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.
Hey Stacey, good job on your presentation last week, you covered good points as towards why Reservoir Dogs is noir. I liked how you made the comparisson between two of the characters having a relationship much like Keyes and Walter from Double Indeminty, that I felt had good significance to support a film noir aspect of the film. You also mentioned the fatalistic traits that the film has where we are given flashbacks and pretty much know the character's fate. And given that it is a Quentin Tarantino film of course it is extremely vulgar and violent, giving the film a dark tone but in a neo-noir way. The points you brought across made me want to check out the film, well done.
ReplyDeleteStacy, i really like your presentation last week! I feel like you did a really good job showing just how noir-like the film is. I haven't seen it(at least yet), but you definately made it look interesting!
ReplyDeleteGood job and good luck on the paper!
I have never see the movie Reservoir Dogs but i feel like i know so much about the movie now that i should just finish watching. Great presentation you had great examples of why it made it a noir and it was also an iteresting prestation as well!
ReplyDeleteGoodLuck!
I really enjoyed your presentation,although we did the same film you pointed out some good things I had not noticed like the realtionship between mr. Orange and Mr.White, Interesting. Job well done and thanks for the insight!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your presentation.. I have never seen this movie, but you did a good job of explaining the movie and telling us why it connects to film noir and neo noir. When I go to see this movie I feel I will know what to expect from it just by your presentation. Good job!!
ReplyDelete