Presentation Outline

 

I.                   The film Reservoir Dog’s follows a few men leading up to and after a jewelry heist. The double protagonist characters Mr.White and Mr.Orange lose their true intentions in the process that causes a fatal outcome.

 

II.                Classic Film Noir

1.      Setting

a.       The film is set Los Angeles. Cities are commonly used for film noir because of the urban feel and you are more likely to find criminals that set the ominous tone of film noir.

 

2.      Flashback

a.       Flashbacks are popular among classic noir films. A quote in the book Caught in the Crossfire: Adrian Scott and the Politics of Americanism in 1940’s Hollywood by Jennifer Langdon says “By interrupting a traditional, linear narrative, the flashback challenged the form strongly identified with progress: The story with a beginning, a middle and an end and open to all possibilities”(Langdon, 85). By having the outcome of the story already revealed, the audience doesn’t get to predict what will happen next and the fate of the character is already determined.

III.             Neo-Noir Elements

1.      Lighting

a.       In his article titled Film Noir Lighting with Lighting Diagrams, Larry Clark describes classic film noir lighting as “sometimes either stark dark or light contrasts as are the dramatic shadowing effects”(Clark). Basically a black and white film that gives an eerie feeling 24/7.  InReservoir Dog’s, the lighting is quite opposite. All of the outdoor scenes are in broad daylight, even the heist itself.

2.      Content

a.       The graphic content in Reservoir Dog’s is an obvious neo-noir element. Double Indemnity murder scene was not shown at all even if it was just a broken neck. The movie shows Mr. Blonde mutilating the cops face as well as many other murder scenes.

b.      Language is vulgar. A lot of derogatory terms and cussing. According to a video on Youtube.com, the word “Fuck” was used give or take 272 times throughout the whole movie.

 

Blog Entry 8

Assignment 1:
           Option One:

Consider the ways in which the main characters are similar.  Based strictly on these two stories, formulate a description of protagonists in neo-noir. 

    In the stories The Kidnapper Bell and The City of Commerce, the two main characters are Jim and Nick. The one thing that comes up in my mind that makes them similar is probably the neglect they have with their wives. For Jim, we didn't even know he had a wife until the last page. I was pretty shocked considering he was planning to have an affair and probably even had more in the past. Nick didn't have an affair that we know of but he neglected his wife by letting her go off to these parties not caring what she did and who she did, Nick also had an obvious gambling issue and ignored her demands by going off to the casino.

     Based strictly on these two stories, I would think that neo-noir can occasionally be told in a third person point of view. In The kidnapper Bell, the story was told by an unknown third party which is different since protagonists are usually in first person. By this, we had information about the characters in the story. Just that Jim was married and that was really it. The only thing that bothered me about the two stories were the endings. Kidnapper Bell was very attention grabbing and I was excited to read on about who the kidnapper is and why he did this to her sister. If Jim got caught, and what happened to the bodies? The City of Commerce also had a vague ending. Is Nick just going to live his life on the run? Did the mob get to his wife?  Based on both of the stories, I would think that neo-noir has really vague and non-closure endings, which I really don't like.

Assignment 2:

       I would  have to say that "The Girl Who Kissed Barnaby Jones" is the story that depicts noir the most. It has Tate, who is the typical middle aged man or older who works as a waiter (dead end job) divorced and seemingly bored in his life with no excitement who is lured by a beautiful femme fatale, Cherie. Cherie is a typical femme fatale who is also a washed up actress "She came from L.A from East Lansing Michigan to be an actress back in the 70's (Phillips, 288.) The only difference is that he is not gullible enough to help her with the murder and goes against her right away. And like most protagonists, Tate is ultimately murdered by Cherie.

      The least noir story would have to be "What You See".  Gabe is too much of a low life. Most protagonists are boring in noir, but they at least have some charm in them. Gabe on the other hand just met Terrel and all of a sudden envisioned a detailed next few encounters with her and even asked Marcus over to meet her. Even his jokes with Marcus were lame. Just an all out lame guy. I don't even really see any features of a noir story in here besides the descriptions of streets in L.A. Gabe is crazy, maybe he's the "Male fatale" maybe we just read the inside of a fatales mind for the first time. He didn't really seduce her nor does he seem attractive, but he definitely lured her into his car and ultimately ended her life. This story was just really pathetic, it was hard to read how awkward he was. So all in all, not a noir story at all.

Blog 7- Blog option 2

Blog option two: How does having a female as both protagonist and first-person narrator affect these narratives?  Would you still consider these stories as noir?  Why or why not?

    When I first began to read The Method by Janet Fitch, I decided right away to chose blog option 2. I think having a woman be the protagonist is a nice breath of fresh air. I was just getting used to Neo-Noir's vulgarity in the new stories. Now with Holly in The Method being a woman and being so raunchy and raw was pretty entertaining for me. It took the classic noir depiction of stay at home women in the 40's to a neo noir perspective; The new Era of women- Holly was an independent single woman living by herself in the city. 

     Is a female protagonist still considered noir? I would have to say it is. While I was reading the story, it reminded me of Sunset Blvd. Same washed out actress, the location and even the gloominess of it all. As Holly walked in Mariah's house she describes is as being "dark and smelled of mold". The Method, like other noir stories, also escalated quickly. She got seduced (surprisingly) pretty fast by Richard (Anthony), suddenly was willing to kill, then suddenly turned crazy and killed him. So I think besides a protagonist female, I would label this story Neo-Noir.  I'm actually enjoying the neo-noir stories a little more, especially in these short stories. I kept predicting which of Holly, Richard or Mariah were going to die. It's somewhat nice now to not know the outcome of the story in the beginning.

Article Review; Blog 5.

    A blog post written by Thomas Caldwell titled "Notes on film: Double indemnity" gave me a lot more facts and insight about the film and the origins of film noir. Caldwell opens by informing us that Double indemnity was actually one of the first or even the first true film noir. I enjoyed getting to know a little about the origins of how film noir was inspired by the depression and the war, and how the dark images and thoughts were transpired by these events. Even some early traits of film noir are traced back to 1910 from German expressionist films, these film makers eventually came to the U.S when the Nazi's took over and shared these traits. The french actually were the first to recognize the trend in hollywood naming it "Film Noir" translating to "Dark film".

   I mostly was interested in the comment he wrote to a viewer when asked why the Femme fatale character was very popular to women at this time. He replied stating that it showed strong empowerment to women because of how the "social norm" back in the early 90's were of Men being superior. But in the case of film noir stories, the Women seem to have more of an upper-hand. I remember the class discussing these topics of Rosie the Riveter and how women emerged to defining themselves more than just a housewife. All in all, It was nice to read about the roots of film noir and the reasons behind this film movement.

Zero Draft Questions; Blog #4

Question #3
       I feel when a film opens with the ending or after the climax part in a story it automatically draws the audience in like how Double Indemnity opened in their first scene showing the main character, Walter wounded. We are now curious to how Walter came to this conclusion. In the novel, the story is told in chronological order minus Walter narrating his story. When I was reading the first few pages of the book, I wasn't really interested as much as I was in the beginning of the film because the book just opening with some boring insurance salesmen talking about his job and other information about other characters. It wasn't really an attention grabber like how it would be if the story opened with a death or an outcome that the readers can be curious about. The ending in the beginning is also good for a film noir movie because it's a popular trait. It's usually about knowing the main character's predicament or death first, then they narrate to the audience of how it was led to that point. It's also usually a first person point of view.

Question #9
      There are definitely noticeable changes of Barton Keyes' character between the film and novel. In the novel, we do see a closer bond between Huff and Keyes other than just being coworkers.  Keyes' character is a tough "hardboiled detective" but it seems he has a soft spot for Walter. When the company does a routine investigation on Walter about the murder, Keyes immediately sends a message claiming he is innocent and has nothing to do with the crime. Though there is an apparent connection between the two in the novel , the film emphasizes it greatly. The biggest emphasis would be the narration. Walter is confessing in a recording to Keyes about the murder, Therefore the film is directed to Keyes. It is gravitating more towards Walter's and Keyes' relationship because it's somewhat like a conversation between them. There was even less chemistry between Walter and Lola in the film because it was focused more between Keyes and Walter.

Blog 3: Keyes

   The obvious detective in the novel is Barton Keyes. He was mentioned early in the novel and right away we should expect that he has a big role in the event that will come. The "Detective who is able to solve crime or uncover the truth"  describes him perfectly. Automatically we are introduced to Keyes as an uptight man very deep into his work. Walter describes his personality clearly in the passage about him looking in the calendar and checking if it was this years calendar or last and so on. With that, we know he wont let anyone slide with setting up lies on getting insurance benefits, "He's a wolf on a phony claim" Walter says. Walter knew very well of this and made sure to cover his tracks so Keyes wouldn't suspect him.

   When thinking about a detective I think about a tan suited man with suspenders and a hat. The film put a great physical image in my head for Keyes. He was witty and especially the way he spoke was how I imagined; quick and to the point. Keyes is a "hard-boiled" detective I think because there isn't much compassion in his life as in a loving wife and family so he puts everything into his work and has no time for other nonsense. It's easy to read through the protagonists' perspective (Walter) and be on his side because we're sort of in his head and we become closer to his character,  but hard to cheer against him when Keyes is getting closer and closer to finding out the truth of the whole crime.

Blog Entry Two

       In the handout "Primary Characteristics and conventions of Film Noir: Themes and styles" from Filmsite.org,  There were quite a few comments about the deceitful Femme Fatale whom manipulate men. They are described as "gorgeous, unloving, desperate women." Upon meeting Mrs. Nirdlinger, Walter already notices her features and commenting on her figure. Walter is also a male protagonist narrating his own story has made it clear to the readers to expect a Film Noir type story.

       Phyllis is automatically labeled as the Femme fatale in the novel, and I was sure of it when her and Walter met for the second meeting as she wasn't in her blue pajamas anymore but rather in more appealing clothing. Walter notices by quoting " I wasn't the only one that knew about that shape, she knew of it plenty." It was amusing to me how she dressed more provocatively this time knowing that Walter would arrive. Phyllis wanted something from Walter and knew just how to get it. The story thickens when Phyllis convinces Walter into plotting her husbands death a faux train accident. The article mentions on how the femme fatale "destructively goads [the protagonist] into committing murder or some other crime of passion." Although it is wrong of Walter to agree to the murder, I can't help but feel sorry for him.