FILM NOIR

FONTS

FILM NOIR

Since the 'golden age'

Film Noir takes Hollywood

During the end of World War 2 film noir began to start becoming popular in Hollywood. Much in the way that modern cinema is comic book centric during the 40's and 50's there was a big trend for adult orientated crime films.

Audiences responded well to these films

possibly because they felt fresh, vivid and

touched on more material than other films

of the time period.

The 'golden age' of film noir belongs in the 40's to early 60's and since then the amount of mainstream films using the style has decreased exponentially. Films since have become more self referential. The term Neo Noir can sometimes be used to refer to films that share some of the tropes of classic Film Noir but have mixed them with contemporary values of film making and storytelling. An example of this could be the Sin City films.

Even though the movement has now left mainstream cinema it remains an inspiration to filmmakers that have come since. It's tenacity to explore themes propelled cinema and liberated the Hollywood industry.

Initial European Origins

Film Noir was a movement that focussed on heavily stylised black and white imagery often with disagreeable characters in distressing and twisted storylines. The movement was pioneered by European directors and was inspired by German impressionism.

The actual term film noir was coined by french critic Nino Frank in 1946 and literally means black film however the term was widely adopted in Hollywood until the 1970's.

Breaking boundaries

Is Film Noir a genre?

There is an ongoing debate about wherever or not film noir is a genre. It is defined by it's strong visual style and stories often following a detective, a private eye or a civilian lead to crime. Personally I'm not sure if this is enough to become a genre. If you consider the already established genre's they tend to be very general and relating to just the basic plot of what a film in the genre might be and the intention of the film. For e.g. Horror is any film that basically aims to scare an audience and features a frightening element. Film Noir is a bit too specific in my eyes to classed as a genre, but just as I am debating this, so are many more intelligent people than myself.

Film noir may have become popular because of it's boundary pushing subject matter. Often these films shared a cynical tone, and themes of romanticism, lost innocence, desperation and sexual desire which were suited for a mature audience that were depraved of adult content in cinema. Also it was the first movement that really began using the femme fatale within cinema such as in Out of the Past (1947) which is heralded as one of the greatest of film noir. Out of the Past starred Jane Greer as the femma fatale role. The use of these darker subjects representations of women would have been a defining moment in Hollywood and inspired many films to come. The audience's interest in the crime thriller was increased because of film noir and the interest carries on to this day.