Film noir or “dark film” is a term French New Wave critics gave to American films from the 1940s and 1950s that showed a harsh, cynical America. One of the biggest elements that led to its development was World War I and post war disillusionment. Before the war, there was a necessary drive to paint the default for American society as a strong, patriarchal family unit that owned a white, picket fence house. After the war, soldiers came home traumatized from their time in the military, and they often faced unemployment. Additionally, women became a threat in a lot of men’s eyes. Before WWII, women stayed at home and took care of their families. Once the war began, women were encouraged to take on the role of the hard American worker to support …show more content…
The gangster was attached to a protest position because his ethnicity and lower class status left him out culturally and economically. He was considered a hero because he accomplished the goal of most Americans to acquire power through cunningness and drive. While there are multiple debates about the qualifications a film must possess to be named film noir, there is a general consensus about what neo noir is. Simply put, neo noir is film noir that came after the “classical” period of film noir, which is restricted to the black and white films of 1940-1959. Neo noir takes the narrative and stylistic elements of classic film noir but modifies it to fit modern times. While neo noir is typically associated with films made after 1959, it is not limited to films of a specific historical period. It is a term that is constantly in the process of being redefined because neo noir is about taking past influences and putting a fresh perspective on it according to the society that is making it, which is always changing. Influences of film noir that are still present in today’s films include fatalism, paranoia, flashbacks, a corrupt city, convoluted plots, drifters, and male …show more content…
Later films would prioritize elements such as lighting and iconography, and ultimately, the setting and look of the film dictated the film’s plot rather than the story determining how the film would visually unfold. I disagree with this idea because while film noir style was crucial in creating a dark, mysterious, and dangerous mood and environment the story is what calls for the use of such devices. Film noirs were about the social issues that arose in the aftermath of World War II. For example, Crossfire is a 1947 film adaptation of The Brick Foxhole, which centered on the issue of homophobia. Because of the Hollywood production code, homosexuality was not allowed to be mentioned since it was considered a “sexual pervasion.” Instead, the director modified his film to address anti-Semitism. Commenting on this topic was relevant because it was a sentiment that was very present with the rise of Hitler and the Nazi Party. The police detective Finlay even gives a lengthy monologue about how allowing bigots to continue to hate can culminate into a senseless and dangerous situation such as death. In this film, a group of individuals work together to unveil Joseph Samuel’s murderer. In turn, they bring some sort of justice to the deceased and stop another bigot from roaming the streets.
Film Noir is a genre of distinct and unique characteristics. Mostly prominent in the 40s and 50s, the genre rarely skewed from the skeletal plot to which all Film Noir pictures follow. The most famous of these films is The Big Sleep (1946) directed by Howard Hawks. This film is the go to when it comes to all the genre’s clichés. This formula for film is so well known and deeply understood that it is often a target for satire. This is what the Coen brothers did with 1998’s The Big Lebowski. This film follows to the T what Film Noir stands for.
Janey Place and Lowell Peterson article “Some Visual Motifs of Film Noir” establishes noir as a visual style and not a ...
The 1940s provided a drastic change in women’s employment rates and society’s view of women. With the end of the Depression and the United States’ entrance into World War II, the number of jobs available to women significantly increased. As men were being drafted into military service, the United States needed more workers to fill the jobs left vacant by men going to war. Women entered the workforce during World War II due to the economic need of the country. The use of Patriotic rhetoric in government propaganda initiated and encouraged women to change their role in society.
Film noir (literally 'black film,' from French critics who noticed how dark and black the looks and themes were of these films) is a style of American films which evolved in the 1940s. " The Internet Movie Database LTD. Film noir typically contains melancholy, and not so moral themes. Another characteristic of film noir is just because the main character has the title hero, that does not mean that he will always be alive at the end of the book, or that the hero is always "good." Marlowe in The Big Sleep is a prime example of this concept.
The Film Noir genre is the product of the 1940’s which reflects the darker attitude of society representing depression, realism, and amplifying a new dynamic for women on screen. As World War II progressed, there was less money compiling in Hollywood. The little money collected affected the creative drive for the directors in how they were able to produce for their films. The smaller budget impacted money to spend on lighting, sets, costumes, as well as providing pay for extras to appear in scenes. In addition to the money limitation, the realism presented in this genre expresses the reflection on the darker tones in 40’s society. As War was active, many experienced turmoil in their personal lives. Serious situations stirring emotions were nigh. In particular, the dynamic on screen character of the femme fatale became a strong essential in Hollywood. The film noir genre representing darker moods produced a functional up and coming femme fatale to thrive on a being an interesting, sensual, dangerous, and a seducing woman for movie goers to follow. The first movie to mark this genre became known with the film Double Indemnity directed by Billy Wilder starring Barbara Stanwyck, Fred MacMurray, and Edward G. Robinson. The following films to adhere this striking new genre have varied far and few. However, three films The Big Sleep, The Postman Always Rings Twice, and Gilda all contribute to the promise of the film noir feel. These three films are in comparison to Double Indemnity by observation in their style, characters, and story.
Neo-noir takes elements of classic film noir of the 1940s and 1950s, such as detective stories, and femme fatales, and blends them with updated themes, content,
Noir (french film noir) is a cinematic term applied to the Hollywood crime dramas of the 1940s and 1950s, which capture the atmosphere of pessimism, mistrust, frustration and cynicism typical of American society during World War II war and the first years of the Cold War. The term "black film", or "film-noir," was first used in 1946 by the French critic Nino Frank to designate a style that gained popularity in American cinema in the mid-1940s . It is characterized by a criminal plot, a dark atmosphere of cynical fatalism and pessimism, blurring the line between hero and antihero, relative realism of action and dark lighting of scenes, usually night scenes. Women usually act as false characters that can not be trusted; on the other hand, they motivate the main male characters ,or they are represented as a ‘’perfect wife’’ which is silent and submissive. Femme fatal
Films that are classified as being in the film noir genre all share some basic characteristics. There is generally a voice-over throughout the film in order to guide the audience's perceptions. These movies also involve a crime and a detective who is trying to figure out the truth in the situation. This detective usually encounters a femme fatale who seduces him. However, the most distinctive feature of the film noir genre is the abundance of darkness.
From the data analysis and findings, the researcher had come out with a conclusion that film noir is a genre of film that blossomed in the late 1930s and the early 1940s during the wake of World War II. Most of the film noir was influenced by German expressionism and French new wave which portrayed a darker tone world, slick city streets, crime and corruption. Film noir is an art movement that reflects the moods and picks up the feeling of fear and paranoia among American after the World War II. Film noir is not just a kind of film genre. It can be developed into different visual style which can be classified as classic noir and neo noir.
E. Ann Kaplan (1996) writes, “The attitudes towards women evidenced in film noir – i.e., fear of loss of stability, identity and security – are reflective of the dominant feelings of the time” (pg. 50). The transition
Film noir is a type of movie that contains dim lighting, crime, grimy city streets, voiceover narration, and Deadpool. Wait, Deadpool? Yes, that is correct. While the movie Deadpool (Miller, 2016) may be considered a science fiction movie, it also contains elements of film noir.
In the history of film-making, films underwent an abundant of transformation in order to appeal to a wide variety of audiences, whether it was through codes of conduct, or the further development of the movie category. The influence of modern Hollywood films would have not been possible without the elements of the pre-code film. The pre-code era commence around the 1929, where sound started to become popularized, and ended on the first of July in the year of 1934. During this era, there was no limitation of how a director should portray the story in the film, which allow the film to strengthen the story through its creative and well developed performances, and settings. The pre-code films were not only raw in their creativity, and individuality, but also included controversial issues faced during the Jazz Age and the Great Depression.
The name noir, which was not popularized in America until the 1970’s, was coined from the French word ‘black’ by French film critics who had sensed a conspicuous change in the nature of American films just after World War II. This change manifest in the post-war gloom that marked America and Europe’s bleak pessimism during and after the war was projected in dark, harsh unforgiving films. No longer did cinema halls showcase the happy-ever-after optimistic feel-good musicals and movies of the pre-war
Film Noir is a French term meaning “black film,” or film of the night, and is inspired by the Series Noir, a line of cheap paperbacks that translated hard-boiled American crime authors and had a popular audience. It is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas particularly those that empathize cynic attitudes and sexual motivations. It began in the early 1940s and has a certain storytelling sensibility of being over stylized, over theatrical, and overly emotional. Everyone in Film Noir is smoking and the film locations reek of the night, of shadows and alleys, dark apartment buildings, taxi drivers, and bartenders who have seen it all. It is considered the most American film genre, because no society could have
In a different vein, films began to appear that self-consciously acknowledged the conventions of classic film noir as historical archetypes to be revived, rejected, or reimagined. These efforts typify what came to be known as neo-noir. Neo-noir films are modern way of making noir films. In the other hand, neo noir films also have elements of film noir, but with updated themes, concept, style, visual elements and tools that were absent in