Wednesday, August 3, 2016

Film Noir



            Film noir generally refers to mystery and crime dramas film that produced from the early 1940s to the late 1950s. It is a term coined by French critics in 1946 who noticed the trend of dark, downbeat and black the looks and themed on many American crime and detective films that “invaded” in France’s theatres after the war such as The Maltese Falcon (1941), The Woman in the Window (1944) and more. Film Noir was developed during the period of political instability 1941-1958 which undergoes World War II and the Cold War in United States. It is an intention for the people during the World War II and post-war disillusionment period in order to cheer people’s bleak outlook during the hard times of the Depression and World War II. The films of the 1940s reflected the disenchantment felt of the people toward the country, especially with the soldiers who back from the war and notice the women’s roles in the work force of the country which lead to the questioning between masculine identity and national identity. Besides, post-war realism is one of the elements in the emerge of film noir where the American audiences wanted a harsh view of society form the perspective of realistic human life instead of studio built streets They want to see the film that reflecting the characteristics of human being and the realistic of society. In this essay, I would like to discuss about the characteristics of film Noir based on the film The Maltese Falcon. 

            Film noir is normally featuring about the reality of the society which with criminals, darkness and violence. The main characteristics and convention of film noir can be identified through mood and styles of the film. For example, disillusionment, disenchantment, moral corruption, evil, guilt, desperation, paranoia and more are considered as the mood and styles of the film noir. The characters found in a film noir are mostly relatable such as heroes, anti-heroes, corrupt characters, villain, conflicted hard-boiled detective, a lone wolf and more. The reason that these characteristics and traits are shown in the film noir is to reflect the period of Cold War era where the societies were full of sense of fear, mistrust, and mistrust which represent as a metaphoric symptom of society’s evils (Film Site, n.d.). 

            Besides, Film noir has a visual style of cinematography that emphasizes on a high contrast, low-key lighting shots, deep shadows and oblique angles to create a sense of dread, mysterious and anxiety (Hayward, p. 149, 2013). German expressionist style can be found in a film noir where the distorted effects created by lighting, setting and use of shadows to give a particular kind of psychology which associated with the protagonist character in order to give a sense of social malaise, suspicion and gloom. The protagonist is often side-lighted to enhance the profile from one side and leaving the other half on the face in the dark, it creates sense of feel that the protagonist is neither a hero nor completely bad guys. Besides, the main struggle that portray in the film noir is the conflict between male protagonist and femme fatale. Film noir provide a very central role to the femme fatale and give her the advantage of being active, intelligent, powerful, dominant and in charge of her own sexuality (Hayward, p. 151, 2013). Until the end of the film, she will usually face the consequences through death or submission to the patriarchal system. The film noir is not usually just about investigating a murder, although it might at first appear to be. Generally, it is about the female sexuality that is under investigation which threatens the male quest to resolve the mystery. Therefore, the film noir is not just thought to be a crime thriller or gangster sub-genre of film, but it is a film that misleads the audiences into thinking there is going to be a happy ending. It is the most American film genre as they believe the society created a world with doom, fate, fear and betrayal.  

            We have selected The Maltese Falcon as one of our film noir analysis film. The Maltese Falcon is story about a private detective investigates a case that involves him with three eccentric criminals, a gorgeous liar and their quest for a priceless statuette. The story started with Spade and Archer, a San Francisco detective agency. One day, Miss Wonderly walks into their office and asked them for help. The night after, Miles Archer is dead, so is a man named Floyd Thursby. It seems that Miss Wonderly is an innocent women that surrounded by dangerous men. There’s Joel Cairo, who uses gardenia-scented calling cards. There’s Kasper Gutman, with his enormous gifth and feigned civility. But there is Sam, who gives her a sense of protection, was suspected by the police of the murder cases. They have caused more murders because of their lust toward a statuette of a bird: The Maltese Falcon. At last, Sam made O’Shaughnessy (Wonderly) confesses her intention and murdering action and then begs Sam to not turn her over to the police. But Sam gives up on her in the end. 

            In the film The Maltese Falcon, the story voices of the film are the part of the traits that can be recognized as a film noir. The women character in film noir is central to intrigue play on her sexuality which allow controlling the males by putting her as the disguise of the male’s investigation (Hayward, p. 152, 2013). For an example, Ruth Wonderly, as known as Brigid O’Shaughnessy is the femme fatale character of the film where she leads misinformation to Sam in investigating the murdered cases. At first, audiences feel the Wonderly is an innocent girl who looking for her missing sister and claim that it is involved with a man named Floyd Thursby. Then, Archer was killed when he was asked to find Floyd for investigation. It seems like Floyd killed the Archer but actually is an implication from Wonderly (O’Shaughnessy) to cover up her kills toward Archer and blame it on Floyd Thursby. Her first impression gives people false information as they thought she will be the victim of the story due to her innocent action, voice and sense of weak feminine characteristics. This is how the femme fatale affects the male protagonists as shown in the film The Maltase Falcon as the investigator affected by the false impression from Wonderly (O’Shaughnessy). At last, the Wonderly get caught as her intention was exposed by Sam. The closure of the film usually determine the containment of the femme fatale which the women will faced sadistic closures in the end such as death, outcast or mental torture. 

            Next, the German expressionist style in applying in the film noir can be recognized through the film. The low key lighting, setting and use of the shadows which reflected inner turmoil and alienation in associated with film noir (Hayward, p. 150, 2013). The shadow and the side-lighted on the character which create a harsh shadow on the background with a dark faced on the half face show the mysterious, suspicion senses toward the character. As when the Sam walks down from the stair, the side-lighted on him which create a dark shadow on the background which give a sense of mysterious, suspicion and untold secret that hide deeply inside his thought or intention. It leads the audiences to feel visually that he is a hero, but actually a man with full of his own intention and cunning planning. This gives a hint to the audiences to feel the sense of the character’s traits rather than just explaining it out in word. 

            In conclusion, film noir is a film movement that evolved after the World War 2. The film noir reflected on the reality of the societies during that particular era which give a sense of relieve to the audiences when watching the film noir as it was a time of repressed insecurity and paranoia when the American Dream was seemed to be under severe strained. Therefore, it has gain certain popularity in the certain area as the convention of the film also made a very great study toward the societies and human characteristics. 

References:
 

Film Noir - Films. (n.d.). Retrieved July 29, 2016, from http://www.filmsite.org/filmnoir.html 
 
Hayward, S. (2013). Cinema Studies: The Key Concepts (4th ed.). USA, New York: Routledge.
 

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