What is Film Noir?

Film nior is the style/genre of cinematographic film in black and white. The term was originally given by a group of French critics to American thriller or detective films made in from 1944-1954. Film noir’s often have tendencies of pessimism, where they will think of the worst aspect of things with a lack of hope for the future. Another element of this genre of film is fatalism that all events are predetermined and become inevitable, it is passive acceptance. These films will aways include a menace where someone or something is very dangerous or likely to cause harm throughout. Film noir directors include, Billy Wilder [director of Sunset Boulevard, The Lost Weekend, Double Indemnity] and Fritz Lang [director of The Big Heat, Man Hunt, Secret Beyond The Door]. Film noir uses extremes of shadows and lighting to make for more dramatic black and white scenes. I really like the idea of this as photographers are able to adopt this style and create some great, staged and dramatic photographs.
Most film noir films give men the dominant roles as at the time women were seem as housewives and that they had no real purpose outside of the house. This can also be linked with that filmmakers would make the man desirable as they believed that those watching the films would be male dominant. I think that Film Noir is very outdated in the representation of women as just something for men to look at, for the male gaze [Laura Mulvey theory] and that women will tend to identify with the beautiful woman. I think that this is outdated because nowadays women aren’t passive and are no longer there ‘to be looked at’.

Top 10 Film Noirs video: 

Neo-Noir

Neo-Noir is the more modern version of film noir, adopting the same methods of a Noir film with the only real difference being that the films are in colour. It is the ‘New-black’. The term stems from the Greek word of neo meaning New and the French word noir meaning black. These new films use elements of old Noir films but with more updated themes, content, style, visual elements or media that were not seen in noir films of the 1940s and 1950s.
I find that Neo-Noir is a more up-to-date and interesting way of presenting thriller and detective films. These films include Sin City which is a neo-noir because of the pops of colour used in editing. The film is completely black and white with there only being certain objects, clothing or parts of people being in colour. This is interesting and I think that I might use this when creating my own Noir inspired images.

Top 10 Neo-Noir Films

Femme Fatale – The Noir Dame

A femme fatale is usually seen in Film Noir’s as an attractive and seductive woman, who will ultimately bring disaster to a man who becomes involved with her. I do not like this representation of women in Film Noir as it makes out as if young and attractive women are trouble makers and are only there for the male gaze. I think it is a very old-fashioned style of thinking which is why it lived and died within Film Noir films.
Femme Fatale’s to me are somewhat power yet are still primarily there for the male gaze. Women are used as objects for men to look at and are represented unfairly as if they are evil and there to lure in the men by trying to seduce them as if they are troublemakers. These are really the only women in Film Noir’s and so are portrayed as representing all women as if they are all looking for trouble and trying to get the male lead character off course and to bring disaster to him. I think this is such an out-dated perception of women and I want to make some images reflecting the roles of Femme Fatale’s as well as the lead male characters alongside them.

About Femme Fatales:  http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/noir/np05ff.html

I don’t like the way women are presented in Film Noir films, being primarily there for the gaze of men and to look pretty for them. We are now at a stage in film where women are getting more active roles that are seen as stronger and more equal to male roles including films like The Hunger Games and Divergent. The reason I like film noir’s is simply because of the way it looks and simplicity of the story line. I like the drastic lighting that is often used to make for a more dramatic scene as well as it all being in black and white. I also like the idea of crime thrillers within this genre as it really does fit with the way the films look. The props that characters wear really interests me and again compliments the visual aspects of these films.
I love Neo-Noir as it reminds me of surrealism in photography which I really enjoy as photographers are able to create an entirely new world that they made up in their heads. I like this style as it does keep many Film Noir aspects to it but uses more up-to-date methods of representation and are able to challenge spectators and audiences. I am excited to respond to the works of Film Noir and Neo-Noir as I feel that there is a lot that I could do and it will make for interesting images of different styles of past thrillers compared to modern thrillers. I want to create new stories and be able to effectively change the way the spectator thinks and the challenge them too. This will be a challenge to be able to do it well but I think that I will be able to do it and will try to do so.