> 0:10:30.080 I love Sunset Boulevard. I love the performances in it, 0:10:30.360 --> 0:10:32.320 and I really I mean, I hadn't watched it, I 0:10:32.360 --> 0:10:34.560 want to say, for maybe like three or four years, 0:10:35.440 --> 0:10:37.000 and there's so much to talk about. But I think 0:10:37.240 --> 0:10:43.200 as it's probably my favorite movie about movies. It's a 0:10:43.240 --> 0:10:45.880 good one. Yeah, And I feel like it still has 0:10:46.120 --> 0:10:48.680 a lot to say in a way that feels like 0:10:49.040 --> 0:10:53.160 kind of depressingly not dated. This movie is over seventy 0:10:53.280 --> 0:10:57.200 years old, and it still feels like what it's saying 0:10:57.320 --> 0:11:00.440 is still very relevant to how the movie and just works, 0:11:00.440 --> 0:11:02.880 but also very specific to the silent era and like, 0:11:03.320 --> 0:11:05.760 I'm really excited to talk about the context of this 0:11:06.120 --> 0:11:10.320 movie because Norma Dusmond is such a complex character that 0:11:10.320 --> 0:11:12.160 I feel like you can view a million ways, some 0:11:12.200 --> 0:11:16.000 of which are we'll talk about all one million. I 0:11:16.080 --> 0:11:18.880 just have like such, I can't imagine being Glorious Swanson 0:11:19.520 --> 0:11:23.960 and having like this experience and then being like, here's 0:11:24.000 --> 0:11:27.600 the character, and then not just being like, Okay, I 0:11:27.640 --> 0:11:32.360 can compartmentalize my entire life and career and play this 0:11:32.679 --> 0:11:37.920 caricature of an actor and while watching my movies that 0:11:37.960 --> 0:11:39.079 were directed by. 0:11:39.720 --> 0:11:43.280 Marriage and whatever, yeah, and. 0:11:43.200 --> 0:11:46.160 That movie was directed by him, and like compartmentalize it 0:11:46.280 --> 0:11:48.679 and not just be able to compartmentalize it, but like 0:11:48.800 --> 0:11:54.240 deliver such an iconic performance that like is so stripped 0:11:54.480 --> 0:11:58.800 of artifice, and like it's just and I have issues 0:11:58.880 --> 0:12:01.960 with that in some but I just like, I don't know, 0:12:02.080 --> 0:12:05.000 I can't watch this movie and not be like, oh 0:12:05.040 --> 0:12:08.760 my god, I don't know if I could even consider 0:12:08.840 --> 0:12:12.520 doing something that would require compartmentalizing your ego to that extent. 0:12:12.600 --> 0:12:18.640 It's unbelievable, I know, right Well, shall we get into 0:12:19.000 --> 0:12:20.280 it with the recap. 0:12:20.760 --> 0:12:21.520 Let's do it. 0:12:22.280 --> 0:12:25.440 Let's take a quick break first, and then we'll come back. 0:12:37.200 --> 0:12:38.400 And where we're back. 0:12:39.920 --> 0:12:43.800 All right, So here's the recap of Sunset Boulevard. But 0:12:43.920 --> 0:12:49.920 before that'll place a content warning for suicide as well 0:12:49.960 --> 0:12:54.640 as emotional abuse in a partnership. 0:12:54.880 --> 0:12:58.800 If you're triggered by a character named hog Eye. Hog Eye, 0:12:59.080 --> 0:13:02.200 I have so many questions about Haguy? What was going on? 0:13:02.600 --> 0:13:06.199 How Guy? There are a few lines in this movie 0:13:06.200 --> 0:13:08.440 that are obviously, like, very famous, whether you've seen the 0:13:08.440 --> 0:13:12.600 movie or not. But hello, haw Guy. You're like, whoa, 0:13:12.920 --> 0:13:15.559 that's the greatest line rate I've ever heard. 0:13:17.120 --> 0:13:20.040 Because it's also not clear because he identifies himself if 0:13:20.200 --> 0:13:22.840 she remembers so yeah, he says, Hey, it's me, how Guy, 0:13:23.160 --> 0:13:27.360 and then she responds hello guy, but it's we don't 0:13:27.400 --> 0:13:30.000 know if she recognizes him and knows him or if 0:13:30.000 --> 0:13:31.280 she's just like being like. 0:13:31.160 --> 0:13:34.120 I'm gonna guess she does, so I'm gonna guess she's 0:13:34.120 --> 0:13:37.160 actively listening. But just like the way she greets ha 0:13:37.280 --> 0:13:42.839 guy and he's so thrilled iconic, Oh my god, yeallo 0:13:45.000 --> 0:13:46.400 all right EPISP. 0:13:48.200 --> 0:13:52.920 The movie opens on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles, California. 0:13:52.960 --> 0:13:54.400 I've ever heard of it? Oh, I can see it 0:13:54.440 --> 0:13:57.960 from my freaking house. Oh my gosh, I can't wait 0:13:58.000 --> 0:14:04.400 to die in a pool. Okay, So the police are 0:14:04.400 --> 0:14:08.600 heading to a huge mansion on Sunset Boulevard to investigate 0:14:08.640 --> 0:14:12.600 a homicide because the body of a man was found 0:14:12.720 --> 0:14:16.600 floating in the pool of a movie star. Yes, I 0:14:16.640 --> 0:14:20.520 feel like you know, narration is so often like overused 0:14:20.640 --> 0:14:22.880 or like as a lazy tool, but it rocks in 0:14:22.920 --> 0:14:25.200 this movie. And there's also that sort of moment where 0:14:25.200 --> 0:14:29.760 like Joe the William Holton character, as like, this isn't 0:14:29.760 --> 0:14:31.360 a famous thing to say yet, but he's like, you're 0:14:31.440 --> 0:14:34.880 kind of wondering how I got here. Huh, well, it's 0:14:34.960 --> 0:14:35.960 kind of a weird story. 0:14:36.200 --> 0:14:39.840 We go take it back, like, let's flash back to 0:14:40.000 --> 0:14:44.200 six months earlier where we meet and we get voiceover 0:14:44.400 --> 0:14:49.240 narration from a struggling screenwriter who, again I can only 0:14:49.280 --> 0:14:52.320 assume is struggling because he doesn't have a master's degree 0:14:52.400 --> 0:14:53.240 in screenwriting. 0:14:53.880 --> 0:14:57.160 It's so yeah watching this, I mean, just like individually, 0:14:57.160 --> 0:14:58.760 you're just like, wow, I don't like that I can 0:14:58.960 --> 0:15:05.840 relate with Joe and Norman No Bad and Betty like, 0:15:06.880 --> 0:15:10.560 oh I know, it's almost like it's a really good movie. 0:15:10.640 --> 0:15:15.080 Okay, Wow, Okay, So This screenwriter is Joe Gillis played 0:15:15.120 --> 0:15:19.120 by William Holden, and some men show up at his 0:15:19.160 --> 0:15:22.920 apartment to try to repossess his car because he's several 0:15:22.960 --> 0:15:27.640 months behind on payments. He needs some quick cash. He 0:15:27.720 --> 0:15:31.000 mentions two hundred and ninety dollars, which is nearly four 0:15:31.040 --> 0:15:35.200 thousand dollars in today's money. Bad and that situation, yes, 0:15:35.280 --> 0:15:38.120 So he's trying to go around town and borrow money 0:15:38.240 --> 0:15:39.240 from friends. 0:15:40.040 --> 0:15:40.560 No luck. 0:15:40.840 --> 0:15:44.440 He also goes to Paramount to pitch a story idea, 0:15:44.520 --> 0:15:47.520 hoping that he can sell a script, but the producer 0:15:47.640 --> 0:15:52.240 isn't interested because a script reader named Betty played by 0:15:52.320 --> 0:15:55.680 Nancy Olsen is like, yeah, I read that script and 0:15:55.880 --> 0:15:56.480 it sucked. 0:15:56.680 --> 0:16:00.320 So I honestly it's like, you have such Betty, I 0:16:00.400 --> 0:16:03.120 kept writing down Caitlyn vibes when he's like, what do 0:16:03.160 --> 0:16:03.560 you think? 0:16:04.200 --> 0:16:06.760 She would just be like nu, it's a trite and boring. 0:16:07.200 --> 0:16:09.640 Yeah. And then they meet up again later and you're like, oh, 0:16:09.840 --> 0:16:12.720 she's good, but she's just as hard. She's just like, no, 0:16:12.840 --> 0:16:14.480 it's bad. I still don't like it. 0:16:14.880 --> 0:16:17.440 But then she's also like, but I've heard your talented 0:16:17.480 --> 0:16:20.640 and I can see your potential, so let's collaborate and. 0:16:20.800 --> 0:16:23.000 Right, which is like at least grounded in the fact 0:16:23.000 --> 0:16:25.400 that she's seen work of his that she liked, but 0:16:25.440 --> 0:16:27.120 like none of the work of his that she liked 0:16:27.120 --> 0:16:30.160 has ever been produced, which does feel true to far. Yeah, 0:16:30.160 --> 0:16:31.920 I really like that exchange between them where she's like, 0:16:31.960 --> 0:16:34.120 I heard you had talent and he's like, not this year. 0:16:34.240 --> 0:16:36.720 I'm trying to work this year. I'm like, damn me too, 0:16:36.920 --> 0:16:37.240 me too. 0:16:37.280 --> 0:16:43.400 Man relatable. Yeah, Okay. So Joe leaves and while he's 0:16:43.600 --> 0:16:46.720 driving down Sunset Boulevard, he spots the guys who are 0:16:46.720 --> 0:16:49.680 trying to repoe his car, so he speeds away and 0:16:49.840 --> 0:16:53.000 ends up in the driveway of what appears to be 0:16:53.440 --> 0:16:57.000 an abandoned mansion, and he hides his car in the 0:16:57.040 --> 0:17:01.400 empty garage. His plan is basically to skip town, take 0:17:01.440 --> 0:17:04.000 a bus back to Ohio, and kind of just like 0:17:04.080 --> 0:17:08.200 give up on the Hollywood life. But as he's there 0:17:08.359 --> 0:17:11.679 examining this mansion, he hears a woman's voice and it 0:17:11.720 --> 0:17:16.080 turns out the house has not been abandoned. Then a 0:17:16.119 --> 0:17:22.080 butler named Max played by Eric von Stroheim, who, if 0:17:22.080 --> 0:17:25.280 you don't know, is a prominent Silent film era director 0:17:25.480 --> 0:17:29.040 who directed a movie starring Gloria Swanson, and. 0:17:29.080 --> 0:17:32.080 Don't worry they show a clip of it. Don't screen 0:17:32.160 --> 0:17:34.280 it this god. 0:17:35.200 --> 0:17:40.680 Yes, So anyway, Max the butler shows Joe inside and 0:17:41.480 --> 0:17:45.359 the woman whose voice we heard had mistaken Joe for 0:17:45.480 --> 0:17:48.679 being an undertaker who's there to remove the body of 0:17:48.720 --> 0:17:49.840 a dead chin. 0:17:49.760 --> 0:17:55.600 Pansy monkey undertaker. Yeah what, and the chimpanzee has been dead. 0:17:55.720 --> 0:17:59.080 I dare I say for a while, it seems like 0:17:59.280 --> 0:18:05.919 so it looks dry, uh huh, yucky, it's nasty. Anyway, 0:18:05.960 --> 0:18:10.080 it's real meet cute. At the top, they kind of 0:18:10.160 --> 0:18:14.720 do like start vibing immediately, like you know, it's fundamentally 0:18:14.720 --> 0:18:17.880 an abusive relationship with this first encounter, I'm like, are 0:18:17.880 --> 0:18:20.360 they vibing right now over the whole dead monkey situation? 0:18:21.040 --> 0:18:23.840 But in a very it's like a very neggy Yeah 0:18:24.400 --> 0:18:30.200 both ways with these two way nagging street they're weirdos, 0:18:29.680 --> 0:18:34.480 they're sick. So anyway, Joe is like, you got the 0:18:34.520 --> 0:18:38.160 wrong guy, But wait a minute, I recognize you because 0:18:38.200 --> 0:18:43.080 the woman is Norma Desmond played by Gloria Swanson, a 0:18:43.440 --> 0:18:47.840 silent movie star who used to be very famous but 0:18:48.200 --> 0:18:53.760 hasn't worked as an actor since talkies became popular, which 0:18:53.800 --> 0:18:58.280 is something that we learn she deeply resents that you know, 0:18:58.359 --> 0:19:00.199 she's not working anymore, and. 0:19:00.800 --> 0:19:05.080 That she hasn't completely accepted that she is no longer 0:19:05.240 --> 0:19:08.240 a big current start, and also that she struggles to 0:19:08.320 --> 0:19:11.560 accept the fact that she's aging and accept her own 0:19:11.960 --> 0:19:15.720 mortality because of how older women are treated in Hollywood, 0:19:15.760 --> 0:19:17.400 which I feel like this is one of the few 0:19:17.400 --> 0:19:20.040 movies of this era that like, well, we'll get into it, 0:19:20.040 --> 0:19:25.520 but like it's at least suggested and clear that there 0:19:25.600 --> 0:19:29.280 is a systemic reason that she's trained to see herself. 0:19:29.920 --> 0:19:32.119 It's all over the place, but like, I feel like 0:19:32.119 --> 0:19:34.480 it's clearer than you know, normally you see a woman 0:19:34.600 --> 0:19:40.080 over forty much less fifty that the call is coming 0:19:40.080 --> 0:19:43.040 from inside the house, and this is just something that 0:19:43.040 --> 0:19:47.360 happens at least this movie, I think. Does a lot 0:19:47.359 --> 0:19:50.959 of current movies do to contextualize it. Yeah, true, but 0:19:51.000 --> 0:19:53.159 it doesn't free her from you know, the troupes, all 0:19:53.160 --> 0:19:56.080 that stuff. It's so we're covering well, yeah, I guess 0:19:56.080 --> 0:19:58.760 this will come out in sequential order. We're covering May 0:19:58.760 --> 0:20:02.560 December coming up next week, and I know it's just 0:20:02.600 --> 0:20:05.280 because we've been sort of preparing for these episodes beside 0:20:05.320 --> 0:20:10.280 each other. But there are these like interesting parallels between 0:20:10.520 --> 0:20:13.400 you know, just like an older woman and by old, 0:20:13.520 --> 0:20:16.280 you know a woman over fifty, right, yeah, whose whole 0:20:16.960 --> 0:20:22.800 life has been constructed to protect her from reality, amongst 0:20:22.800 --> 0:20:25.080 other things. But it was just interesting watching those movies 0:20:25.119 --> 0:20:27.600 side by side and being like, oh, obviously I know 0:20:27.680 --> 0:20:29.800 that Todd Haynes has seen Sunset Boulevard, but there is 0:20:29.800 --> 0:20:32.880 like just the haunted house feel to it for sure. Yeah. 0:20:32.920 --> 0:20:38.520 Yeah, I was also getting some misery parallels. Sure, yeah, 0:20:39.359 --> 0:20:43.560 a movie we covered some time years ago. Yeah, And 0:20:43.600 --> 0:20:46.879 I was like, wow, I bet Stephen King watched. 0:20:48.680 --> 0:20:51.000 Yeah. It's like, oh, I love having the genius thought 0:20:51.080 --> 0:20:53.280 that maybe a famous director has seen one of the 0:20:53.320 --> 0:20:59.120 most famous movies ever, Like could it be? Are you anyway? 0:20:59.560 --> 0:21:06.120 So Joe recognizes Norma Desmond and she's like, oh, wait 0:21:06.160 --> 0:21:10.040 a minute, you're a writer. Well, I wrote a story 0:21:10.200 --> 0:21:14.920 about Slome that I want Cecil B. Demill to direct, 0:21:15.480 --> 0:21:22.120 and she wants Joe to read her very long, handwritten script. 0:21:22.400 --> 0:21:26.159 It's got Santi University vibes. I was like, wow, literally, 0:21:26.200 --> 0:21:30.159 Norma Desmond wrote her Santi University. And also she's like, 0:21:30.160 --> 0:21:32.440 and no one will produce it. 0:21:31.200 --> 0:21:33.800 It's six hundred pages. 0:21:34.160 --> 0:21:36.400 Yep. She won't take. 0:21:36.240 --> 0:21:40.119 Notes, certainly not, And so Joe starts reading it and 0:21:40.160 --> 0:21:44.480 it turns out to be like poorly written, melodramatic drivel. 0:21:45.080 --> 0:21:47.879 But Joe realizes that he can try to squeeze some 0:21:48.040 --> 0:21:54.640 money out of Norma if he offers to rewrite the script. Yeah, 0:21:54.680 --> 0:21:58.760 and she's like, well, you're Sagittarius, so I can trust 0:21:58.800 --> 0:21:59.680 you again. 0:22:00.000 --> 0:22:06.439 It's like, no, No, that's the worst reasoning I've ever heard. 0:22:07.440 --> 0:22:11.840 There's another scene later on where she's talking about, like 0:22:11.960 --> 0:22:14.639 today is the exact right day to drop off the 0:22:14.680 --> 0:22:18.119 script to Cecil b de Mill because of like the 0:22:18.200 --> 0:22:21.080 alignments of the planets and how she's a blah blah 0:22:21.119 --> 0:22:22.879 blah and he's a leah or whatever. 0:22:22.960 --> 0:22:25.320 Like she's like, la women are going to LA women. 0:22:25.520 --> 0:22:29.000 It doesn't matter what decade it is, exactly the position 0:22:29.080 --> 0:22:31.639 of the stars is what is going to make or 0:22:31.680 --> 0:22:37.159 break their flopping career, you know, sure, yeah yeah, And 0:22:37.200 --> 0:22:39.240 also like we don't even need to ascribe a gender 0:22:39.280 --> 0:22:41.439 to it. That's just simply what it's like out here 0:22:41.880 --> 0:22:44.840 in general. It's true. And if you live in La 0:22:44.880 --> 0:22:47.160 and you think you're immune to it, you just haven't 0:22:47.160 --> 0:22:48.680 lived here long enough. I don't think. 0:22:49.240 --> 0:22:53.959 I quite recently was like, okay, fine, I'll finally figure 0:22:54.000 --> 0:22:59.320 out what my like rising and moon signs are. 0:22:59.720 --> 0:23:03.280 Oh gosh, wait, you should get a chart reading from 0:23:03.320 --> 0:23:08.160 my friend Cameron. Shout out Cameron Farmer's chart. My boyfriend 0:23:08.200 --> 0:23:12.000 just got his chart read by them, because he also 0:23:12.240 --> 0:23:16.560 was like, okay, you win, La, you win. I will 0:23:16.600 --> 0:23:18.159 find out about the start I know. 0:23:18.240 --> 0:23:21.080 And then also a few years ago, I bought crystals. 0:23:21.119 --> 0:23:23.399 I went to House of Intuition, I remember, and I 0:23:23.400 --> 0:23:26.000 bought crystals because I was like, these are gonna change 0:23:26.040 --> 0:23:28.560 my life and did they certainly not. 0:23:29.160 --> 0:23:32.000 But they're pretty A bunch of people just threw their 0:23:32.000 --> 0:23:34.720 phone in across the They're just like god, damn it. 0:23:34.760 --> 0:23:37.560 They're all like this. It's kind of true, but like, 0:23:37.760 --> 0:23:40.119 you know, victimist crime unless you get into like a 0:23:40.119 --> 0:23:42.160 wellness called don't do it. Don't do that, just don't 0:23:42.160 --> 0:23:46.920 do that, just don't Yeah exactly. Anyways, Norma Desmond not immune. 0:23:46.960 --> 0:23:48.920 I was just it was funny to be like, oh wow, 0:23:49.080 --> 0:23:52.639 nineteen fifty and yeah, yeah, it's just always been like that. 0:23:52.920 --> 0:23:56.399