Idea of Artificiality in Hollywood Fiction and in Los Angeles

¶ … performance of the Hollywood film industry, keeping in view all the relevant details and structures, which the directors and the moviemakers of the Hollywood film industry present in their movies. The idea of artificiality in Hollywood fiction and in Los Angeles will be mainly discussed and elaborated further in the paper. The ideas, arguments and the statements regarding the Hollywood fame culture and artificiality will be supported by the examples of the movies.

Sunset Boulevard by William Holden is selected as an example to reflect the ideas on the Hollywood's fame culture and its artificiality. The names and descriptions of other movies will also be included so as to give a true and fair view of the statement regarding the culture of fame and artificiality in Hollywood fiction and in Los Angeles. In the end, conclusion based on all the relevant facts will also be presented which will prove that the idea of artificiality and the culture of fame regarding the Hollywood film industry and media cannot be neglected.

THE HOLLYWOOD FILM INDUSTRY:

It was all an accident; Hollywood, that is. The town that would become so proficient at creating fake accidents to amuse, fascinate, or terrify a future audience numbering in the billions was itself a serendipitous product of the right timing and the right location." http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0312261950/ref=sib_dp_pt/102-8#reader-page

The creation and inception of the Hollywood film industry lead a new direction and opening for the young talents. The inception of the Hollywood film industry have although provided a new platform for the talents yet, it has also become a source of fake information and evidences because the movies and the films which are produced in the Hollywood film industry are all based on the idea of artificiality. These movies are made just to entertain the audiences and to provide them with quality entertainment; these films have nothing to do with the real world.

The paper will further discover the aspects of fame, which is connected with the Hollywood industry. The movies as produced by the Hollywood film industry have although provide young talents with new chances but simultaneously, they have also generated a culture known as a fame culture. According to which the young generation is tempted to become famous and to gain success as the stars of the film industry gets. A wide range of audiences watches the Hollywood films and movies across the world and therefore, the chances of getting into the fame culture are opened to millions and trillions of people who are inspired by the films and movies of the Hollywood film industry.

AN EXAMPLE OF THE MOVIE SUNSET BOULEVARD (1950):

Sunset Boulevard (1950) is a classic black comedy/drama, and perhaps the most acclaimed, but darkest film-noir story about "behind the scenes" Hollywood, self-deceit, spiritual and spatial emptiness, and the price of fame, greed, narcissism, and ambition. The mood of the film is immediately established by the posthumous narrator - a dead man floating facedown in a swimming pool. With caustic, bitter wit in a story that blends both fact and fiction and dream and reality, co-writer/director Billy Wilder realistically exposes the corruptive, devastating influences of the new Hollywood and the studio system by showing the decline of old Hollywood legends many years after the coming of sound. The screenplay was based on the story A Can of Beans by Wilder and Brackett - this was the last collaborative film effort of Brackett and Wilder who had worked together on many films since 1938." http://www.filmsite.org/suns.html

Sunset Boulevard was directed by William Holden in the year 1950, it was highly regarded and appreciated at its time of release and the audiences really enjoyed the movie. The success of this film can be evaluated from the fact that it received three Oscars along with eleven academy award nominations. The concept of the film reveals that the film has tried to derive the attention of the audiences towards the fact that Hollywood's fame and culture is a world of artificiality and dream. The characters of the movie have tried to explore the real worth and happiness of the fame and culture. The story of Sunset Boulevard was based on the story by Wilder and Bracket, although, it was not an original work of William Holden but due to the strong story and concept of the movie it became one of the most renowned movie of its time.

Wilder's Oscar winning noir psychodrama "Sunset Blvd" pales in comparison with many middle tier films of today in spite of being revered as a classic. In keeping with the public's appetite of its time, "Sunset..." is melodramatic, fraught with overacting, and promotes a plot which raises more questions than it answers all in the interest of entertaining a movie going public hungry for escape from the memories of global war and the realities of reconstruction." http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043014/

It has been a normal practice with in the Hollywood that after the release of a movie it is appreciated and praised by the audiences but after the passage of time, its fame and popularity declines and therefore, it reflects the idea of artificiality and fakeness which is directly linked with the culture of Hollywood fiction and movie making. For example, Sunset Boulevard was regarded as one of the most renowned movies of that period but gradually it lost its fame and vigor because this film is considered as melodramatic n nature and the plot of the story is also weak because it has raised many questions and has answered only a few. This evidence shows that the culture of Hollywood fame is not reliable and consistent Infact, it changes with the time. Hence, it can be said that the Hollywood films and fiction brings about an element of culture and fame and gradually this fame declines due to passage of time, according to which one can say that the Hollywood fiction is based on the idea of artificiality

Sunset Boulevard explores the dark side of Hollywood, reminding you of Kenneth Anger's book Hollywood Babylon & its influence cane be found in recent films: the central conceit of a voiceover from a corpse would be borrowed for 'American Beauty', while the character names of 'Gordon Cole' & 'Betty' (Nancy Olson) would find themselves quoted in works by David Lynch: the former the name of Lynch's character in Twin Peaks; the latter the initial name of Naomi Watts in 'Mulholland Drive'- another treatise on the dark side of Hollywood." http://www.reviewcentre.com/review107351.html

Although the movies which are being produced in the Hollywood and Los Angeles have tried to provide a realistic entertainment to the audiences. But, it has also brought the idea of artificiality with in the Hollywood and in Los Angeles. This concept of artificiality has considerably reduced the real worth of the movies, which are produced in great number in Hollywood and Los Angeles. The researches and the history points out towards the concept that during the year 1950 when the movie Sunset Boulevard was released, then at that time the audiences of cinema became less in number because of the introduction of televisions, the audiences were satisfied with this new invention and hence they stopped visiting cinemas. Alongwith this fact the audiences were also annoyed by the artificiality, which the Hollywood culture brings with itself.

Steve Martin wrote this film as a meditation on both love and Los Angeles (and then-wife Victoria Tennant). He plays a L.A. TV weatherman who finds himself conflicted about what to do with his life, both professionally and personally. As he works his way through a couple of relationships (including a very funny one with a frisky Sarah Jessica Parker, who talks him into colonic therapy), he discovers a L.A. freeway sign that gives him romantic advice. It helps him realize what he knows intuitively: that the British woman he is attracted to (Tennant) is the one he should pursue" http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/078401163X/inktomi-dvdasin-20/ref%3Dnosim/102-8

There are some of the other examples also which can be described and introduced here to further explore the idea of artificiality in the Hollywood and in Los Angeles. Another example is of the film made by Steve Martin known, as L.A Story it is an unusual mixture of Steve Martin's fantasy and comedy, the film was itself a great movie to watch but unfortunately the idea of artificiality is also connected with the movies made in Los Angeles.

The movies, which are made in the Hollywood film industry, are mostly made in the Los Angeles because of the natural beauty and picturesque sights which are present in Los Angeles. L.A Story is also one of the most renowned and appreciated film of its time. The audiences liked the film because of the humor and comedy, which the director has presented in the movie. Steve Martin's LA story is one of the masterpiece movies of his career and therefore he is widely appreciated for the quality of work, which he has produced.

The concept and ideas of the movie was much different from the other movies of its period and this is the reason, which became the sole cause for its success and appreciation from the audiences. Another example of the movie is China town, which was directed, by Jack Nicholson and this movie is also respected and honored because of the quality of work, which the director has given in this movie. The story, the cast and the direction are all in sequence and in relation with one another and therefore this movie has been given a highly respected status with in the film industry.

VARIOUS ASPECTS OF THE HOLLYWOOD CULTURE OF FAME:

The Hollywood's culture of fame is simply artificial and unrealistic because it generates the following questions with in the minds of teenagers and young generation, these questions are as follows:

What can it be like to be famous? How did we, as a society, get into this state of affairs? What might it be 'doing' to us? What it means to an individual human being to be famous, or a celebrity, why it is an experience that is both desired and regretted why it seems to cause so much distress, and how it is reflected back to the rest of the society in the form of the 'fandom' and the 'psychology' of the viewer?" http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0312229437/ref=sib_rdr_ex/102-8?%5Fencoding=UTF8&p=S00C#reader-page

It has been noted that the movies and films of the Hollywood film industry, mostly fascinate the young generation and teenagers and they want themselves to become one of the renowned actors, actresses, directors or any other person related to the film industry. The young children are not aware of the fact that the art of movie making and the culture of film industry is not at all real, it is simply fake. The fame, respect and fandom, which a person gets, is only for a limited period. The Hollywood movies are the source of inspiration for the young children and adults and they become ambitious to get such success and fame, which the Hollywood stars, enjoy.