Film-noir Naremore Flashcards
Where did film noir originate?
In America
What did film noir emerge out of?
a synthesis of hard-boiled fiction and german expressionism.
IS film noir associated with visual and narrative traits?
Yes
Is noir a creation of postmodern culture?
Yes
What does post-modern mean?
1
Denotes the time period following modernism since 1950s
what does modernism mean?
a self-conscious break with the past and a search for new forms of expression
Why is the classical model of film noir difficult to pin down?
because it
was named by critics rather than film-makers, who did
not speak of film noir until well after it was established
as a feature of academic writin
What must we understand about the genre?
It belongs to the history of ideas as much as to the history of cinema.
When was film noir born?
1946-1959
What did the noir discourse grow out of in America?
kness. The
discourse on noir grew out of a European male fasci-
nation with the instinctive (a fascination that was evi-
dent in most forms of high modernism), and many of
the films admired by the French involve white charac-
ters who cross borders to visit Latin America,
Chinatown, or the “wrong” parts of the c
Why did the french invent film noir?
Because local conditions predisposed them to view Hollywood in certain ways.
What were the Americans concerned in film making.
criminal psycology, first person-narration, flashbacks that fragmented the story producing a montage.
What is a mis-en-scene?
In film production, mise en scène refers to all of the elements that comprise a single shot; that includes, but is not limited to, the actors, setting, props, costumes, and lighting.
What type is the male hero noir type?
Psychologically, he is passive, masoch-
istic, morbidly curious; physically, he is “often ma-
ture, almost old, not very handsome. Humphrey
Bogart is the type”
What is the noir heroine type?
Beautiful, possibly “frigid” cold calculation and sensualty.
What is the overall theme in film noir?
violence
What has the public of accustomed to with film noir?
a logical action,
an evident distinction between good and evil
well-defined characters with clear motives
scenes that aremore spectacular than brutal,
a heroine who is exquisitely feminine
a hero who is hone
For Borde and Chaumeton what is noir=
an anarcho-leftist critique of bourgeois ideology, and an
eroticized treatment of violence. We
What is exestensialim?
a system of ideas made famous by Jean Paul Sartre in the 1940s in which the world has no meaning and each person is alone and completely responsible for their own actions, by which they make their own character
What is surrealism?
a type of 20th-century art and literature in which unusual or impossible things are shown happening
What themes do we find in film noir?
Isolation, ambiguity, uncertainty
