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Film Noir & Neo-Noir

Film Noir is a cinematic style that dominated post World War II Hollywood films. ôThroughout the 1940s, a stylistic and thematic trend was developing in Hollywood which by the end of the decade determined the look and the feel of the industryÆs most popular and significant productionsö (Schatz 111). Both classic Film Noir and Neo-Noir films reflect the culture and values of the time in which they were made. A comparison of Jules DassinÆs 1950 classical Noir film ôNight and the Cityö with Michael MannÆs Neo-Noir 1986 film ôManhunterö will illustrate the stylistic and thematic similarities and differences between Noir and Neo-Noir. Although these two films represent excellent examples of Noir and Neo-Noir, they are not the usual, more popular Noir examples such as ôOut of the Pastö ôDouble Indemnityö or ôChinatown.ö In addition, neither film contains the femme fatale figure found in most Noir films.

Although the films are 36 years apart, they share similar film conventions. They are, however, different in their treatment of the generic conventions. Both are crime films that deal with a social, psychological and aesthetic response to the sense of anxiety, alienation and disillusionment of their age, and both express the dark side of the human psyche. Both films also contain a manhunt that forms the dramatic and psychological action. An element of Film Noir is that the visual style conveys the meaning of the film more than words; the sense of desperation and alienation is shown so vividly that words seem almost superfluous. Schatz points out several characteristics of early Noir films including the preference of compositional tension to physical action, majority of scenes lit for night, use of vertical and oblique lines rather than traditional horizontal, romantic narration, and a complex chronological order (116-117). Most of these elements are present in ôNight and the City,ö and, in fact, the title itself evokes ...

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Film Noir & Neo-Noir. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 17:25, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1700481.html