Like all genres, different people have different feelings about what makes or does not make a film noir. In this essay, I will be analyzing film noir definitions from Naremore, Harvey, and Borde and Chaumeton; to understand how each party views film noir in their own subjective way. In Naremore’s book, he describes film noir as a genre that is very May 06, · Film noir is used to bluntly show the viewer things that were not discussed in society at the time. For example, women attaining power through beauty and sex and murder and corruption, these were some themes that were not openly spoken about and film noir successfully showed these aspects, albeit sometimes quite dramatically Mar 11, · Among the various styles of producing films, it has been observed the noir style is one that has come to be recognized for its uniqueness in characterization, camera work and striking dialogue. Film Noir of the s and 50s were quite well-known for their feminine characters that were the protagonists, the femme fatale
Film Noir - Essay - words
Paranoia, Entrapment, And the Corruption of the American Dream in Double Indemnity and Detour Film noir can be described as " murder with a psychological twist" Spicer 1. As a genre that flourished during the s, film noir came to reflect the anxietypessimism, and paranoia that pervaded post-war America In Anatomy of Film, Bernard Dick writes, "The world of film noir is one of paranoia and entrapment, of forces bearing down on the individuals that are too overwhelming to resist. Ulmer's Film noir essay and help to exploit the dark side of the American Dream.
In Double Indemnity, Phyllis Dietrichson, a bored housewife, manipulates Walter Neff, an insurance salesman, into securing accident insurance for her husband and helping her kill him. From the moment Phyllis reveals her plan to Walter, he becomes a co-conspirator, not because he refuses to participate in her scheme, but because he does nothing to stop her. After Walter agrees to participate in Phyllis' scheme and becomes further embroiled in her scheme, he becomes more and more trapped, film noir essay. As Walter states, film noir essay, "That was it, Keyes.
Phyllis and Walter realize that they cannot rat each other out without implicating themselves; moreover, Walter also risks betraying Lola Dietrichson with whom he has developed a friendship if she ever finds out he played a role in her father's death. The bond between Phyllis film noir essay Walter can only be severed if one or both are dead. The severance of their relationship would also mean an end to entrapment. Phyllis believes that in order for her to succeed, and subsequently be " free ," she needs to destroy all evidence linking her to the first Mrs. Dietrichson's death and the death of Mr. As such, Phyllis also manipulates Nino Zachetti, Lola Dietrichson's on-and-off again boyfriend, into film noir essay her after Mr.
Dietrichson's death, inadvertently entrapping Nino with the intent of using him as a pawn in her scheme. Throughout the film, film noir essay, Phyllis continuously entraps the men she meets -- she seduces Mr. Dietrichson and manipulates him into marriageseduces Walter and uses him to help murder Mr. Through this cyclical entrapment film noir essay the men in her lifePhyllis unknowingly entraps herself. The ultimate form of entrapment would be getting caught by the authorities, which leads to the creation of paranoia within Walter. Because Walter knows that his boss, film noir essay, Barton Keyes, has the ability to differentiate between legitimate and false insurance claims, he designs the "perfect" plan to get away with his and Phyllis' plan.
It is this paranoia that leads Walter to dictate how and when he and Phyllis will get together to conspire and establish how, when, and where they will kill Mr. Dietrichson Double Indemnity. Paranoia, or the premise of paranoia, plays a major role in determining how Phyllis is going to go about killing her husband. Phyllis feigns concern for her husband's life due to his dangerous line of work in the oil fields and thus uses his job as an excuse to get an accident insurance policy on him. It is this feigned concern or feigned paranoia that sets Phyllis' and Walter's plan in motion.
Similarly, film noir essay, in Detour, film noir essay, Al Roberts inadvertently becomes entrapped in a criminal conspiracy as he hitchhikes from New York City to Los Angeles to be reunited with his loveSue Harvey. Unlike Double Indemnity where paranoia is a consequence of entrapment, in Detour, film noir essay, entrapment is a consequence of paranoia. For instance, it is Roberts' paranoia about his appearance that influences him to assume Charles Haskell, Jr. In A Panorama of American Film Noir:Raymond Borde and Etienne Chaumeton This concept can be seen through Roberts as he transitions from an innocent man into a film noir essay. As such, film noir essay, Roberts "makes the accident appear to be a crime and takes Haskell's identity, thus guaranteeing a murder charge if he is caught" It is through this first action that Roberts becomes entrapped, however, this entrapment is of his own doing and could have been prevented if he had told the truth as it is likely he would not have been implicated in Haskell's death once the police determined Haskell died from a pre-existing heart condition, film noir essay, film noir essay allegation that could be supported by the heart pills Haskell kept in the glove compartment Detour.
Roberts becomes further entrapped when he picks up Vera, who knew Film noir essay and thus knows Roberts has assumed his identity. Because Vera knows Roberts is not Haskell, she uses film noir essay knowledge to blackmail him into doing what she tells him to. Moreover, Vera secures Roberts' criminal status by forcing him to keep Haskell's identity, film noir essay, even though he had planned on getting rid of Haskell's car and reassuming his real identity upon reaching San Bernardino, or another large city; Vera's blackmailing further secures the entrapment felt by Roberts and he is not able to escape her clutches without revealing his true identity and implicating himself in Haskell's death.
Additionally, he cannot turn Vera in without implicating himself in the conspiracy to swindle Charles Haskell, Sr. out of moneya conspiracy first concocted between Haskell, Sr. had plotted to pose as a Film noir essay salesman to extort money from his father. Tragically, Roberts ends up killing Vera in a paranoid attempt to prevent her from calling the police and turning him in to the authorities. Ironically, through the assumption film noir essay Haskell's identity, Roberts became the man he never wanted to be, film noir essay, a vagrant and a criminal. Ultimately, film noir essay, even though Roberts successfully film noir essay the Vera's clutches, his guilt over killing her and all the events that transpired forever prevent him from ever reaching Sue and Roberts thus becomes entrapped by his guilt.
As Roberts continues on his way, he is eventually picked up by the police and the cycle of entrapment continues. The actions taken by Phyllis in Double Indemnity to reach her goal of being financially secure are a corruption of the American Dream. While material prosperity is a facet of the American Dream, and people work hard to achieve this, Phyllis would rather murder her way to financial security. Phyllis's actions are motivated by greedand she will do anything in order to get what she wants. She does this by first securing a job as the first Mrs. Dietrichson's nurse, subsequently causing her death, then by marrying the widowed Mr.
Dietrichson, taking out an accident insurance policy on him before murdering him, and conspiring to kill Lola, to whom Mr. Dietrichson had left everything to; it can be inferred that upon Lola's demise, Phyllis would inherit the Dietrichson fortune as there would be no next of kin to claim the estate. In a way, Double Indemnity is full of McCarthyist undertones as Phyllis seeks to undermine "the fabric of American society and values" by attempting to achieve the American Dream through murder, greed, and deception Spicer Detour also features an existentialist subtext that influences the behavior of the male protagonist. Andrew Spicer contends, film noir essay, "Noir's non-heroic protagonists are entrapped, often by mischance, in an alienating, lonely world, usually the night-time city, where they fact the threat of death.
The chaotic, random violence of this world gives rise to feelings of persecution and paranoia" In Detour, Roberts fulfills the role of the non-heroic noir protagonist almost to the letter. Roberts' views about the world are highly influenced film noir essay his cynicism and how he thinks people perceive him -- a vagrant. Roberts' interactions with Haskell are film noir essay coincidental because he neither targeted Haskell, film noir essay, nor was he targeted by Haskell; Roberts was picked up by chance and did not know Haskell was on his way to Los Angeles to try to swindle his own father. The alienating, lonely world Spicer alludes to is America as a whole as Roberts tries to hitchhike his way from New York City to Los Angeles.
Because he does not know how he is going to make it to the next leg of his journey, it is logical to think that Roberts continuously feels lost as he finds himself in a new part of the country on a daily basis. Works Cited Borde, Raymond and Etienne Chaumeton. A Panorama of American Film Noir: Paul Hammond. San Francisco: City Lights Books, Edgar G. United States: Producers Releasing Corporation, Netflix Instant Streaming. In the heist itself, time overlaps, and actions that have already been shown are repeated from another character's point-of-view. The audience is left to pout the pieces together so that we see a character do something and then se how it helps the next action lead to the desired conclusion.
At the racetrack, with the announcement of the start of the fifth race, the film cuts to Johnny, in the. Film Noir Among the various styles of producing films, it has been observed the noir style is one that has come to be recognized for its uniqueness in characterization, camera work and striking dialogue. Film Noir of the s and 50s were quite well-known for their feminine characters that were the protagonists, the femme fatale. This was most common with the French, film noir essay, later accepted in the United States.
There might have. Take the movie the Maltese Falcon, for example, film noir essay. The character played by Humphrey Bogart is not driven by an idealistic approach, film noir essay, but by the financial motivations that different characters will offer him throughout the movie. At the same time, the main female character is usually the femme fatale type, dangerous, yet attractive, with whom the main male character tends to bond. This is not, however, the usual Hollywood type love. Film Noir The film "Mildred Pierce" is the film noir essay of film noir, complete with the femme fatale, theme of betrayal and hopelessness and use of flashbacks. While the "On the Waterfront" also uses the theme of betrayal and hopelessness, it breaks from the film noir genre, and rather than using flashbacks, film noir essay, it is told in present time and film noir essay use of the femme fatale is replaced by an unscrupulous.
The fact that she flirts with gender roles and norms is equally as dangerous. For Corky, the danger is manifest in the potential betrayal and also in the eventual show down between the women and their male film noir essay. Jessica is portrayed as a more passive figure, as a more classic pre-feminist femme fatale; whereas Violet is a more active figure, a true "postfeminist good-bad girl hybrid. The notion of a woman who is fundamentally untrustworthy -- and possibly murderous -- is a constant within the genre, perhaps as a. Home Writing Tools Example Essays About us FAQs Our Blog Citation Generator Flash Card Generator Login SignUp. Download this Essay in word format. Excerpt from Essay : Paranoia, Entrapment, And the Corruption of the American Dream in Double Indemnity and Detour Film noir can be described film noir essay " murder with a psychological twist" Spicer 1.
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1944: Double Indemnity - The Definitive Film Noir?
, time: 14:56The Concept of Film Noir - Words | Essay Example
Like all genres, different people have different feelings about what makes or does not make a film noir. In this essay, I will be analyzing film noir definitions from Naremore, Harvey, and Borde and Chaumeton; to understand how each party views film noir in their own subjective way. In Naremore’s book, he describes film noir as a genre that is very May 06, · Film noir is used to bluntly show the viewer things that were not discussed in society at the time. For example, women attaining power through beauty and sex and murder and corruption, these were some themes that were not openly spoken about and film noir successfully showed these aspects, albeit sometimes quite dramatically Film noir, a genre of darkness, of shadows, of hardboiled loners and bottom-feeders. The term noir was coined by French film critic Nino Frank in that literally means “Black Film”. This essay will discover how film noir is affected by the context of history as well as its course of evolution to reach its state nowadays
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