post #8

1.From both The Kidnapper Bell and the City of Commerce you find troubled main characters. I find that both protagonists struggle with addiction. The first is addicted are determined to leave the situation better than he left it, also I believe that he is addicted to cheating on his wife. The second is addicted to gambling. Both protagonists are liars, the first lied to his wife and himself, the second lied to his wife and boss. There was something that lured both main characters, the first it was sexual attraction or tension, the second was lured by gambling and money. So based on the evidence you find a protagonist who is a addicted, deceiving fool prone to be caught in trouble.

2.The story Kinship by Brian Ascalon Roley seemed to me the most unlike noir. I only say this because for me it was missing key elements of noir such as; the Femme Fatal, justice for the criminal and it seemed to be telling the story from the wrong side. in Kinship there were many women, but the main character, Tomas, was not lured or deceived by any of them. His trouble was divined up by himself. There was a form of "justice" for one of the characters, but not the main character who went too far with the ice pick. To me it seems like the story should have come from the other father's point of view, I think this because he was a bully lured into trouble and got his punishment.

The story The Girl Who Kissed Barnaby Jones by Scott Phillips was the essence of Film Noir. From its promiscuous Femme Fatal to its deceived, trapped Protagonist this story shows Film Noir in its good, bad and ugly.  The main traits are shown such as the Femme Fatal, murder and a dangerous location. The Femme Fatal of the story is described as beautiful, but deceptive; she is old and appears much younger. She lured the protagonist into her trap, gave him what he thought he wanted and then commanded him to do her dirty work.  The murder I thought was part of the definition because of the reason she wanted to cover it up. Because the Femme Fatal and the murdered man were breaking the law she wanted to cover up his death, this adds the underworld effect. Now the location I found interesting because of all the stairs and hidden stories. I believe this fits the secretive aspect of the location adding to the dangerous and sinister effect of the story.

blog #7

so interesting! i would say that the method was a weird dark fantasy with a twist ending. i don't thing i like film noir with the "protagonist" being a girl because it became narrow minded and fantasy. The fact that she hooked up with a middle aged man who was scamming on her made the read feel ridiculous. i did not enjoy the read. Through lustful desire a girl was charmed into the bed of a psycho only to find out that he wanted to use her to kill someone else. She ends up killing him instead and proud of it. This was not art or beauty in any way, it was some girlish fantasy bent on betrayal. i would not recommend it to anyone nor would i even bring it up.  I would not bring it up because it did not have anything that you could learn from it or be intrigued by. The next story Morocco Junction 90210 was a simple short story that was interesting and seemed to only relate in the sense that the main characters both trained actors. This story was not thrilling and did not satisfy, but i found it much better to my liking. I guess I would recommend the morocco junction 90210 over the method because the main character plays more of the detective role and is more of the anti-hero. The main character is the anti-hero because she knew truth to murders, robberies and suicides but never told because that was her reputation. To clarify though if I was talking to a friend I really would not recommend either story because I didn’t like either of them. The first one was just ridiculous and the second one was unsettling. Both are indeed noir but they are neo noir to be sure. I personally don’t like most neo noir I’m seen or read and these add to the list. 

blog #6

to discuss Film (Classic) Noir and Neo-Noir would be like discussing two different breeds of dogs. both breeds are still dogs but each hold many traits and characteristics, some similar some different. when asked what are the differences i would say that the content has different meanings, the plot feels forced. the similarities are the content
Film (Classic) Noir is like the Mona Lisa in the sense that the artist was portraying art the way he saw life where as Neo-Noir is the art student in college recreating in their own way what had been inspired. it's not that the replica wasn't good, it's just that it wasn't inspired by it's artist it was a recreation. a replica can still show you details of the original but its a forced environment. classic noir reffers to a time where those fears were really and possible. neo-noir considers the fears of a completely different time and culture while still taking on the themes of the original.
since classic noir was a representation of how people felt or what people feared in the 40's and 50's it's plot seemed to flow unstrained and naturally. where as neo noir is  someone taking the thoughts and feelings of a current time and trying to make them fit into that old scene. this completely interrupts the the sacredness of that genre and puts it into a forced position. classic noir is a true beauty in the sense that the writers wrote what they were feeling with such sincerity that you believe that those stories actually happened. although i really do enjoy neo-noir it shows me a culture i am not new to. 
neo noir and classic noir are held with the same dark plots and scenes. "tough, loner private eyes, dangerous women, smoke, Venetian blinds, grimy city streets, gangsters, intrigue, deception, alienation, terse, stylized slang, and voice-over narration." these are traits that identify both sides. both noirs also hold the same characters such as the anti-hero and the femme fatal. neo-noir expresses the same scenes even though it has been made beyond that time.
film noir has a variety of characteristics that flow from other genres. i personally favor classic noir over neo noir because you get a different feeling from each film filled intriguing obstacles that feel realistic compared to that of neo-noir.

blog #5 book review

"Double Indemnity" is a book that opens your eyes to a different world, with a dark crime infestation. the Author, , of "Double Indemnity" i think screams the idea of underworld crime in the midst of innocence. this book exposed you to the evil people are capable of. "Double Indemnity" is not a chic-flick. it is a tragedy, a mystery, and some might even say a modern day Shakespearean story. this story exposes the evils directly committed by an otherwise innocent citizen. Huff, an average Joe insurance salesman, commits multiple crimes and falls under the spell of a dangerous tempest. I love that the author captures a dark and demented feel in the center of humdrum, common, every day people. Each second you wonder what is going to happen next as you read on and on, each chapter leaving you curious about the next. What the author does is get your attention with a simple love interest and then pulls you in while slamming the door shut when you find out that there was a murder and they just might get away with it. Of course they don’t get away with murder or fraud but you don’t know that until the end. What really intrigued me was that these people weren’t gangsters or mafia, they were real people with real live, normal everyday people and yet they had evil with in them. On page we see huff describe the Nirdlingers house as just like everyone else’s, average, and common. How can you describe a cold blooded killer as normal, what a hoax! This is where I think it really depicts an element of noir. Film noir is described to “show the Dark inhumane side of nature” in the film noir handout. This story was indeed inhumane, with murder such an easy concept and fraud a considered idea. At the other end there is a desperate house wife who is looking for a way out of her marriage. Huff, the average insurance sales man was immediately caught in her webs of lies and deceit. When you watch these stories remember that this is not a story of normality or routine. It is a story of surprise and mystery.  When discussing the normality of these characters you have to consider the problem with them. Huff was repeatedly caught describing in detail his schemes and plans for his future murders and heists. Also mrs. Nirdlinger gets caught red handed when accused of scheming for her husband’s death. pulling myself into reality at the end of the book this is what i have recalled of it. this book is really chalked full of different experiences but this is the one that stood out most to me. 

blog post #3 - Detective ID

In film noir you tend to come across a couple of characters with specific tendencies. In double indemnity you really get who’s who in that way but there is a character that was hard for me to tell and it was the hard-boiled detective that is searching for the truth. Maybe I’m not as thoughtful as I should be or I just wasn’t looking for it, but no matter there it was right in front of me. Critics often depict the anti-hero, the protagonist, as the detective and I guess I found that, but I also found two other characters that also held the traits of the hard-boiled detective. In order to figure out who the real detective is we have to know what the characteristics of the detective are; hardboiled, determined, almost reckless, earnest, seeking, and merciless.

First of all the main character in Double Indemnity, Walter Huff, plays a form of detective in how he seeks Mrs. Nirdlinger’s motives then finds them out. Now Walter doesn’t continue this characteristic, he turns more towards the scheming criminal side. For a brief time we see him for what he should have stayed but no longer. This confused me because I thought that the main character had to be the detective or there wasn’t one.

Secondly in a small way we see keyes’ boss as a form of dectiveness. When the claim of mr. nirdlingers accident was reported he went to work checking data. Although he is not as driven and lacks experience he comes up with some ideas that are not too far from the truth. Keyes boss digs super hard at the beginning to come up with any excuse as to why they shouldn’t pay Mrs. Nirdlinger.  He searched as far as he wanted to find his version of the truth. Unfortunately this is not our detective.

Finally and most importantly Barton Keyes is our true blue through and through detective of the movie. As soon as that claim was made Keyes searched every possible option for this death as you all know. Keyes character was harsh and untrusting. Huff tells us that he would go to great lengths to double check the validity of even his calendar before believe it. Keyes is the very definition of the detective, he searches and searches for the truth until he finds it. His curiosity brought him to a place he never thought he would be. So here he is our detective a hardboiled searching machine.

Although keyes was the major detective you have to remember the others that also dabbled in that field. Huff and Keyes’ boss were also detectives, but to an extent. I guess it’s hard sometimes to depict who’s who in film noir if you aren’t looking for the special characteristics. Usually in film noir the anti-hero is the detective but in Double indemnity that is not the case. I guess a good question to ask you is where you expecting the detective to be someone other than the anti-hero?

blog post #2

The Double Indemnity is a book that shocked me through and through! This book is filled with noir! The sum of what I read was the story of an average insurance salesman who happens upon a client’s wife whom catches his attention with her words and body. Driven by this woman (the femme fatale of the story) he planned and followed through on the murder of her husband. The remaining question is will they get away with it?!

                The easy question is, is this book classified as film noir? I say yes, because of three main characteristics; Lust, murder, and scamming. The scamming produced a murder that was sought because of the lust.  The lust of the movie derives from the wife of an oil company worker who desired the love/lust of another man and the money she could receive from his death. This lustfulness is widely known by the femme fatale of the story. Scot Snyder who wrote personal disorder and the film noir femme fatale put it this way “the film noir femme fatale is a composite of power, lust, and greed”. These women are identified by these characteristics and these are the characteristics of the female of Double Indemnity. Now the main character himself falls for this seductress, this also is common in film noir. Barton Palmer wrote in his article called Characteristics of Film noir “Often, these anti-heroes found themselves tempted by a woman, looking for a man to further their schemes.” and indeed had this guy taken her bait.

                Another aspect of this book that pointed it down the dark road of film noir is their murder! Criminal underworld, scheming, greed, and immoral actions these are more to describe these two characters actions. The main character, the anti-hero, saw what he wanted, saw an opportunity to achieve it and took it no looking back. Never once did this character stop to think or ask himself “is this moral? Should I do this?” no he pushed forward and let reality hit him later. “Hollywood production of a growing number of pessimistic, downbeat crime films.” Is how Lee Horsley described film noir in his article The Development of Post-war Literary and Cinematic Noir. Noir is identified by its crime and corruption.

                Another side to their corruption and crime was the scamming. What an amazing part of the book! This guy knew every in and out of his company. Based off of his knowledge he devised such an elaborate plan that it seems almost fool proof! He rehearsed his every action until perfection. He worked around every obstacle to succeed in his mission. What got me was this was not even his goal. The woman was the one who wanted her husband dead and the money his insurance would provide. The anti-hero did this for her, all of it. Every step, every precaution that was created to cover his every move was all for her but when it was all accomplished he didn’t even want her anymore! What a woman she must have been for this guy to do this for her and then the result of it was hatred towards her for what he had done. 

Introduced to Noir

When I signed up for this class I had no idea what film-noir, neo-noir, or noir in general was. I was eager to understand what it was Toth was talking about so passionately, so I went online and read the homework article. After reading all of its description and explanation I still didn't quite understand. Being more of a visual person I decided I would try to look at something or watch something noir. So I watched brick the movie. What a powerful way to understand this new concept. Noir is dark and mysterious. Every second you’re holding your breathe and then something happens to change the whole plot. The characters of noir are tired and apathetic almost. This kind of drama brings a careless and dangerous side out that I’m not used to seeing. I had to stop and think about how these are someone else’s thoughts, their fantasies; what a character clash! Film noir from the 40’s and 50’s was spoken of as powerful and relatable to the people of that time, but no more do we relate. I guess I disagree with the previous statement; the world is just starting to sink back into a dangerous place for different reasons.  I view these movies as cautionary tales to prevent us from becoming what we once were and to warn us of those who are that, whether they are true or false. You can’t quite know exactly what noir is until you experience it. I’m generally someone who enjoys light hearted, romantic films filled with happiness and noir is just the opposite. I really enjoyed exploring this new genre though, and I look forward to continuing the experience.