1. Noir after the forties

2. Context of forties Disillusionment with American Dream – depression, war, etc Gender issues Hays code German and Eastern European influence Edward Hopper images of American life

3. Other aspects of Forties Noir Studio-bound look to the genre Contrast to the colourful musicals of the era B-movies Psychoanalysis popular leads to interest in character motivation

4. Why the French name? Post war influx of American films to French market French film critics, e.g. Francois Truffaut & Andre Bazin begin to analyse the style, content and ideology of the films

5. How does Noir evolve? Lighter cameras lead to greater use of location shooting

6. Scarlet Street – Fritz Lang 1945 Studio-bound artificial lighting

7. Killer’s Kiss – Stanley Kubrick 1955 Naturalistic, location lighting

8. Jazz music becomes more prominent in soundtrack Times change – style follows Different generation and attitudes Cold war paranoia creeps in as a theme

9. 1958 - The ‘end’ of Noir Touch of Evil – Orson Welles 1958

10. 1970s Noir pastiche Chinatown – Roman Polanski 1974

11. 1980s – Noir parody Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid – Carl Reiner 1982

12. Neo-noir

13. Key features of Neo-Noir A ‘knowingness’ to convention Deliberately retro look - postmodern attitude Sometimes deliberate subversion of the noir ‘rules’ References to the classic noir past Playfulness Often a critique of consumer society more than fully serious psychological exploration Freedom to indulge in the amorality denied the classic noirs

14. Crossing genre boundaries

15. A Neo noir film?