About
Film noir is a term originating with the French to describe certain Hollywood films from the 1940s and 1950s that seem to express a dark vision of American culture. These films often share certain characteristics such as: private detectives; femmes fatale; and dark, shadowy, ambiguous worlds of crime. The term film noir, however, is as shadowy, as amorphous, as the films themselves. Is film noir a period, a genre, a category, or a style of filmmaking? Film scholars and critics don't always agree on a definition. However we describe them, films noir continue to intrigue and provoke us. This course will look at the historical and cultural use of the term, and some of the detective and pulp fiction that influenced film noir. We will read what several important critics say about noir. We will watch several of the most influential Hollywood films noir made after 1941, including The Maltese Falcon, Double Indemnity, Laura, Kiss Me Deadly, and Touch of Evil. In addition, we will look at neo noirs, such as Chinatown, Blade Runner, Pulp Fiction, and Devil in a Blue Dress. Finally, we will think about film noir as a discourse, as a set of ideas circulating around these films, which might tell us something about American culture.