‘I am big. It’s the pictures that got small’: A look at Sunset Boulevard through Marshall McLuhan’s theory of hot and cool media and personalities

Abstract

Billy Wilder’s 1950 movie Sunset Boulevard has been widely analysed as a portrayal of the demise of Hollywood’s traditional values with the introduction of modern technology. This article revisits the iconic film in a new light to uncover a relationship between its plot and characters and Marshall McLuhan’s theory of hot and cool media. In the transition period after silent movies’ displacement by talking pictures, two characters get involved in an unsettling story about Old Hollywood, obsession and obsolescence. Their contrasting personalities, heavily influenced by the different environments they come from, can be seen as examples of the hot and cool personalities described by McLuhan in Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man. This article demonstrates how analysing classic films in the context of media ecology theories can help us uncover a deeper meaning behind traditional plots and character archetypes.