[I wrote this for my film noir class in answer to the prompt, “Is Noir a genre or an aesthetic?” I added it here because I’m now a noir author. I got an A, btw. *grin*]
David Boop
ENGL 3075 – Fiumara
Essay #4
05/15/14
You Must Dismember This
Thesis: Film Noir is a Genre.
Introduction:
To understand a thing, it must be examined from the outside and the inside. Can you understand what makes someone human just by looking at the outer shell that contains the material items, such as eye color, hair color, skin color? Is a human more identifiable by its organs, blood and bones? No, many things can contain these same items, thought maybe in different sizes and shapes. What truly makes one human is the thoughts, emotions, decisions, hopes, dreams and losses they experience from time of conception until death.
To understand film noir, it must be dissected not only from its material trappings, such as when it was born and what it looks like, both which are elements to what it is, but to examine the whole. It must be as clearly categorizable as a human. In that regard, film noir must be a genre or it cannot exists.
What is a genre? Merriam-Webster defines it as “a category of artistic, musical, or literary composition characterized by a particular style, form, or content.” How does film noir fit into that then? Film noir is a form of filmmaking that is characterized by its plot elements, shooting style and underlining themes. It cannot just be a style, as style is not enough. Casablanca contains elements of a film noir, including similar shooting styles and plot elements, but as a whole, it is not considered a film noir. Additionally, in many circles M by Fritz Lang is considered a film noir, but its release is before the classic period of noir. The definition that encompasses all that is film noir can only be as a genre. This allows for contemporary pieces such as Drive and Brick to be grouped with such classics as Kiss of Death and Murder, My Sweet.
To demonstrate this belief, two films will be dismembered, one from the classic era, The Big Sleep (1946) and Brick (2005).
Body:
In The Big Sleep, down on his luck detective Philip Marlow is summoned by a rich eccentric, General Sternwood, to help his daughter who is in trouble, but soon Marlow is drawn into a deeper web of drugs, pornography and murder. Whereas in Brick, outcast Brendan Frye is summoned by his ex-girlfriend Emily, who is in trouble. Soon, Frye is drawn into a web of drugs, blackmail and murder.
- The plot elements
- Both protagonists are detectives, though Frye less conventional. Frye investigated some of his classmates for the Vice-principal.
- Each film contains a femme fatale that work both for and against the protagonist, as it suits their needs. Lauren Bacall smokes as one of the Sternwood daughters; smart, but with a perchance to give into vices. Brick features Nora Zehetner as Laura, a rich girl with a perchance for poetry, popularity, and crime.
- The villains in either film could stand in a line-up together. The Pin, a drug lord played by Lukas Haas, both charming and scary, is a contemporary for John Riddley’s Eddie Mars, racketeer, pornographer and blackmailer. Each command men under them willing to give their lives for their leader, doing their evil deeds from roughing up the hero to murder.
- Secondary characters who are weak and/or creepy fill in the rest of the characters. Carmen Sternwood, the other daughter and Emily Kostich, Frye’s ex-girlfriend, are direct contrasts to the femme fatales. Both women are drug users and rely on bad men who ultimately lead them down darker roads. Wacked out Dode who tries to be a tough guy, but is too weak fits right alongside Harry Jones, both who meet horrible ends.
- While Brick and Sleep each start with the character being drawn into the “case” for different reasons, it becomes apparent that murder is the true crime. For Marlow, what starts as blackmail becomes a series of several murders including the General’s favorite man, Regan. Frye’s murder touches him more personally, with Emily’s death. Through the course of the either investigation, red herrings abound, but ultimately the heroes put the pieces together and reveal the solution to the murders. The resolution of each case ends with gun battles that see the villains fall.
- The shooting style
In some ways it is unfair to judge the shooting style of Brick’s director Rian Johnson to that of Howard Hawkes, since Hawkes came first and Johnson is obviously influenced by noir directors of the past. However, Johnson not only pays homage to directors like Hawkes, he also creates a style that is uniquely his when viewed against his other films like The Brothers Bloom (2008) and Looper (2012). Johnson likes scenes without vocals or SFX, just music or silence. He likes unusual angles, extreme close-ups and camera tricks that force perspective. In one particular scene, we watch unflinchingly from Frye’s perspective as Tug, a thug, approaches him with the intent to beat the crap out of him.
Unusual angles and tricks run rampant through noir. Long alleys, shadows, and forced perspectives are evident in films like The Third Man, Farewell, My Lovely and The Big Sleep.
- Underlining themes
Noir, as a genre, must have a sentiment that can be seen in every film. Western has the idea of exploration and the hardships that come with it. Romance is love and the hardships that come with it. Science Fiction has technology and the hardships… you get the idea. So then what theme runs through noir that connects each of those films together? It cannot be as simple as crime doesn’t pay, but it’s not far from that either. In looking at a large number of noirs, crime is a reoccurring theme, either enacted by or investigated by the protagonist. But crime itself is not a theme. The results of crime on the human condition is. In every noir, a crime substantially changes the protagonist.
In Sleep, Marlow is taken to a place where drugs, sex, and murder or standard business. He comes away from it changed, someone who chooses love over truth. He wants to protect General Sternwood from the truth about Regan and his daughters. In the beginning, we see Marlow more straight forward, a man who would have laid the truth to Sternwood regardless of the cost. But saving Bacall, who in turn saves him, makes him a man who would rather see people happy than pay a price for their weakness.
Frye is a loner, a teenager on the cusp of manhood, who had already seen more than any teen should. He had no friends, only Emily. After her murder, and the underworld he’s exposed to, he comes out transformed, confident, and with a friend. He’s seems ready for adulthood and will approach it, not from the shadows, but head on.
So, the theme of film noir is that crime, for better or worse, dramatically changes people.
Conclusion:
By Merriam-Webster’s definition, Film Noir is a genre because each and every one can be described with style, form and content. A similar theme can be seen in every film that is classified as classic noir or neo-noir. It does not depend on time period alone, nor by style alone, but by the whole. And while this should be clear, it is still open to debate and often is confusing. It is akin to saying every western filmed outside the fifties is a neo-western, or that every sci-fi film outside the fifties is a neo-science fiction. Just because something is created during a certain time, does not mean it ends with that time period.
Style alone also does not identify a film. Many of the same elements that are in classic film noir are also in films like Casablanca and All Through the Night, but neither is considered film noir. That leaves only genre, of which it clearly has all the parts available to be.
Film Noir, whether of the classic era or the neo-generation, is a genre.