L A Noir by John Bunting - Research Paper Example

L.A Noir Introduction Noir refers to a publication collection, film, or fiction that has several tough characters and isbleak, pessimistic, and cynical in nature. In L.A Noir, John Bunting has combined stories from different authors. The city of Akashic themed noir series ultimately reaches L.A., a leader locale in this subgenre. Among all his contributors, Michael Connelly is the most familiar with the highest percentage of the audience. Mulholland Drive, by Connelly, is a fitting tribute to the well organized noir film Double Indemnity. He presents quality writing than his earlier writings. The book gives different explicit tales of people whose desperate or passion instances lead them to painful or violent ends. Top examples being, “What You See” and “The Method,” among others (Denise Hamilton 1) The author is an American; he specializes in crime related novels. He has been involved in editing such novels for years together with journals of the same class. The major themes in the novel are politics, history, culture, violence and diversity. She literally calls Los Angeles her home town as “The Ultimate Femme Fatale.” The first edition of the records gathered 17 short stories from contemporary authors living around her home city. She has also translated the book into Italian, French, and French. In the recent years, publications have been identified in U.K, Japan, France, and Turkey (Denise Hamilton 1). Proposal This paper examines the last four stories in the L.A Noir. It has an over view of the stories. It examines key characters and describes the themes prevailing in the stories. The paper also examines about the role of femme fatale in this art. Characteristics and origin of noir is also included. Thesis Story by Scott Phillips This is a perfect example of the collection. The story revolves around Tate, the protagonist. She is seduced by femme fatale in the purpose of incorporating him in a murder case. The lady had shot the man, who tempted to rape her, but she wanted to carry the responsibility with another individual; here comes Tate. The lady uses a long route in the aim of locking Tate in the room. She achieves this by offering herself for sex. The author uses this characteristic to make it attractive. The protagonist fights back after he realizes that he has been trapped. He pushes for the ambulance, but the lady is against it. In the long run, they come into a conclusion and gets away with the crime. The story has perfect flow of ideas. It explains how cultural identity has been lost in the recent generation. Immorality is also a noticeable issue in the novel (Denise Hamilton 321). Story by Brian Ascalon Roley The story is a practical example of school violence. The elder cousin aims at comforting the younger one: veronica. She is stressed that her boy had been attacked by the elder boys in school. He was bullied too, and could not report fearing further consequences. The elder cousin deeply thinks to find a sustainable solution and make his cousin happy. They are tied by kinship tied and thus the courage from the elder cousin. He has the responsibility to ensure that his cousin is safe and has a smooth running, as well. It is evident that the noir revolves around different forms of violence (Denise Hamilton 327). Story by Robert Ferrigno The story is a summary of a violent action. It talks about murder; the main character, Yancy had applied his tactics in killing his colleagues in the name to protect the girl. Moral degradation and loss of cultural identity is the foremost subjects. Respect for human life is absent among character. The story fits in this noir because the gatherer of the stories has a passion for violent stories and other literal work (Denise Hamilton 336). Story by Diana Wagman The author gives detailed information about her history. She talks about how she grew up as well as how she lost her only parent. They lived in the city of Orange; this is the city she called home back in 1965. She inherited everything that her mother had, at her young age. The author also refers to the moments she spent taking care of her sick mother. She did it out of her will. It was her responsibility to do so in their culture. She would travel frequently from New York to L.A to wish her a quick recovery as well as comfort her spirit. During such visits, she would spend a lot of time in walking around her home town and at the time in her old room enjoying the moments of her child hood (Denise Hamilton 341). From the short story, it is evident that the author had been brought up in a Christian background where she knew about death and life after death. She stayed in her room until she was convinced that the mother had gone to heaven the death of the only parent was a challenge to her; it undermined her strength and made her lose the taste of living. She went to the extent of not eating or drinking anything in the sorrowful period. She also explains her life with other prominent individuals in her life such as Marcus, Kimberly and a few friends. From this, we learn that this short story is more of an autobiography. This is because she pin points all significant issues in her life. In short, she is giving her history and culture. Themes Violence The main theme in the book is violence. It is also evident from his background information that he is a violent novelist. Violence is of different forms with evidence from the book. The violence is determined by the environment in which misunderstanding is taking place. In the first story, the lady grabs the gun and kills the man who wanted to attempt rape. The lady also encounters some misunderstanding with Tate because she wants to share the responsibility. In the second short story, there is inter-cousin protection. The elder cousin is highly concerned about the well being of Veronica. He follows up the case to see that there is justice. The third short story is revolving around merciless violence. The fourth story has no evidence of material violence. Culture Culture is how people live and associate with the members of the community. In these stories, there is life is not respected. In other cases, protagonist’s culture is defined. It is a theme that has been developed on different all rounded. In the first novel, Tate merges up with to perpetuate the immoral spirit. They clearly know that it is wrong, but they no longer consider their culture and the divine meaning of life. The same is noted in the other two short stories, killings and other evidences of respect for life are minimal. In the last story, the author narrates her past life. She explains how she lost her parents, as well as her life in her home town. She gives details about her place of work, how she lived with other of she friends after he mother’s death. It is notable that she has been brought up in a Christian family. Her culture is also clearly illustrated in the narration. Morality Alienation of morality is also clearly seen in the narration. Merciless killing and sexual immorality prevail in the stories. It is a point of concern to the targeted audiences. Role of the femme fatale A Famme Fatale refers to a seductive and mysterious woman. She frequently uses charms to ensnare her lovers to an irresistible desire, and indirectly involves them in dangerous, compromising, or deadly situation. She is used as an archetype in art and literature. Her ability to hypnotize or entrance her victim is spelled out being supernatural. In today’s literature, she is thought to have some power of seduction, vampire, demon or a witch. In these narrations, a fatale uses sexual allure and beauty to compromise Tate. Tate finds himself trapped and carries the responsibility, as well. She also helps in the expansion of the themes. She is the victim of murder, immorality and has also lost her cultural values (Toni, Bentley 34). She is also noted in the third story. She leads to the massive killings among characters. In these stories, she has been illustrated as a beautiful seductive lady. She meets all her roles in art, which is, causing evil to other individuals. Characters do not notice that they are being trapped, but they come to realize after being compromised (Toni, Bentley 46). How the stories relate Diana Wagman and Ascalon Roley narrations have a relation. They expound family ties. Diana explains her painful moments after the death of her other. She explains how she used to spend her time travelling from New York to Orange to check on her mother’s progress. Life becomes painful for her. She spends a lot of time confused about her future without a mother. With this, it is evident that kinship ties are tight, and there is concern for one another. In the story by Ascalon Roley, Kinship, the spirit of concern and care is clearly illustrated. The two cousins care about each other. Veronica was sure that her elder cousin was to give a solution to her worries. This makes veronica to open her heart for him and by this, her cousin starts looking for ways to meet justice. Kinship ties always help in reducing ones owes and worries. This is because the individuals work together to reduce the burden as well as come with solid solutions to their issues. The opposite is seen in the other two stories. A lot of individualism prevails all along the narrations. She lady seduces Tate in the aim of sharing the burden. In the other story, massive killings take place among charters in the name protecting a girl. These contrasts illustrate to the targeted audience the difference between different societies. LA is the birthplace of noir Hamilton draws Los Angeles as a city of Noir. He shows how the city of political, history, and cultural diversity. He also explains is as the city of Femme Fatale. The other has written six Noirs, and they have performed well. He was previously writing for the city’s multicultural scrubs. It is the leading city in the world as far as noir are concerned. This has been met by it being inhabited by many authors and other individuals interested in writing. Other noir about L.A is Los Angeles times and Log Angeles Noir 2. His proficiency in writing resulted from his experience in reporting political, cultural, and economic trends in Central and Eastern Europe (John Buntin 34). Conclusions can also be made that it is the birth place of noirs. The novel’s details, subsequent translations have lead to large sales in Italy, United Kingdom, France, and Japan. The city is also strategic; it has many activities to compare and contrast. Through this, market penetration is easy because they illustrate issues affecting the city. The author describes L.A as a city of Femme Fatale; this is sufficiently illustrated in two of the novels above (Cogdill, Oline 23). Origin of noir and development of characters Noir is a collection of stories with related themes and subject. These kinds of novels have resulted to series movies where a certain subjects are illustrated in different techniques. They have evolved to help the marketability of short fascinating stories. In the recent years, they are now widespread all around the world (William, Hare 3). In noirs, characters are developed immediately at the beginning of the nation. This is because they are short and tend to objective. The numbers of characters are limited to ensure that the meaning is precise. The theme in these stories is easily pin pointed to facilitate understanding. An ideal example is the last story by Diana. By reading the first paragraph, the reader already has a clear picture of the subsequent characters. Conclusion Noir refers to a publication collection, film, or fiction that has several tough characters and is bleak, pessimistic, and cynical in nature Writing is an art that has been used to educate, gives ones views, and at times entertain. L.A Noir is a novel that has different entertaining and educative stories. The author is an American; he specializes in crime related novels. He has been involved in editing such novels for years together with journals of the same class. The major themes in the novel are politics, history, culture, violence and diversity. They take up the new style in writing where a novel makes up a collection of subject. It a novel that has a covered large part of emerging issues resulting from civilization (Linn, Sara 23). From the short story, it is evident that the author had been brought up in a Christian background where she knew about death and life after death. She stayed in her room until she was convinced that the mother had gone to heaven the death of the only parent was a challenge to her; it undermined her strength and made her lose the taste of living. The main theme in the book is violence. It is also evident from his background information that he is a violent novelist. Violence is of different forms with evidence from the book. Noir is a collection of stories with related themes and subject. These kinds of novels have resulted to series movies where a certain subjects are illustrated in different techniques. Work cited Denise Hamilton Los Angeles Noir: Akashic Noir. Los Angeles: Akashic Books, 2007. Toni, Bentley. Sisters of Salome. Salome considered as an archetype of female desire and transgression and as the ultimate femme fatale, 2002. Elizabeth K. Mix Evil By Design: The Creation and Marketing of the Femme Fatale Cogdill, Oline (Spring 2006). "Power of the Press: Interview with Denise Hamilton". Mystery Scene (94) Linn, Sara (2006-09-03). "Writing Outside the Box". Luis Obispo Tribune. John Buntin L.A. Noir: The Struggle for the Soul of America's Most Seductive City. Los Angeles: Crown Publishing Group, 2010. William, Hare., .L.A. Noir: Nine Dark Visions of the City of Angels. Angels: McFarland, 2008. Read More