Genre study: film noir
Erotic crime drama, first filmed in the 1940s, is a sub-genre of film noir and influenced films for the next four decades. Sexual desire is central to this sub-genre, with the blockage of that desire resolved within or outside of the law. 'Out of the Past' described a social crisis and constituted a critique of that crisis, while 'Angel Face' and 'Out of the Past - Against All Odds' dealt with the same issues but drifted into melodrama.
This essay explores the problems encountered in attempting to apply a generic category or categories to a body of American films made in the 1940's and 1950's that became known as film noir as well as to a body of later films influenced by the noir tradition. By way of illustrating these problems, I will focus on two noir films with remarkably similar narrative structures- -Out of the Past (Jacques Tourneur 1947), Angel Face (Otto Preminger 1952)--and on Taylor Hackford's 1984 remake of Out of the Past--Against All Odds.
In Outside Literature, Tony Bennett describes what he considers the two primary approaches to genre theory. The first of these, which Bennett labels the sociology of genres, holds that one can define genres by identifying a trait that is present in a given body of texts and that performs the function of the dominant around which other traits are organized. This generic dominant is then seen as a reflection of the social conditions in place at the time of the production of the text.
The second approach holds that genres cannot be defined in terms of a dominant formal property but are instead institutions which organize a framework of expectations. Hence generic belongingness is determined by cultural reading (and viewing) practices. Clearly the key distinction between these two approaches is that the former...
More Genre Study
essays:
What do you think makes Indian film Indian? Write an essay on the distinctive narrative traits in Indian cinema which distinguishes it from European or American films you have seen.
... own genre 'musical' which often deters people from watching.. Therefore I feel this is a good place to start in terms of considering what makes Indian film different from American or European film. The narrative structure of ...
With reference to the concepts of Post modernity discuss "24" in terms of its contradiction in narrative, genre and representation.
... embraces generic aspects of the soap opera, crime investigation and the futuristic gadgetry nature of a sci-fi. Although it's narrative structure is relatively conventional among series hybrids 24 contains story lines that address today's topical social issues ...
_Understanding the Obsession_, a psychological examination of the main character's sexual compulsions in Oshima's "In the Realm of the Senses".
... profound, explicitly detailed and penetratingly artistic exploration of result of sexual compulsion/addiction being unchecked and uncensored in an era of extreme mandatory discipline and social compliance that is Oshima's "In the Realm of the ...
An Essay Examining the Oriental Nature of the voyage in Rossellini's Journey to Italy (1953)
... literally, causes Alex to change initially by stirring his repressed sexual desires and then causing him to acknowledge his feelings for his ... Eruption of the Past in Journey to Italy. London: British Film Institute, 2000. Said, Edward. "Orientalism Reconsidered: 1984 from Europe and ...
Cross Cultural Intermediation of Fluxus.
... as the 'father of video art,' Paik basically founded the genre of video art and helped give a name to Asian American art by applying Asian cultures to his work. "No one ...
How do story telling techniques in Japanese animation differ to the western tradition?
... social characteristics, such as their concern for modern issues to the difference between genders, but it also reflects some of the more negative aspects of Japanese history, and you will find many Manga stories based in a post apocalyptic environment. American ...
'Genres tend to develop as audiences become bored with formulaic films.' Do you agree? Use specific examples in your answer.
... to structure marketing and promotion of the film. Genres tend to drive profit and merchandise. Genres can also structure careers for actors, and or directors. The narrative image present in a film is ...
How do any of the film-makers that you have seen, during the course of this module, make the cinema itself, their primary subject of investigation.
... a narrative structure. Abstract film has also been called "absolute" film. Avant-garde films are often mocking conventional morality and traditional values; the film-makers ...