Do you know what Film Noir is? Are you sure? Want to prove it? Take a listen to this episode, where Matthew and Kierston take a peek at the curious world of film and the birth of Film Noir, coming out of early(ish) American Cinema and ushering in a world of techniques and tropes that have carried through our media to this day.

show notes

• DEFINITION: Film Noir is a cinematic term used to describe the highly stylized crime dramas that arose in North American cinema in the 1940’s and 50’s. Linked to Hardboiled Detective/crime fiction and often heavy with melodramatic tones, Film Noir or “dark cinema” usually involves some classic markers like a mysterious amoral hero with a murky backstory, a femme fatale, low-key lighting with unbalanced compositions, and ‘modern’ gothic tones such as criminal mysteries or social scandal. 
  • GENERAL EXAMPLE:  Maltese Falcon, The Big Sleep
    
     
  • • Why it is used:
    • This is sort of the counterpart of Screwball comedy. Where screwball is light and optimistic, Noir film is Dark and nailistic. It’s gritty, rough, edgy, scandalous and thrilling. It gets it’s emotional kicks and it’s social commentary, not from comedy, but from the twists and turns of plot-driven danger.