British Film Noir Guide

Independent scholar Keaney follows up his Film Noir Guide: 745 Films of the Classic Era, 1940-1959 (CH, Sep\u2703, 41-0022) with this filmography of 369 British productions that embrace the visual style and dark thematic elements that define film noir as a genre

The Stuff that American Dreams are Made of: Why the Film Noir Genre Emerged in the Midst of Religious Fervor in Postwar America

Film noir, a film genre characterized by darkness, femmes fatales, private detectives, and the inversion of traditional values, emerged in America in the 1940s-1950s. At the same time, a religious fervor was building in the United States. Why did a genre defined by dark crime and moral ambiguity hit its stride in the U.S. during a surge of Christianity? I look at three different theories about film noir’s rise in America and analyze them alongside historical evidence in order to prove the simultaneous rise of noir and Christianity was not as odd as it seems. The film noir movement arose because the films were relatable to anxious audiences, a changing political landscape caused a desire for a new definition of morality, and film noir aligned with Protestantism’s search for redemption. The seemingly unlikely pairing of noir and Christianity shows the complicated emotional and political landscape that was post-WWII America

More Juicy 2010 Oregon Pinot Incoming

Rusty Gaffney gives an overview of Oregon\u27s Pinot Noir in this article from his Prince of Pinot blog, volume 9, issue 15. Oregon has made a number of important contributions to the success of Pinot Noir, including strict labeling standards, sustainability, use of vertical trellising, and emphasis on matching variety to climate

Domaine Drouhin Oregon: New World’s Burgundy Presence

Rusty Gaffney gives an overview of Domaine Drouhin and has a question-and-answer session with Véronique Drouhin-Boss in this article from his Prince of Pinot blog, volume 9, issue 7. Domaine Drouhin was founded in 1987 by Robert Drouhin and has more than doubled in size since. Robert Drouhin was the first French winemaker to purchase vineyard land in the Willamete Valley. His daughter, Véronique, discusses winemaking style, goals, and history

Femme noir : a subcategory of neo noir film

University of Technology Sydney. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.This study identifies a new subcategory of film noir, the femme noir. Traditional film noir films use gendered binaries, male gaze and scopophilic treatment of the female characters to limit and fragment women characters. This dynamic is most obvious in the binary between the ‘looking’ male protagonist and the ‘looked at’ femme fatale. This binary traps female characters in positions that have limited agency and scope within film narrative. Gendered binaries are a phallic pleasurable expectation and a way in which film noir recreates patriarchy. The film noir film narrative is traditionally the enactment and expulsion of male sexual anxiety on screen. The femme fatale character typically personifies this male sexual anxiety. The film noir film story tends to follow the male protagonist and his journey to uncover a mystery surrounding the femme fatale. By the end of the film, the femme fatale is revealed, punished or rehabilitated according the will of the male protagonist. By the end of the film noir film, patriarchal status quo has returned. However, I propose that when the protagonist in a film noir film is a woman, the traditional gendered binary of film noir films is undermined. In the subsection of film noir films I identify as femme noir, a ‘looking’ female protagonist meets the gaze of the femme fatale. She recognises not a binary opposite, but a dark sister, an abject version of herself. This study proposes that the dynamic between a woman protagonist and a femme fatale is that of a reflection. By the end of a femme noir narrative, the femme fatale is not uncovered and expelled, instead her essence is absorbed by the female protagonist. I propose that the femme noir narrative is about the female protagonist’s journey to accept and absorb the essence of her abject reflection. The two woman characters together create a type of wholeness that resists the limitations and fragmentations of traditional film noir women. This study will suggest that in femme noir films, feminist meaning can still be created within a traditionally sexist genre using it’s familiar tropes and signs

Ghosting in the outback Noir

Who was the ‘jolly swagman’ in Waltzing Matilda, Australia’s unofficial national anthem? In this essay I argue that the ghost of the swagman can be heard in a number of recent de-colonising crime narratives. Outback Noir is a relatively recent genre category that describes a new wave of Australian crime films that highlight Indigenous and white relations and take a revisionist approach to traditional history. These films often feature redemption stories that highlight effective collaborations between Indigenous and white policing practices. Uncovering a rural communities’ dark, repressed secrets in order to solve a current problem is a common trend in Outback Noir cinema. I examine Patrick Hughes’ 2010 film Red Hill as an early provocative example of Outback Noir and as modern reimaging of the Waltzing Matilda narrative with the swagman’s avenging ghost exposing the social fractures and corruption that are destroying rural communities. I argue that the Outback Noir genre with its focus on revenge-redemption narratives shapes the cultural dialogue around putting the ghosts of the colonial past to rest

The Maritorious Melodrama: Film Noir with a Female Detective

Feminist critics tend to disagree whether the parachuting of women into traditionally male roles—for example, that of detective—results in a feminist representation. The female detective of the 1930s, however, can be seen to offer a decidedly positive feminist hero in that she defies the stereotype of the “masculine” (i.e. unnatural) woman—especially when one considers the time in which she appeared and representations of female detectives in contemporary film. Despite popular conceptions of classical film, Hollywood did offer progressive representations of working women, ironically in the decade characterized by economic and social upheaval during the Depression. The prolific female detective of 1930s B-films and series is an independent woman who puts her career ahead of the traditional female pursuits of marriage and a family, and who chases a mystery as actively and with greater success than the men who populate the police department or a rival newspaper’s staff. However, during World War II and especially its aftermath, the representation of the female detective began to change, and the independent woman came to be depicted as all but the criminal herself. In this paper, I explore the representation of the female detective in film noir of the 1940s and the shift from the celebration of the independent and career-oriented woman to her demonization. Critics of film noir have discussed at length the figure of the femme fatale as dangerous femininity but noir’s female investigative protagonists have been ignored. In this paper, I will discuss how the sex of the investigating protagonist complicates the traditionally male noir detective narrative. The result is a hybridization of generic conventions: the narrative is driven forward as much by the female protagonist’s personal desires as with many types of melodrama (specifically the woman’s film) as by her investigation as with a detective film; however, at the same time, the heroine’s independence as a detective poses an undesirable challenge to the masculinity of her husband (or husband-to-be) as with film noir. Just as the maternal melodrama demanded a woman make personal sacrifices to facilitate her daughter’s success in the world, so too do these noir films demand the sacrifice on the part of the female protagonist to see the man she loves returned to his “proper” place as head of the household. Thus, I term these films “maritorious melodramas” as opposed to maternal as they see the female protagonist “excessively devoted” to her husband in the noir films Phantom Lady (Siodmak 1944), Black Angel (Neill 1946), and Woman on the Run (Foster 1950), the heroine is offered simultaneously as a progressive image of femininity—because she occupies the center of, and drives forward, the investigative narrative—and as a contained one—because ultimately she is proven incompetent as a detective and is returned to the prescribed social role of devoted and sacrificing wife

Ian Rankin and the ethics of crime fiction

Writer Ian Rankin has suggested that crime fiction should invoke a self-conscious interrogation of the dark underside of society, that readers should subsequently be drawn toward an ethical engagement with the world around them. The author considers the implications of this ethical potential with reference to Rankin's depictions of postdevolution Scotland

Reservoir dogs and the noir male : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Media Studies at Massey University

This thesis presents a study of the noir male - the protagonist from the body of films known as film noir The purpose of the study is to show that a composite of the noir male character can be found constructed in Quentin Tarantino's 1992 directorial debut, Reservoir Dogs. This is achieved through a comparative study of film noir theory, especially as it relates to the noir male character, and Reservoir Dogs and it's characters. There are three parts. First is the establishment of the theoretical approach of neoformalism, predominantly as defined by Kristin Thompson in her 1988 text, Breaking the Glass Armor: Neoformalist Film Analysis. The second part is an examination of the theory of film noir, in order to draw a clear picture of what constitutes the characteristics of the noir male and his supporting environment. This includes the origins of film noir and the noir male; visual style; the urban setting; chronology of noir, common themes; the femme fatale; the noir protagonist himself; and neo noir It is a premise of the thesis that the nature of the noir male is encapsulated in, and reflected by, the common components of film noir films. This premise is supported in the discussion. The third part is a reading of Reservoir Dogs, with a focus on the characters and their interaction with the film, and each other. This includes discussion of the social influences which mark the environment of noir, the popular culture influence; the way Reservoir Dogs and noir challenge the spectator; discussion of the chronological structure of Reservoir Dogs, the relationship of transgression, which characterizes the noir male's interaction with the femme fatale role; the urban setting, and the theme and mood of film noir Drawing together these parts it is possible to conclude that the characters of Reservoir Dogs, supported by the environment and relationships created in the film, form a composite representation of the noir male