Dames, Coppers, and Crooks: A L:ook At Film Noir

Dames, Coppers, and Crooks: A Look At Film Noir

Film noir is a style of black and white American films that first evolved in the 1940s, became prominent in the post-war era, and lasted in a classic “Golden Age” period until about 1960. Frank Nino, a French film critic, first coined the label film noir, which literally means black film or cinema, in 1946. Nino noticed the trend of how “dark” and black the looks and themes were of many American crime and detective films released in France following World War II. In fact, only French critics used the term film noir in their work until the era of noir was over. The French label did not become widely known until the 1970s. The term film noir is now a more familiar term and it is used more often.

There are many historical factors that influenced the creation of film noir. During the 1930s, American was struggling with the Great Depression. There was widespread unemployment. The country also led an isolationist political belief, had beliefs of lasting world peace and pledged neutrality. They also had a very small standing army. America had all of these beliefs as they entered World War II.

The United States emerged as the one great victor of the war. The war had devastated Europe and shattered Asia. America, however, had not had any major warfare on its own territory, and during the war it had managed to leap out of the depression and reach almost full employment for it’s inhabitants. America also had the world’s largest military force and the world’s most threatening weapon. The country now had interests and responsibilities all over the world, but especially in Europe. As the Americans emerged from the war, they were elated and proud, happy of their victory and proud of their military and industrial might.

The 1940s and 50s were an era of economic boom, partly upheld by military demands during and after WWII, and partly by the Americans new consumer demands. Most people wanted newer and better things, which they now could also afford. It was at this time that the G.I. Bill of Rights was created. This bill was a veteran funding system that led to an increase in both college education and the founding of the suburban homes of the 50s. This was a kind of social revolution with consequences lik...

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...d by them and the film noir is generally very closely connected with the 1940s Hollywood. This particular criticism of noir as a genre relies upon whether one regards the more recent films as a continuation of the noir tradition or not. Furthermore, film noir tends to cross traditional genre boundaries. There are noir westerns, gangster films and comedies to mention some.

Other critics avoid these problems by viewing film noir not as a genre, but by emphasizing the stylistic elements. Here, tone and mood are given considerable weight. Maybe it would be best to simply state that all of the above describe some aspects of what one can call the film noir phenomenon.

Works Consulted

The Development of Post-war Literary and Cinematic Noir. 29 Jan 2005 http://www.crimeculture.com/Contents/Film%20Noir.html. Dirks, Tim. Film Noir. 29 Jan 2005 http://www.filmsite.org/filmnoir.html.

Hordnes, Lise. Does Film Noir mirror the culture of contemporary America?. 6 Mar

2003. 29 Jan 2005 http://odur.let.rug.nl/~usa/E/noir/noir01.html.

Horsley, Lee. Thriller (Noir), 1930-. 20 Oct 2001. The Literary Encyclopedia. 29 Jan

2005 http://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=11251.html.