symbols and meanings Flashcards
The dead monkey
Symbol
Start of the film when Joe
meets Norma – the monkey
is in Norma’s bedroom and
then is buried in a coffin in
the front yard
Joe dreams about a “dead
chimp dancing for pennies”
on his first night
Represents Joe himself and
his lack of power
Could demonstrate Norma’s
desire for a “pet” or a play
thing to entertain her for a
while, like her child
The monkey’s death suggests
how people/things are
disposable to her - Joe
replaces the monkey
Foreshadows Joe’s own death
The swimming pool
Motif
Start of the film – Joe’s dead
body
Sees it out the window
infested with rats
Joe swimming in the pool –
Norma lounging by the pool
Joe lights up the pool to show
Betty at the end
Wealth and status
Foreshadows his own death
Norma’s mental state
Representation of past glory
trying to be realised once
again
A trap
Mirrors
Motif
Before going in to confront
Joe packing to leave – makes
sure she looks good before
entering
End of the film when Norma
is being questioned by police
Beauty regime – looking in
mirrors
Boosts Norma’s ego
Self obsession
Always camera-ready
No self worth – appearance
Mirrors show a reflection, not
the real thing, so adds to lack
of reality/truth e.g. the saying
about “smoke and mirrors”
The decaying mansion
Motif
When Joe first arrives at the
mansion – Great Expectations
comparison
Joe living above the garage,
then being brough into the
room next door to Norma
Throughout the film, mostly
interior, but we also see pool
filled in
When Joe gives Betty the
tour at the end
Represents Norma – outside
old and decaying, but on
inside it’s extravagant
What was once popular and
grand is now
forgotten/abandoned
Norma’s isolation/loneliness
Norma’s past success and
wealth
Joe becoming closer and
closer to Norma
Leopard print/animal references
Motif
Cat eyes in the door knobs
Costumes of Norma –
swimming pool scene,
opening scene
Car seats in her car
Long fingernails
Big sunglasses – hide her
eyes
Unpredictable – can’t control
an animal
Norma being like a predator
and Joe being her prey –
sense of foreboding for end
of the film where she kills him
Cougar
Joe’s car
Joe gets into it after the debt
collectors come to his
apartment
“Car chase” – flat tyre, parks
in Norma’s garage
Towed away
Joe parks it in Rudy’s lot
Sense of freedom and
independence
Control Joe has over his life –
when it is towed away he
loses control over his own
movements/life
Legs – chopped off
Materialistic
Independence
Norma’s car
Beginning of the film it’s on
blocks in the garage
Use it for outings to
Paramount, Bridge and
clothing store
It is the reason Paramount
ring Norma – Gordon Cole
wants her car for a gangster
film
Contrasts to Joe’s newer car –
represents his dependence
on Norma and Max
1932 – represents the height
of Norma’s career and her
obsession with the past
Norma’s increasing happiness
– the car was not used until
Joe arrives and Norma starts
to leave the house
faces/photo frames
Throughout many scenes
inside the mansion,
strategically placed in the
background of many shots
Norma immortalised during
the height of her success
“celluloid Norma” as opposed
to the real Norma
Obsession with self
The version of Norma she still
sees herself as
Silent film was more focused
on faces and expressions
veils
Takes her veil off during
dancing on NYE
Norma wears a veil to
Paramount Studios
A way to hide her aging face
Wedding connotations – the
bride takes off the veil to kiss
her husband
The dance of the seven veils –
Salome, used to seduce the
King so she can have John the
Baptist killed
Like Miss Havisham, stuck in
the past, hiding away
doors without locks
Joe realises this when he
moves into the house
Max explains it is because she
is suicidal
Shows Norma’s mental state
Also shows lack of privacy for
Joe – he is always being
watched, never gets time
alone
The holes in place of absent
doorknobs look like eyes
lights/lamps
Throughout – prominent in
scene where they watch
Norma’s film
Spotlight at Paramount Studios
The mansion is often dark
and dimly lit, but the key
moments where people are
lit up guide us where to focus
Just like in Paramount
Studios, all the people are
drawn to Norma when she is
in the spotlight
Light shows a desire for fame
and adoration
Norma’s cigarette holder
Used throughout to smoke
her cigarettes, mentioned by
Joe on NYE
Joe likens himself to the
“contraption” – he is caught
in her grip just like the
cigarette holder.
the salome scripts
Beginning – it is what Norma
uses to draw Joe in
Middle – it is what gives her
hope for success and her trip
to Paramount Studios
End – she descends the stairs
in character as Salome
If Norma is Salome, Joe is
John the Baptist, the innocent
man who is beheaded out of
jealousy
The script is what draws Joe
into Norma’s world, and all
her hope of a “return” is
caught up in its success
The final scene where Norma
descends the stairs and Max
becomes her director shows
her childlike delusion.
bettys nose
Mentioned in the fake street
scene – she paid $300 to
have it fixed because it
“slanted” and the movie
directors didn’t like it
Lesson for Betty – she chose
to work behind the scenes
rather than in the spotlight.
Shows fickle nature of
Hollywood and how one can
never be good enough
