Film Noir as Genre (Lecture)

Defined principally by visual style, but also by theme and narrative.

Visual Style

Rooted in German expressionism

Mise-en-scene

Lighting

• Low-key lighting
• Night-for-night shooting

Setting

• Urban

Cinematography

Black-and-white film stock

• Economic decision
• Aesthetic decision

Unconventional camera angles

• Extreme low-angle
• Extreme high-angle
• Extreme deep focus
• Dutch angle

Theme

Fatalism

Moral ambiguity

Alienation

Misogyny

Narrative

Conventional characters

Men

• Normally, the protagonists
• Morally ambiguous
• Alienated, fatalistic, cynical
• Destroyed by:
  • Inner desires
  • Outside, social forces

Women

• Evil woman, femme fatale, femme noir
• Redemptive woman

Structure

Protagonist involved in something beyond his control Inevitably leads to his demise