What
is Film Noir?
In
Mennel’s Chapter on Los Angeles from
Cinema and Cities, she describes what the genre of film noir is and the characteristics
that are inherent to the genre. Film noir is a highly debated topic in film;
many disagree on if it is even a genre. Mennel approaches the topic by giving
multiple sides of the argument and describing the different characteristics
found in the films. Mennel says film noir
typically contains urban alienation, violence, and a femme fatale. In addition
she touches on the use of Urban Space and what makes Los Angeles such an ideal
city for the genre. Lastly Mennel makes connections between film noir and
Weimer cinema.
Mennel
discusses the different characteristics inherent to film noir. First she
discusses the idea of urban alienation. This is an idea inspired by George
Simmel in his work, The Metropolis and
Mental life, which outlines the alienation of the individual as a result of
urban life. Mennel relates this to the acting style used in film noir in which
actors, “Delivered their lines solely by moving their lips.”(49). Mennel points
out the lack of the emotion shown by actors, adding to the loss of
individuality. In addition Mennel talks about the importance of the femme
fatale in film noir. She describes the femme fatale as “A sexualized,
double-crossing, dominant female character who is ultimately punished for her
transgressions.”(47). The femme fatale helps add to the struggle for the male
characters to maintain masculinity and their sense of individuality. Both of
these characteristics are key to the film noir genre.
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| Femme Fatale |
Mennel discusses
the use of Los Angeles in the film noir. She says that Los Angeles is central
to film noir because of its “Position between modernity and postmodernity.”(52).
Many times Los Angeles appears as a dangerous city that has been corrupted by
its past or lack there of. Los Angeles acts as a character, and like many of
the actual characters in film noir, it fails to maintain a strong identity
rooted in the past. The city itself is just as important as the characters in
it. Additionally Mennel talks about how it is typical of film noir to start the
narrative with a sequence of shots from around Los Angeles. Many times this is
a pan of the Los Angeles skyline, followed by a close up or multiple close ups
of the characters being active in the city.
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| Chinatown 1974 |
Lastly Mennel drew
connections between the development of film noir and Weimar Cinema. Mennel
talks about the role of expressionism in both and the progression from the Weimar
cinema to the Hollywood studio system and film noir. Mennel. The expressionist
techniques used in Weimar cinema can still be seen in film noir. However they
are not used exactly the same, in film noir it is used to create an alienating
effect, while the Weimar cinema used expression mainly to relay the desired
message of the director.
