film noir-neo noir.doc_1

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Are Film Noir and Neo Noir Comparable?"The Maltese Falcon was produced three times before I did it,never with very much success, so I decided on a radicalprocedure: to follow the book rather than depart from it. This waspractically an unheard of thing to do with any picture taken froma novel, and marks the beginning of a great epoch in picture

making." - John Houston, Director (Boggs, 346)The Maltese Falcon opened new doors to filmmaking. It was 1941, andnot many people had seen a movie quite like this. There was adetective who abused his clients and discovered things "the hardway". Every scene took place at night, and the women were not veryfaithful or honest. This was the beginning of film noir . The 40'sand 50's were the days of dark secrets, long coats, private eyesand femme fatales.The term film noir was coined from the french to describeHollywood films which portrayed the dark and gloomy underworld ofcrime and corruption, in which the heroes and villains are

cynical, insecure loners, inextricably bound to the past andunsure or apathetic about the future (Katz, 452). "While filmnoir has its roots in hard-boiled detective fiction, it can takethe form of either a private-eye story or a crime film without aprivate eye". (Dick, 96)The 80's brought about a re-enactment of film noir called pseudo-noir (Also referred to as neo noir and post noir ). Blue Velvetis agood example of neo noir . But the 80's were not the 40's and 50's.There was no Hayes Production Code to censor violence, sex or anyother objectionable material. Another major factor for movies ofthe 80's was that whey were filmed in color. Although The Maltese

Falcon and Blue Velvet are film noir respectively, times havechanged dramatically from one audience to another. Some criticshave argued that film noir can never be done again because the40's and 50's are no longer in existence. But neo noir is aimingtowards the same goal as film noir did to the original audiences.The same film techniques and mood factors have the same intent foreach movie, but modern neo-noir approaches emotional disturbancesin a more graphic manner. Today's audiences require a moredemanding display of psychological dementia, aesthetic filmtechniques and on-screen violence to propose the same mood thatoriginal film noir did to the older audiences. The Question that

demands answering is "Can film noir be done today?" It's a validargument that demands a lot of explaining to answer correctly.During the inception of film noir , Freud was a major influence onthe psychological aspects of the main characters. Sex andaggression were two very good proprietors of the storylines andcharacters' actions. Due to the Hayes Code, sex and aggression hadto be displayed through actions hinting towards the characters'preferences. For example, the Maltese Falcon is actually a phallicsymbol for the ultimate male sex object. Peter Lorre speaks andacts like a homosexual. The Fat Man is Cairo's lover, played bySydney Greenstreet. Together they go on a quest for the Maltese

Falcon; the one who can fulfill their fantasies. During theirscenes together, they pat each other reassuringly and giverespectful glances to one another in a queer manner. Alas, when


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claustrophobic scene with Jeffery witnessing Frank abusing Dorothyas he hides in the closet does a good job at giving answers towho's ear it is and who cut it. At the same time, it makes youwonder who Frank is, where he's from and why he does what hedoes. The answers are never given to the viewer with whistles andbells like a typical Hollywood movie. Instead, it can only be

found by deductive reasoning based on what Jeffery sees. He nevertells any body what he sees. We never know what he's thinking aseach clue unfolds. This is certainly a "convoluted temporalsequencing of events."Just as Sam Spade never knows where the real Maltese Falcon islying, so does Jeffery never find out the full mystery behind theear. Both movies are film noir in that the mystery is never fullysolved. Not all explanations are given to the audience.Another argument about neo noir not being film noir is the use ofon-screen violence. With the loss of the Hayes Production Codecame the gain of on-screen liberalism. A boom of free-spirited sex

and violence in movies helped harden audiences to its sensitivityof on-screen sex and violence. Film noir basically vanished withthe Hayes Code. There is no longer tension on the screen with meekand "moody" violence. Instead, the violence is displayed in aballetic tandem of falling bodies and spurting guts.In The Maltese Falcon, Archer is shot by an unknown assailant andfalls dramatically over a fence, plunging to his unseendeath.In Blue Velvet, Frank opens the closet door only to beintroduced to a snub-nosed .38, further dramatized by a SLO-MOextreme closeup of his brains flying out of the back of hishead. In 1941, no one had seen a movie with someone being shot in

the head. People at that time didn't NEED to see the violence tofeel the emotional impact of the bullet's target being hit. But bythe time 1986 rolls along, movies used their free will ofmoviemaking to show whatever came to mind to blow away the mindsof those seeing the visual feasts of extreme violence. No longerwould an animated bending over and slow fall to the ground makethe viewer gasp with shock and dismay. Instead, the same effectwould be created with a falling backward slow motion shot of aman's brains falling out of his head.Film noir was created in part to make audiences uneasy aboutthe mis-en-scene and murders. They need to feel tension mounting

scene after scene. They needed to not know what the main charactermay do next. But over time, these new ideas are used repeatedly tothe point of tiresomeness. A cop hitting his suspect no longerbecomes a mystery. It no longer holds the suspense of theviewer. By 1986, it's time to make a seemingly innocent personplunge farther into the depths of noir-ish darkness. He must notonly hurt the guilty, but also hit the innocent. This will makenewer audiences gasp with uncertainty. This will cause an uneasymis-en-scene.Watching The Maltese Falcon today is amusing and entertaining -but little more than that. In 1941 it did to moviegoers whatBlue

Velvet does today. It made them feel uneasy. It exposed them tonew ideas to who a main character could be. Today, Sam Spade is ahard-boiled detective who uses aggression to get what he wants,


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and it makes us laugh. In 1986 Blue Velvet showed us JefferyBeaumont; an "innocent" young man who finds a world outside of hisown that initiates him into discovering his darker side. Hisgradual shifts from a harmless young man to a sadist and finallyto becoming a murderer makes us feel uneasy. His escapades intothe mystery of the ear doesn't make us laugh. It disturbs us as

easily as it intrigues us.It's true to say that film noir can't be made today. It can't bedone because the newer generation of people who watch movies havealready seen what has been done with old-time film noir movies. Inthose days, it was a new and fresh approach to storytelling on thescreen. The Hayes Code helped filmmakers to become more creativewith symbolic and unspoken sexual tendencies. It was filmed inblack and white. No one really wants to see a movie in black andwhite if it can be done in color. But neo noir builds the viewer'sattention and holds the suspense in the same way that filmnoir did to the first generation of viewers. It's done in color,

but color can easily approximate the contrasts of black and whitewhile still satisfying modern moviegoers.The question is: "Can film noir be done today?" The only way toanswer this question correctly is to look at it from twoperspectives. Each perspective will bring about a differentconclusion. In terms of making a movie in black and white with theexact same conditions of the 40's and 50's while at the sametime getting the same reactions from those who watch it as theoriginal audience did, it can't be done. Neo noir fails at itsattempts to become film noir from that perspective. However, ifyou view it as being a mood movie, where neo noir makes those

watching it feel the same emotions that film noir did in the pastwith its use of the same film techniques of low-key lighting anddisturbing mis-en-scene for the modern audience, then yes itis film noir . If film noir is a movie based on mood, neo noir isthe film noir for this generation. Maybe 40 years from now BlueVelvet will seem as funny and old-time to those who watch itas The Maltese Falcon seems today. That's a disturbing thought...

Bibliography:

Belton, John. American Cinema/American Culture. New York: TheCorporation for Public Broadcasting and New York Center for VisualHistory, 1994. Dick, Bernard F. Anatomy of Film - second edition. New York: St.Martin's Press, 1990. Boggs, Joseph M. Art of Watching Films, The - fourthedition. Mountain View, CA: Mayfield Publishing Company, 1996.

Katz, Ephraim. Film Encyclopedia, The - second edition New York:HarperPerennial Press, 1994.

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