Film Noir and Hardboiled Detective Fiction

Terms best describing noir Cynicism Pessimism Darkness Shadows Disillusionment Guilt Moral ambiguity Moral corruption Evil Desperation Paranoia and…

Terms best describing noir Alienation (of course) I feel so alienated…

Classic Film Noir:

Noir Visual Style Urban settings –Cold, rainy, dark, claustrophobic streets Low, stark camera angle shots Dark Foregrounds Shadows! Chiaroscuro: strong one- directional light, creating deep shadows.

Noir Visual Style (cont.) Wet asphalt, dark alleys, rain- slicked streets Flashing neon lights Low ceilings, claustrophobic settings

Example of Noir Visual Style

Noir Characters You guys have no character. Are you a character? I’m no character.

The Hero (or anti-hero) What are you looking at, punk?

Hero/Anti-hero Normal guy attacked by twists of fate (usually this character is male) Never all good or all bad A mixture of light and dark Often a “hard-boiled” detective (although not always) –The Continental Op from Red Harvest: a perfect example

Two main types of female characters

The Femme Fatale Literally: “fatal woman” A seductive woman idealized by the hero She is the source of hope… and his downfall Dangerous…

Femme Fatale (cont.) The duplicitous seductive, siren –Often amoral, promiscuous –Would use her feminine wiles to manipulate him into becoming the fall guy (often it would lead to her downfall as well)

The Innocent Woman The dutiful, trustworthy, loving woman

Types of noir characters (cont.) The hero’s struggle to determine which type of woman she is (innocent or femme fatale) is central to the noir style

Characters are often trapped by circumstances or by the past Claustrophobia

Violence OMG…There is totally a shadow of a bird on my shoulder, isn’t there?

Obsession The obsession is often of a sexual nature Revenge and greed usually play a role Obsessions usually are not satisfied in noir literature/ films GsVEhttp:// GsVE 5wKegyOw&NR=1http:// 5wKegyOw&NR=1

Trying to Escape the Past Characters are haunted by a loss in the past…or by past deeds. Characters are often fleeing from their pasts. Usually the past catches up with them. Knock, knock Who’s there? The past.

Corruption and Moral Decay Something is rotten in the state of Poisonville, see? If you say that one more time, I’m gonna smack you with this newspaper.

Criticism of noir Often misogynistic Sometimes racist (certainly from a 21 st century perspective) Violence is often glorified

Examples of noir writers Dashiell Hammett –Red Harvest –The Maltese Falcon Raymond Chandler –The Big Sleep James M. Cain –Double Idemnity Mickey Spillane –Mike Hammer

Examples of film noir The Big Sleep The Killers Key Largo To Have and Have Not Fear in the Night The Third Man Touch of Evil Out of the Past

Red Harvest was named one of Time Magazine’s Top 100 Novels of the 20 th century

Neo-Noir Chinatown (1974) Bladerunner (tech-noir) (1982) The Usual Suspects (1995) Pulp Fiction (1994) L.A. Confidential (1997) Brick (2005) Sin City (2005) L.A. Noir-videogame (2011)

Parody Steve Martin’s Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid – tch?v=ixAyGhUgr0Ehttp:// tch?v=ixAyGhUgr0E The Naked Gun – tch?v=PGx5JUp_i-Ahttp:// tch?v=PGx5JUp_i-A Many other examples (Whose Line is it Anyway?, numerous cartoons, Seinfeld, etc.)