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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