Blog #7

The Neo-Noir short stories "The Method" and  "Morocco Junction 90210" are both written as female being the protagnast and the first person  narrator. When being compared to Double Indemnity, the stories are definetly different in many ways; not only because it's not a man telling the story but just the story in general changes. The stories become more feminine in ways that other stories never went before, almost like there is more detail and definetly more attitute. When a man tells the story the enviorment is extremely more serious then when a women is telling the story...although the seriousness is still there, it wouldnt be a noir without that.
I found that I can relate to the short stores of "The Method" and "Morocco Junction 90210" mostly because it was from a womens piont of view but also because I felt like I was watching it happen...I know thats weird to say but sometimes it is hard to concentrate of something that is hard to read. I really found these stories as an "easy read". But does that quality not make them a Noir? No.
When you think about qualites or noir and these stories you have to look at it from a different angle, step back and look at the whole picture. They both still have murder and if you ask me that the most important factor in any noir. 

Film Noir VS. Neo-Noir

    When you look at both Film Noir and Neo-Noir, from the surface they look very similar because they do have two genres that are extremely close. The elements that best exemplify this are the formula of the story, the themes throughout the films, and the types of characters in the films. Although, when you get down to all the tiny details you can see that they are very different. The conventions of these films differ due to creative direction as well as the inherent differences between their genres.
   The formula of the films are very similiar. They both hold true to the fatalistic tendencies of both film noir and neo-noir. The development of the stories include the seduction of the male protagonist, which progresses through a large portion, if not most, of the film so that it feels as authentic to the viewer as it does to the protagonist. When the romance hits an obstacle, there is something required of the protagonist that is necessary to allow the lovers to live happily. This act can be murder like in Double Indemnity, or maybe a confession to murder. I read something that said "The overall goal of the protagonist in both films is to "free" the femme fatale from their loveless marriage. Although the plan is usually first verbalized by the male protagonist, fooling both the audience and the protagonist, the idea of the plan is suggested by the femme fatale." I saw this as very very true, if you look at Double Indemnity it's exactly like that as we all proobaly already knew. The femme fatales goal is basically to play a reverse psycology on the male protagonist.
   There are many between Film Noir and Neo-Noir. Film Noir was born in a time when the United States was recovering from the world war, which caused the moods in the films. The films have one major differnce of course which is that Film Noir are in black and white; Neo-Noir are in color because of the technology differences.

Blog #5

Thomas Caldwell, a freelance writer, broadcaster and public speaker who specialises in film criticism and educational writing on film wrote an article about the film Double Indemnity. In the article he talks about how the movie is regarded by many as the first true film noir. He Says "the characters, scenario and stylistic elements of Double Indemnity all perfectly represent this group of Hollywood films from the early 1940s to the late 1950s." Caldwell then talks about of the essential film noir ingredients from the femme fatale to the completely dark tone that the movie provides that makes it the perfect film noir.
    Caldwell's major topic in the artice is the hardboiled lauguage that the movie has that makes it the perfect example of a film noir. A example of this hardboiled script would be the first person narrative of Walter Neff. He even says that examlpe of this could be when Neff and Dietrichson have scenes that "are filled with suggestive, evocative and witty lines that the pair trade as if sparring with one another."
     Next, Caldwall talks about how its not easy to define film noir, that many people have different views on what makes a noir a noir.While some argure that its the particular stylistic and narrative devices while others argue that it is a stylistic movement that defines 1940s and 1950s America. Film noir didnt originate in American, the idea came from the French which eventually came to Hollywood...in English it acctually translates into "black film". The label "black film" of course going back to the low-key lighting that the movie Double Indemnity does indeed have as we all know. The dramatic lighting style that characterises film noir can be traced back to the German Expressionist films of the late 1910s to the early 1930s as many filmmakers who had been working in the German film industry came to Hollywood when the Nazis came to power.

   This article opened my eyes a little more to actual noir itself...i feel that with more of a back story that I will be able to have a better understanding of what to write about, and be able to go into more detail. Overall it was a very good article.