The “real” self and the “reel” self are confounded in both Sunset Boulevard and Twelve Monkeys. Discuss either film as a dilemma of identity, paying attention to the representation and self-representation of the main characters.
...ieve James is not crazy after she found what James said about the children is true and she saw James appeared at the World War I’s photo. Dr. Kathryn makes James clear his mind that he is not crazy and she reconfirmed James’s real self that she helps him to find the evidence to prove James is not insane but he really has a mission need to complete. Dr. Kathryn is the key of James’s change. James knows his real self at the beginning but he loses his real self after that, Dr. Kathryn helps him to get back his real self at last. It’s a cycle that we can see how the process of James’ identity is represent at the movie. In the Sunset Boulevard, Joe Gillisis is a screenwriter down on his luck that he even can’t afford to stop the repossessed of his car. But during Joe’s escape, he met Norma Desmond; Joe soon become Norma’s gigolo due to Norma’s wealth can give Joe a lot of advantages so Joe gave up his dignity to live with Norma and use her money. However, Joe chose to give up all the things Norma gave him after he met the young lady Betty Schaefer. The real self of Joe is that he is a screenwriter who wants to fight for his career at the beginning. But because of the hard life, after Joe met Norma, he chose to give up his real self. We can see the screen of Joe who always secretly flees away from Norma at mid-night to write his script. This shows Joe’s passion on being a screenwriter. This is the real self of Joe who works hard on his screenwriter’s work. The reel self of Joe is a gigolo who is depends on Norma and do not have any power. Compare with Twelve Monkeys, we can see that Joe is same with James that he loses his real self at the beginning and he can find back the real self at last. The process is similar that they both find back their real self after meeting a woman. But the representation of Joe and James are different, Joe is promoted as a weak man who is not success at his career and do not have good financial status. The representation of Joe is to portray him as a not enough masculine man that he relies on a woman to live. James is promoted as a hero who is time travel in risk to finish an important mission. Although he can not save the world at last but he sacrificed himself to kill the bad guy, the representation of the movie represents James as a tragedy hero who is very brave and very masculine. It’s a big contrast to compare Joe and James’ characters. According to our society is male dominant, movies are keen on represent man as a hero and the centre of the movie. So it is typical to see James is still promoted as a hero although he can not save the world. In the Sunset Boulevard, although Joe is seems represent as a weak and not masculine man that is different to the movie’s usual. But we can see that after he found back his real self, he became a moral hero, he gave up all the benefits Norma gave him and chose to leave Norma. Even Norma used the gun to threaten him but he still chose to leave. We can see that the movie still portrayed male in a good way. In the Sunset Boulevard, Norma is a forgotten silent movie star who lives in an old mansion with her ex-husband Max. Norma thinks she is still a young movie queen and people did not forget about her. She lives in the past with her own fantasy. The reel self of Norma is the young movie queen who believe people will find her acting again. She does not accept she is old and being forgotten. We can see that in the scene of Norma go back to the studio, everyone is welcomed her. This make Norma really think the people still very like her and didn’t forget about her. This reinforced Norma’s dream to acting again and she believe she soon can go back to the studio. So she started to work hard on her facial treatment and waiting the director to find her ev...