ENG 302
Film Noir Overview
ÒClassicÓ
period: 1940Õs-1950Õs (Murder, My Sweet [1946] to Touch of Evil [1958]).
Source
of the Term, ÒFilm NoirÓ
Flood of US films into postwar France
ÒSerie NoirÓ collection of detective novels
Fascination with/criticism of US culture and power
Background
Sources
German Expressionism (UFA Studio)
Immigration of European, especially German, filmmakers
French policier films
ÒHard-BoiledÓ detective fiction
Thirties Crime and Gangster films (e.g., Scarface. Public Enemy)
Key Fiction
Writers of ÒHard-BoiledÓ Fiction
Dashiell Hammett (Sam Spade, The Thin Man)
Raymond Chandler (Philip Marlowe)
James M. Cain
Cornell Woolrich
Mix of
avant-garde and popular art
Literary modernism
Detective (pulp) fiction
Crime movies
European art cinema
ÒAÓ and ÒBÓ movies: making an artistic virtue out of low
budgets
Social
Background
1930Õs: Rise of Hard-Boiled Detective Novels/Pre-Noir
Depression
Radical and labor politics
Urbanization
Rise of fascism/foreshadowing of World War II
1940Õs: ÒRiseÓ of Film Noir
Aftermath of World War II
Changing gender and racial politics
Hays Code
Characteristics
á
Dramatic
use of light and shadow
á
Urban
settings in a suburbanizing America
á
Both
realistic and fantastic
á
Complex
plots/non-linear narratives
á
Ambiguous
Òsolutions,Ó including death and failure
á
Counter
American Dream
á
Post
war and later Cold War anxiety and pessimism (counter to ÒofficialÓ optimism)
á
Existentialism
á
Themes
of entrapment, isolation, powerlessness against fate
á
Dangerous
sexuality
á
Anxiety
over race, gender, and class identity