What Film Noir Means - Essay Example

? s Film Noir “Film Noir” is a French term, which literally means ‘Black Film’. It encompassed classic Hollywood crime dramas that were made during the 40’s and 50’s. These movies had a major element of cynicism in them and character drives often were sexual in nature. The term was initially coined by Nino Frank, who described a highly stylized form of movies that Hollywood began producing following the wars and the Great Depression. The movies primarily revolved around criminal investigations and had a very dark tone. Some examples of Film Noir include The Set up and the Big Sleeper. Among some contemporary examples are Twelve Monkeys and Seven. Before Film Noir transcended into a distinctive genre, such movies were largely referred to as ‘melodramas’. Film Noir is primarily characterized by dark visual that matches the theme and the plot of the movie. D.O.A is one of the best examples of a Film Noir as it embodies all characteristics and elements of one. The movie is about a man who is slow-poisoned by a group of unknown and has only a small amount in which he must find out why was he killed and the people who were behind it. The plot to kill him is unusual and it contains a thrilling investigation that eventually unravels the elaborate intrigue that surrounds his death. The overall tone is quite dark and it shows some gaping flaws within in human beings, who are willing to kill anyone in order to conceal their own crimes. Even the characters and plot twists are somewhat cliched within the framework of this genre. For instance, the storyline is always centered on a criminal activity, mostly murder and its subsequent investigation that is carried out by cynical protagonist, usually a thick-skinned detective or a victim of circumstances, like the protagonist in D.O.A., who is forced to confront some of personal conflicts through the investigation of the case. The visual cues are adequate to classify D.O.A. as Film Noir; besides the color tone, the camera angles also play an integral part in building up the tension and to maximizing the suspense. The movie starts off with the camera following a man, who is walking into the police department. The man is the protagonist named Frank Bigelow trudging the police department to report his own murder. This is a classic cinematic stunt employed by the filmmaker, there is suspense from the beginning and the unconventional plot twist is ostensible as the man is trying to report his own murder. The camera angle largely alternates between low angle and a Dutch tilt. The latter involves a titled camera shot, which shows the distress or the psychological turmoil of the characters, whereas the former shot is taken from below the eye line, which is meant to take a full-length shot of the character, while skillful concealing eye contact that enhances the mysterious persona of each character (Conard and Porfiro 135-137). Even the DOA includes many lower angle shots, whereby the mystery surrounding the character is amplified. These shots intensify the character’s emotions that are being projected to the audience; as mystery and suspense serve as the core cinematic elements, only camera shots that are known to obscure part of the character’s face are incorporated by the filmmakers. As a matter of fact, Film Noir is vastly known for using unusual camera angles and special effects that underline the dark and gloomy tone of the story. The narrative structure of Film Noir has very distinct features, which sets it apart from other genres. The entire D.O.A. is told through Bigelow’s flashbacks, as he relates to the officers the perils he goes through in order to find his killers. It switches back and forth to provide the back-story of Bigelow and also showed the actual events that triggered the conflict of the story. Almost all noirs are popular for not following any chronological pattern in its narratives and the flow is often disrupted by the flash-backs and forwards, which is often full of intense monologues as well. (Spicer, n. p.) The protagonist has some drawbacks in his morality as well, which makes it difficult for the audience to sympathize with him but it is realistic from a generic persona of a hero that is devoid of any flaws. Frank Bigelow’s character epitomizes this aspect; though he is the hero, but he lacks a certain degree of integrity and honesty with his lover, which is even pointed out to him by her. Usually noirs have been known to be pioneers in producing dangerous female characters, referred to as the ‘Femme Fatales’. These women are often very sly and manipulative. There is strong sexual tension between the protagonist and the Femme fatale; as the latter is one of the suspects for the crime, they both often cross path and their meetings often culminate in a sexual encounter (Kaplan, n. p.). However, in DOA Marla’s character has all the traits of a femme fatale and there is no hint of her sexual interest in the protagonist or vice versa, but it is ostensible that Marla is quite dangerous; the way she threatens Bigelow when he comes to her for clues makes it obvious. The element of suspense remains consistent throughout the course of the movie, often resulting in a cliffhanger or a gloomy ending. DOA ends with Bigelow finally falling to his death as his body succumbs to the poison as he remembers his Fiancee one last time. It ends on an abrupt note leaving many questions unanswered which is the general modus operandi of Noir filmmakers. The movies pertaining to the Film Noir genre are often set against the backdrop of a city life; they include shots from nightclubs, bars and ominous-looking streets. The message is also quite pessimistic, as the storyline delves in to the darker side of humanity that includes death, deceit, lust and manipulation. Hedonism is one of the fundamental themes that Film noirs discuss, but most of the time the character flaws are the result of some of the misfortunes that they suffered, which is shown in their back-story. Film noirs have become highly sophisticated in the way they project these elements and filmmakers have done a lot of experimentation in weaving intense plotlines for this genre. However, there are plenty of chances that a film can deviate from a standard Film Noir patter, for there is only a fine line between this and all other genres. A movie usually deviates from a Film Noir because the genre itself is a hybrid and, as has been mentioned earlier, it takes many elements from other genres as well. For instance, Film Noir plots involve characters that strictly follow asset pattern. Ordinary crime thrillers and dramas are devoid of any major twists or thrilling elements that may evoke excitement amongst the audience. Since, Film Noir actually emerged as a genre following the social damage that was brought up on the western society by the economic crises. Hence, the pessimism emanates from the sugar-coated reality that the inhabitants of the society were largely presented with that led to their blind pursuit of the American Dream. As a result, the movie plots and messages coaxed the audiences into assessing the feasibility of this pursuit that everybody followed. However, in non-Noir films, the message is vastly absent. Moreover, despite the fact that the protagonist of crime thrillers may exhibit characteristic of a Film noir, it is still not classified as a Noir because despite having hero-like qualities of a Film noir, the element occurs in isolation and all other characteristics are absent. The narrative is straight forward, with no complicated flashbacks or character struggles. James Bond films can never be classified as noir, for despite having strong sexual motives, femme fatales and a hardheaded spy, but rather than gloom, Bond movies focus fundamentally on glamour and action as he fights his way out of an enemy’s lair. Also, there is an absence of a valid message in such detective movies because they do not focus on any aspect of society that may have any pertinence to real life. (Gates 12) The entire social fabric had been greatly weakened by the wars that ended up with many people being displaced from their homeland. They brought new lighting and visual elements to the noir genre, particularly when it comes to using shadows to enhance darkness, but the genre was fundamentally formed in order to provide commentary on the social situation. The movie is particularly about murders and the gloominess in the lives of the people, who have faced the harsh realities of life in pursuit of happiness. Classic examples of Film Noir were not brutal or gory in nature, as many detective movies have become now, but these elements continue to infiltrate contemporary noirs or Neo-Noirs, as it is dubbed by cinematic scholars. Classic noir primarily focus on the protagonist’s perspective of the scenario, but other genres also incorporate the anti-heroes’ side of the story as well, which is essentially begins to delineate from a classic noir. However, neo-noir has all such elements and it is taking over like a fad. For instance, the movie basic instinct is an example of a modern noir that incorporates all elements of a classic film, but it has ample amount of blood and mild gore. However, with the constant progression and evolution of cinema, Noir is becoming more and more explicit in its nature; which is vastly because of the demands of audiences that have made film noirs even a broader genre and therefore, this hybridity of it has made it extremely difficult for filmmakers to keep their films loyal to the Noir genre (Schwartz, n. p.). Many people argue whether or not the neo-noir genre even exists, because in some aspects it contemporary Film Noir has indeed delineated from the classical noirs. Unlike the classical ones, neo noir is more main-stream in its nature, therefore neo noir has become a genre of its own. Some of its elements remain consistent, but it has delineated from the original noir elements. For instance, Kill Bill has become a classic example of Neo Noir, but there is no social message and focuses primarily on the action and gore. As a result, it can be established that Neo-Noir has taken elements from Film Noir constructing a separate genre. This could be the result of the changing audience demands, but though most neo noirs are gloomy and dark, and may have unusual plotlines, but they are no longer simply a thrilling murder mystery. Works Cited Conard, Mark T., and Porfiro, Robert. ‘Philosophy of Film Noir’. University Press of Kentucky. 2007, pp. 135- 137. Print. D.O.A. Dir. Rudolph Mate. Perf. Edmond O’Brien, Pamela Britton and Luther Adler. United Artists. 1950. Film. Gates, Philipp. Detecting Men: Masculinity in Hollywood Detective Films. New York: SUNY Press. 2006: pp. 10-15. Print. Kaplan, E. Ann. Women in Film Noir. United Kingdom: British Film Institute. 1998. Print. Schwartz, Ronald. Neo Noir. New York: Scarecrow Press. 2005. Print. Spicer, Andrew. Film Noir. New York: Longman Publishing. 2002. Print. Read More