09/02/12

Film Noir - Research

Origin

Classic film noir started after the first world war. Much of the fear, mistrust, bleakness, loss of innocence, despair and paranoia, were put into film noir as these were the feelings at the time. Later, the cold war played a big role in re affirming the fear that was then put into more film noir.

Codes and Conventions

Moods of the classic Film Noir

• Alienation
• Bleakness
• Disillusionment
• Disenchantment
• Pessimism
• Ambiguity
• Moral corruption
• Evil
• Guilt
• Paranoia
• Desperation

Men and Women

Very often, a film noir story was developed around a cynical, hard-hearted disillusioned male character who encountered a beautiful but promiscuous, amoral, double-dealing and seductive female fatale. She would use her feminine wiles and come-hither sexuality to manipulate him into becoming the fall guy - often following a murder. After a betrayal or double-cross, she was frequently destroyed as well, often at the cost of the hero's life. As women during the war period were given new-found independence and better job-earning power in the homeland during the war.

Atmosphere

An oppressive atmosphere of menace, pessimism, anxiety, suspicion that anything can go wrong, dingy realism, futility, fatalism, defeat and entrapment were stylised characteristics of Film Noir