How we cite our quotes: All quotations are from Sunset Boulevard.
Quote #1
JOE: As I drove back towards town, I took inventory of my prospects. They now added up to exactly zero. Apparently, I just didn't have what it takes, and the time had come to wrap up the whole Hollywood deal and go home. Maybe if I hocked all my junk there'd be enough for a bus ticket back to Ohio, back to that thirty-five-dollar-a-week job behind the copy desk of the Dayton Evening Post, if it was still open. Back to the smirking delight of the whole office. All right, you wise guys—why don't you go out and take a crack at Hollywood? Maybe you think you could? Oh-ho!
Joe's the classic example of someone who went out to Hollywood to make it big and ended up getting beat down. Fiction and movies seem to have lots of desperate stories like this. In the process, Joe's become more cynical—he says he just wants to make a living and cares less about the quality of his writing. At this point, he's about to give up, but fate intervenes.
Quote #2
BETTY: Perhaps the reason I hated Bases Loaded is that I knew your name. I'd always heard you had some talent.
JOE: That was last year. This year I'm trying to earn a living.
Joe doesn't think that good writing can make it in Hollywood—he's been convinced that he needs to pander to audiences in order to get well-paying work. But he's still not having any success, unfortunately. Now that we think of it, maybe the pandering is the problem?
Quote #3
NORMA: And you have written pictures, haven't you?
JOE: Sure have. The last one I wrote was about cattle rustlers. Before they were through with it, the whole thing played on a torpedo boat.
Joe's sick of having his ideas twisted around by the studios, and he's decided to just play the game and churn out hack-work. Of course, this doesn't work either, and he runs out of money—part of the predicament that's led him to Norma's mansion.
Quote #4
BETTY: Sheldrake likes that angle about the teacher.
JOE: What teacher?
BETTY: Dark Windows. I got him all hopped up about it.
JOE: You did?
BETTY: He thinks it could be made into something.
JOE: Into what? A lampshade?
BETTY: Into something for Barbara Stanwyck. They have a commitment with Barbara Stanwyck.
Joking that his script might be made into a lampshade is pure Joe. It's just a snippet of the jaded, self-deprecating humor that colors his character. This is not a dude who's high on life. His sarcasm masks a deep dissatisfaction.
Quote #5
JOE: Sorry, Miss Schaefer, but I've given up writing on spec.
BETTY: I tell you this is half sold.
JOE: As a matter of fact. I've given up writing altogether.
(Max has appeared in the door.)
MAX: Mr. Gillis, if you please.
JOE: Right with you.
While Joe is simultaneously getting all the material things he wants by being Norma's gigolo, he's sacrificing his creativity and his own ambitions. Rather than becoming satisfied with this state of affairs, he seems to be internally totally dissatisfied. It's pretty humiliating if you really think about it.
Quote #6
JOE: (Indicating the bureau): The rest of the jewelry is in the top drawer.
NORMA: It's yours, Joe. I gave it to you.
JOE: And I'd take it in a second, Norma—only it's a little too dressy for sitting behind the copy desk in Dayton, Ohio.
Joe renounces all the things Norma's given him in exchange for his "love"—he's become thoroughly dissatisfied with Norma's world, and is going back to the simple life of the Midwest. (Only, we know he's never going to get there.)