Is Film Noir a Genre or a Style - Coursework Example

Visual Arts and Film Studies May 15, Introduction There are different types of stories. Some stories have happy endings. Other stories show real life situations. A different story will focus on religious concepts. Other stories will venture into horror movies. The film audiences receive different reactions or knowledge from the different films. Films serve different film viewers’ wants or needs. Some movie audiences prefer to be entertained. Comedy movies cater to this type of movie viewer. Other movie viewers want to learn additional knowledge. Movies that are based on real life situations such as world wars, breeding of animals, and other educational films fill the needs of this type of movie viewer. Some lovers prefer to be closer to one another. Some view horror movies together in order to support one another during the movie’s scary moments. Horror movies are popular movie types. The film noir caters to the movie demands of the black film audiences. Film Genre When compared to style, the Film Noir equates more as genre. The genre can be classified as representing a unique film form1. On the other hand, the style can described as something that is said, done, expressed, or performed. Most films are discussed using the genre classification, compared to using the style film classification2. There are different factors for identifying the film genre. One factor is the film’s setting. Another factor is the film’s theme. A third factor is the mood. The fourth factor is the film’s format. One of the most popular factors is the film’s story3. There are several story factors. One story factor genre is the comedy film4. The film makes the film audience laugh. Another story factor is the horror film. The film generates fear on the film viewers. The war film shows the war between two opposing armies or groups. A third story factor is the adventure film. The film focuses on the travels of the protagonists, usually the good persons. Another film story genre is the film noir, Black film5. The film noir style incorporated obvious bleak scenes. Film noir is distinct from the other story factor film genre6. The film includes dimly lighted scenes. The film noir includes crime stories that are filled with action. The film noir was created during the 1940s and 1950s film era. The film noir include the glaring mood theme. One of the popular American actors of the film noir age is Robert Mitchum. The film noir often involved crimes, cops, crime investigators (detectives) and criminals. Film Noir Film Genre The Big Sleep is an American film noir masterpiece (Hawks, 1946). The film involved an investigation. Humphrey Bogart plays the role of the The Big Sleep novel’s Detective Philip Marlowe. The Co-star, Lauren Bacall, plays the novel’s daughter of General Sternwood. General Sternwood hired Detective Marlowe to resolve a blackmail case. The movie ends with General Sternwood hiring Detective Marlowe to find the younger daughter’s husband, Sean Regan7. The story ends with detective Marlowe proving that the younger daughter of General Sternwood, Carmen, killed Sean Regan, a mentally unstable person8. The detective divulges to the elder sister, Vivian that the elder sister covered up the crime of murder committed by Carmen9. Image 1 The Big Sleep Detective is able to bring out the truth by replicating the murder of Regan. Detective Marlowe gives Vivian her gun. Next, the Detective places a target for Carmen to practice shooting. Instead of shooting the target object, Carmen shoots several bullets on Detective Marlowe. Fortunately for Detective Marlowe, the detective replaced the real bullets with blanks. The detective lies to protect Carmen and Vivian, the true murders of Regan, from being incarcerated10. The detective places the Regan murder on Eddie Mars, a gambling facility owner. The detective persuades Vivian to send her mentally unstable sister, Carmen, to a mental hospital. The Big Sleep qualifies as a film noir. The film noir contains good and bad characters11. The film noir usually include the story of the good guys winning over the bad guys. The bad guys include the criminals. The criminals include Canino, one of the henchmen of Mars. Canino kills Harry Jones. Agnes instructs Jones to tell the Detective the location of Regan for $200. Canino kills Jones. Canino is hiding the Wife of Mars, Mona. The story ends with Mars recovering his wife, Mona12. Science Fiction film story Genre The science fiction film story genre contains two factors13. One factor is the use of science. The setting of the movie is based on science concepts. One of the science concepts is incorporating the time issues14. Next, the story genre is not a real story. The story does not happen to real people. Image 2 Star Wars IV Further, the Star Wars IV movie is a science fiction film story genre15. The film is writer is George Lucas. The film director is Georg Lucas. The story setting is somewhere in outer space. There is a war between the oppressive government leaders and rebel group. The government forces located in the Death Star is led by Darth Vader. Vader is Luke Skywalker’s real father. Vader is the villain. Luke Skywalker is the protagonist. The Jedi expert, O. Kenobi, leads Luke Skywalker’s rescue of Princes Leia from the government forces’ prison cell. Luke Skywalker, Han Solo and Kenobi help the Rebels defeat the government forces16. Furthermore, the movie has some science fiction characters17. R2D2 is robot. The robot can think as well a human being. R2D2 equate to the powerful information technology of the computer. The story includes the human-shaped robot. The robot has a metal body. The robot is called C-3PO. The human shaped robot, C-3PO can interpret several languages. The human-shaped robot can translate the unclear R2D2 messages to plain English language. Moreover, the star wars movie also uses high technology weapons18. Luke Skywalker uses the Jedi power built into the light-emitting sword. As the light emitting swords hit each other, the movie audience can easily hear the science-fiction sound emitted by the swords. The sword holder can open or let loose the light-shaped sword’s blade. When not in use, the sword holder can hide or hold inactive the light blade of the controversial sword. In real life, there is no such light-shaped sword available. The light-shaped sword is only shown in the unreal world of science fiction. Similarities between the two film story genres There are similarities between the two film story genres. Both the Star Wars IV movie and the The Big Sleep movie contain a conflict19. First, there is a conflict between the opposing sides. Both sides try to defeat the other side. Both the Star Wars IV movie and the The Big Sleep movie have both the good characters and the bad characters. In Detective Marlowe is the good guy in the The Big Sleep movie. Detective Marlowe tries his best to outwit the bad guys. The detective successful outmaneuvers the bad characters of the movie. Detective Marlowe is able to escape from Mar’s henchman Canino. After Canino kills Agnes’ cook messenger Harry Jones, Canino gives an impression that he is a ruthless killer among the movie viewers. Consequently, Canino will not hesitate to kill detective Marlowe. Further, the Star Wars IV movie shows there is fight between Darth Vader’s government forces and Princess Leia’s rebel forces20. The story ends with the rebel forces winning over the government forces. Luke Skywalker is able to detonate a bomb inside the core of the government forces’ Death Star warship. Consequently, the entire advancing government army inside the Death Star is killed. Darth Vader is able to escape from the Death Star prior to the explosion. Hans Solo joins the fight to destroy the pursuing government attack planes. The government attack planes were inching closure to Luke Skywalker’s attack plane. Second, Both the Star Wars IV movie and the The Big Sleep movie show the good forces always win over the bad forces21. Darth Vader’s army cannot overwhelm the rebel base. Before the rebel base could wipe out the entire rebel base, the rebel defense pilots are able to destroy the approaching government base, Death Star. Consequently, the rebel forces win over the government forces. Darth Vader does his best to help defeat the rebel army. Darth Vader uses his spaceship to attack the remaining attack pilot, Luke Skywalker. However, Han Solo is able to intercede to Luke Skywalker’s defense. Consequently, Luke Skywalker was able to fulfill his mission, stop the government forces from destroying the rebel base. Further, the The Big Sleep shows Marlowe wins over the adversaries. Marlowe is able to escape from the clutches of Canino, the henchman of Mars. Detective Marlowe is able to uncover the murder of Regan. The desperate acts of Vivian to cover up her sister Carmen’s murder of Regan are easily uncovered by Detective Marlowe. Third, Both the Star Wars IV movie and the The Big Sleep movie have a suspenseful story22. The The Big Sleep movie starts with Detective Marlowe complying with General Sternwood’s paid instruction to find the blackmailer. The movie audience is held in suspense. The audience will ponder whether Detective Marlowe is able to find the blackmailer. As Detective Marlowe witnesses the murder of Geiger, the movie audience is held in another suspenseful act. The suspense veers on who murdered Geiger. Detective moves to find the killer of Geiger. The suspense is ended when the audience sees Detective learn the real murderer is Geiger’s driver, Brody. As the story rolls on, the movie audience is persuaded to think where Regan is hiding. The movie audience’s suspense is quenched. Detective Marlowe proves, through replication of the murder at, that mentally unstable Carmen killed Regan. Further, the Star Wars IV story focuses on the suspense of who will win the battle23. The government ship Battle Star is depicted as having a very powerful weapon. The weapon can obliterate an entire planet in one shot. The audience is held on their feet as the government war ship inches closer to the rebel base. The Death Star previously used the weapon to crush into tiny rocks Princes Leia’s home planet in one shot. In response, the defense forces of the rebel base fly towards the approaching Death Star. The pilots of the Death Star have an aerial battle to protect the Death Star from the attacking rebel base planes. The suspense of the audience is quenched when Luke Skywalker drops a bomb into the core of the Death Star. Consequently, the Death Star explodes into bits and pieces. The explosion occurred as the Death Star is firing its dreaded weapon on the rebel base. Lastly, Both the Star Wars IV movie and the The Big Sleep movie contain the love theme24. Vivien tries to make sexual advances on Detective Marlowe. Detective Marlowe rejects Vivian’s lover overtures. Likewise, Detective Marlowe sees the naked Carmen on Detective Marlowe’s bed. Carmen tries to seduce Detective Marlowe. Marlowe refused to lie in bed beside Carmen, refusing Carmen’s love persuasions. Detective Marlowe shows to the movie audience that he is a man of principle. Detective Marlowe shows that he does not mix love with work. Detective Marlowe shows that falling in love is not good work etiquette. Consequently, Detective Marlowe’s detective work prevents his from getting married. Further, the Star Wars IV movie also includes love overtures. Han Solo shows his love for Princess Leia25. Luke Skywalker shows he is in love with Princess Leia. Princess Leia shows she can also fall in love. In the sequel to the Star Wars IV, Star Wars VI, O. Kenobi divulges that Kenobi hid Darth Vader’s two children in order to prevent Darth Vader from locating them. Darth Vader’s wife died at childbirth. Kenobi divulges to Luke Skywalker that Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia are siblings, children of Darth Vader. Consequently, Princes Leia’s love for her long lost brother Luke Skywalker is replaced with Princess Leia’s love for Han Solo. Differences between the two film story genres There are differences between the Star Wars IV movie and the The Big Sleep movie. First, the Star Wars IV movie and the The Big Sleep movie are set in different time periods. The Big Sleep is set during the time of the gangster years. On the other hand, the Star Wars IV movie is set in the space age time period26. Second, the Star Wars IV movie and the The Big Sleep movie use different weapon types. In the The Big Sleep movie, the protagonists and the anti-protagonists use a hand gun27. On the other hand, the Star Wars IV movie shows the protagonists and anti-protagonists use the war plane guns to destroy the opponents’ planes. Similarly, Luke Sky walker, O. Kenobi, and Darth Vader use the light-shaped sword as weapons of war28. Third, the Star Wars IV movie and the The Big Sleep movie use different costumes. The The Big Sleep movie shows the characters use everyday clothes. The male characters use suits. On the other hand, the Star Wars IV movie shows the characters use more scientifically designed costumes. The war plane pilots use the typical space plane pilot uniform29. Fourth, the Star Wars IV movie and the The Big Sleep movie end differently. The The Big Sleep movie ends with a bang. There is no sequel to the movie. There is no Part II, Part III, Part IV or Part V. The audience will know that the story reaches a climactic end. On the other hand, the Star Wars Movie is quite confusing30. The story seems to start abruptly. There is no clear description of how the Star Wars IV started. The movie’s end seems incomplete. There is a feeling that the story did not completely end. As expected, writer George Lucas did not intend to end the Star Wars IV completely. Instead, the story continues to roll on in Star Wars V and Stars Wars VI. After Star Wars IV, three new sequels were shown in theatres around the world. The sequels include Star Wars l, Star Wars II, and Stars III. Fourth, the Star Wars IV movie and the The Big Sleep movie have different action intensity. The The Big Sleep movie is a detective story. Detective stories focus on investigations31. Consequently, more movie time is used to finding answers to the crime questions. Less movie time is allocated to shooting, fighting or other similar attacks. On the other hand, the Star Wars IV movie has more action compared to the The Big Sleep movie. The movie starts with Kenobi persuading Luke Skywalker to rescue the captured Princess Leia from the Death Star’s prison cell. The Death Star moves towards the rebel base location. The Death star prepares its huge weapon to wipe out the rebel base. Consequently, there was an ensuing battle between the rebel base planes and the Death Star planes. The movie ends with the explosion of the Death Star32. Fifth, the Star Wars IV movie and the The Big Sleep movie have different movie viewer impressions. The The Big Sleep movie is shown to lower production expenses compared to the Star Wars movie. There are more characters in the Star Wars IV movie compared to the characters in the The Big Sleep movie, compared to the characters depicted in the Star Wars IV movie. The The Big Sleep movie indicates the story’s actions are slower than the Star Wars IV story’s actions. The Stars Wars IV movie’s aircraft attack speeds are faster than the Detective Marlowe’s wielding his handgun to defend himself against the The Big Sleep bad characters33. Conclusion Film viewers desire different types of stories. Some prefer movies having happy endings. Other film audiences prefer real life situation movies. A different film group love to view religion-based films. Still, horror movies are popular choices. Others prefer comedy genre movies. Another group prefers real history-based films. Some lovers prefer to comfort one another while watching a horror movie. Science fiction films have their own target movie customers. Evidently, the film noir genre caters to the movie demands of the black film audiences. References: Auerbach, Jonathan. Dark Borders: Film Noir and American Citizenship. London: University Press. 2011 Auger, Emily. Tech-noir Film. London. Intellect Press. 2011. Clayton, Alex. The Language and Style of Film Criticism. London: Taylor & Francis. 2011. Fortin, Terrance. Architecture and Science Fiction Film. London: Ashgate Press. 2011 George, Susan. Gendering Science Fiction Films. London: Macmillan Press. 2013 Hellekson, K., Practicing Science Fiction. London: McFarland Press. 2010. Hirsch, Foster. The Dark Side of the Screen: Film Noir. London: Capo Press. 2008. Jones, David. Scotland: Global Cinema: Genres, Modes and Identities. London: University Press. 2010. Johnson, Brian. Science Fiction Prototyping. London: Science Fiction Prototyping. London: Morgan Press. 2011 Johnston, Keight. Science Fiction Film. London: Berg Press. 2013 Langford, Barry. Film Genre: Hollywood and Beyond. Edinburgh: Ediburgh University Press. 2005. Macnow, George. The Ultimate Book of Gangster Movies. London: J. Piston Press. 2011. Meehan, Paul. Horror Noir. London: McFarland Press. 2010. Monaco, Paul. John Dahal and Neo-Noir. London. Lexington Press. 2010. Park, William. What is Film Noir. London: Bucknell Press, 2011. Phillips, Gene. Out of the Shadows: Expanding the Canon of Classic Film Noir. London: Scarcrow Press, 2011 Pitts, Michael. Columbia Pictures Horror, Science Fiction and Fantasy Films. London. 2010. Prakash, Gyan. Noir Urbanism. London: University Press. 2010 Reese, Elaine. Tell Me a Story. London: University Press. 2013. Renzi, Thomas. Comedy and Film Noir. London: McFarland Press. 2012. Smith, Imogen. In Lonely Places: Film Noir. London: McFarland Press. 2011. Taraldsvik, Morten. A Sci-Fi Lexicon. New York. Lulu Press. 2013 Read More