Film Noir
Film Noir (French for 'dark film' or 'black film') is a term describing a genre popular in the US between 1940 and 1960. Strictly speaking its a description of the films style and mood rather than a so-called genre however it has evolved and more recent films using the same codes and conventions may be referred to as 'neo-noir'.
Film Noir takes inspiration from German Expressionism and European films of the 1920s to 30's. These films often experimented with daring lighting and camera angles specifically to create lots of shadow and contrast particularly on the characters figures. This was mimicked by film noir which employed dark-mood lighting to form shadowy images and were often set in darker seedy locations.
The narratives and plots for the films, particularly American film-noir were based on novels featuring detective, gangster, and crime themes. As more and more of these films were being produced in the post WW2 era, French Film critics Nino Frank and Jean-Pierre Charties applied the term 'Hollywood Film-Noir' which was finally adopted in America in the 1970's.
A common theme of film noir is corruption and it often centres around the unpleasant and often destructive side of human behaviour. Greed and Sex are frequently featured topics but the overall plot line usually ends up with the downward slide of the anti-hero. In the films protagonists (very rarely female) usually only feel disillusionment, hopelessness, guilt, and pessimism; no positive emotions or plots feature. However the female characters are only usually on the sidelines of the protagonists and are only portrayed of one of two characters; the honest, trusting but naive figure, or the manipulative femme fatale.
The 'spider and the fly' connotation has often been used to outline the role of the femme fatale and the tale in which she features. The protagonist finds the love and mysteriousness of the femme fatale irresistible and gets trapped in her increasingly-complex web which inevitably leads to both of their downfalls.
The Big Sleep is one of the most famous examples of film noir released in 1946 and features Humphrey Bogart as detective Phillip Marlow, and Lauren Bacall as Vivian Rutledge. The title of the film eludes to the inevitable ending of the film and this film was the basis of the stereo-typical film noir genre we know now.
Film Noir (French for 'dark film' or 'black film') is a term describing a genre popular in the US between 1940 and 1960. Strictly speaking its a description of the films style and mood rather than a so-called genre however it has evolved and more recent films using the same codes and conventions may be referred to as 'neo-noir'.
Film Noir takes inspiration from German Expressionism and European films of the 1920s to 30's. These films often experimented with daring lighting and camera angles specifically to create lots of shadow and contrast particularly on the characters figures. This was mimicked by film noir which employed dark-mood lighting to form shadowy images and were often set in darker seedy locations.
The narratives and plots for the films, particularly American film-noir were based on novels featuring detective, gangster, and crime themes. As more and more of these films were being produced in the post WW2 era, French Film critics Nino Frank and Jean-Pierre Charties applied the term 'Hollywood Film-Noir' which was finally adopted in America in the 1970's.
A common theme of film noir is corruption and it often centres around the unpleasant and often destructive side of human behaviour. Greed and Sex are frequently featured topics but the overall plot line usually ends up with the downward slide of the anti-hero. In the films protagonists (very rarely female) usually only feel disillusionment, hopelessness, guilt, and pessimism; no positive emotions or plots feature. However the female characters are only usually on the sidelines of the protagonists and are only portrayed of one of two characters; the honest, trusting but naive figure, or the manipulative femme fatale.
The 'spider and the fly' connotation has often been used to outline the role of the femme fatale and the tale in which she features. The protagonist finds the love and mysteriousness of the femme fatale irresistible and gets trapped in her increasingly-complex web which inevitably leads to both of their downfalls.
The Big Sleep is one of the most famous examples of film noir released in 1946 and features Humphrey Bogart as detective Phillip Marlow, and Lauren Bacall as Vivian Rutledge. The title of the film eludes to the inevitable ending of the film and this film was the basis of the stereo-typical film noir genre we know now.
No comments:
Post a Comment