Film Noir

►The black sheep of American cinema
►Key American genres – the western, the gangster, the musical
►In each of these genres, the narratives stress the role of the individual – problems, little and big, are solved by individuals
►For example, ‘War of the Worlds’ – the central narrative problem is of how to keep the children safe from the alien attack
►Ray is a reluctant hero, but rises to the occasions to ensure that his son and daughter make it to safety
►The stress on the role of the individual is a stark political message – saying that individuals can take action and get things done – this chimes with the individualist political creed of George Bush who believes in government standing aside and not intervening
►This runs against the political beliefs of Barack Obama who firmly believes that government and people acting together – collectively – can get problems solved – such as global warming


►Film Noir offers a contrary view of people and society
►In film noir, the individual does not succeed and he is brought down by larger forces around him which conspire against him.
►Film noir offers a very pessimistic, jaundiced view of people and human society – a world of crooks, liars and cheats where everyone is out purely to serve themselves and where people will double cross anyone who crosses their path
►Film Noir rejects the idea of progress and salvation offered by conventional films and instead offer us a dystopian view of the world where things can’t change
►Instead of offering us heroes can change the world through their individual actions films noir offer us anti-heroes who are hamstrung by their past and are unable to change and escape
►In films noir, there are no clear binary oppositions between good and bad, only shades of grey between bad and less bad