Is Marnie (above) a noir?
And - if so - is it a noir because of its visual style? Or because of certain thematic motifs associated with noir as a genre (e.g., a "disturbed woman" protagonist like those in Leave Her to Heaven and The Locket)?
Asking whether noir is a genre or a visual style is like asking whether a photon is a wave or a particle. (Or whether Certs is a candy mint or a breath mint.) For noir, like a photon, the answer depends on the position of the observer.
Noir should not be defined in terms of absolutes. When presented with a particular candidate for the noir canon, we shouldn’t be asking, "Is it noir or not-noir?," but rather, "How noir is it?"
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
A BRIEF HISTORY OF NOIR - CONTINUED
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2 comments:
I couldn't agree more. One reason why noir's so enduring, I think, is that it beautifully and thoroughly embodies/exposes the dark side of human nature that seems to reign supreme so much of the time (cf. Bush & the facist evolution of the U.S.). Noir, for better or worse, = life, or a large part of it anyhow.
Life many other things, noir is difficult to define but one knows it when one sees it.
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