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Film Noir and Hardboiled Detective Fiction

Film Noir and Hardboiled Detective Fiction. Cynicism Pessimism Darkness Shadows Disillusionment Guilt. Moral ambiguity Moral corruption Evil Desperation Paranoia and …. Terms best describing noir. Terms best describing noir. I feel so alienated…. Alienation (of course).

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Film Noir and Hardboiled Detective Fiction

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  1. Film Noir and Hardboiled Detective Fiction

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

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

  4. Classic Film Noir:1940-1960

  5. Classic Film Noir:1940-1960 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXy3tF5uD6A

  6. 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.

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

  8. Example of Noir Visual Style

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

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

  11. 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

  12. Two main types of female characters

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

  14. 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)

  15. The Innocent Woman • The dutiful, trustworthy, loving woman

  16. 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

  17. Characters are often trapped by circumstances or by the past Claustrophobia

  18. Violence OMG…There is totally a shadow of a bird on my shoulder, isn’t there? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dn8EImlkRV8

  19. 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 • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3wjJcuGsVE • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gz-5wKegyOw&NR=1

  20. Trying to Escape the Past Knock, knock • 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. The past. Who’s there?

  21. 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.

  22. Criticism of noirOften misogynisticSometimes racist (certainly from a 21st century perspective)Violence is often glorified

  23. 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

  24. 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

  25. Red Harvest was named one of Time Magazine’sTop 100 Novels of the 20th century

  26. 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) • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeYym1U226M

  27. Parody • Steve Martin’s Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixAyGhUgr0E • The Naked Gun • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGx5JUp_i-A • Many other examples (Whose Line is it Anyway?, numerous cartoons, Seinfeld, etc.)

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