Movement to Genre: Noir And The Transformation from European Philosophies to an American Staple

Dana Strauss

Film, Noir, and Novel

11/3/17

Noir Project

Movement to Genre:

Noir And The Transformation from European Philosophies to an American Staple

Noir, in both film and literature, is ambiguous in how it is classified. It seems to be more of a feeling or mood rather than a distinct genre, such as thrillers or crime dramas. This stems, in part, from the existentialist movement and german expressionist abstract film from where the many classic noir directors gain their inspiration. These abstract concepts are what drives noir, making it something that is easily recognizable, but hard to strictly define. Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon and Raymond Chandler’s The Big Sleep were both written in the period of classic or historical noir in the 1930’s and 1940’s. During this time, noir was not yet a specific genre, though all of the literature was grouped together due to the fact that not only the novels, but the films share such specific characteristics. The films that later came then put a visual aspect into the movement, with movies like Sunset Boulevard, which was a very different take on noir, and The Killing, released near the end of the classic noir period in 1956. This creates an interesting look into what genre really is, and if something that stems from a movement can be classified into a genre.   

In Todd Erickson’s “Kill Me Again: Movement Become Genre,” he argues that noir was not classified as a genre due to the directors not knowing that they were making noir. However, in its postmodern resurgence in the late 1960’s through the 1970’s with films like Chinatown, noir was self-aware, and therefore could then be classified as a genre. Erickson quotes Marc Vernet to describe the constant evolution of a genre, saying, “the more a genre develops, which is to say the more films it contains, the more the codes tend to play the role of a guarantee to the spectator.” One of these “codes” that helps to define noir is explained using Raymond Chandler’s The Big Sleep. Chandler used the narrative voice of the “hard boiled writers” that was “significant in constructing” not only the novels, but also films. This new code involving first-person narration separated what Chandler, and others like him, were doing from standard crime films and novels. The narration from Philip Marlowe’s - the protagonist - point of view creates a story driven by the information the audience discovers with the character. Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon is another example of classic noir literature, using the protagonist Sam Spade to be the lens in which the audience experiences the story through. Not only does this create a new way to tell detective stories, but it also explores the aspect of noir in which it asks the question of whether the narration is trustworthy. This look into a dark, biased view of America and crime offers a unique take on true crime dramas, and the movement into an entirely new genre.

Vernet’s theory of “codes” makes sense with the formation of a new genre, however, the flaw in this ideology is that the more content added to a genre over time could make it convoluted and unclear as to what the genre really is. This begs the question, what are the requirements of a true noir work, and how easy is it for those requirements to change? For example, films that capture noir and completely embody it such as The Maltese Falcon, Out of the Past, and The Big Sleep, are all very similar with their characterisation and story arc. These characterizations that include witty and charming, yet dark and flawed protagonists that take the law into their own hands, beautiful and manipulating femme fatales, and greedy, destructive, corrupt antagonists make up the very essence of film noir. However, there are films that are identified as classic noir that do not clearly express these film tropes, such as Sunset Boulevard, and The Killing. Neither Sunset Boulevard or The Killing are told from the point of view of detectives. Sunset Boulevard does not even have a crime to solve until the end when the protagonist, a writer, is killed. The Killing is told from the perspective of Johnny Clay, a career criminal, organizing a crime. Johnny Clay himself in The Killing is the crime boss or corrupt individual that is usually rallied against by the protagonist. How, then, do these films fit into the genre, and what “codes” are then altered to include films such as Sunset Boulevard and The Killing? These films are perfect examples of the theory that noir is, in fact, not a genre at all. Therefore, these “codes” are unnecessary, and noir itself is a movement made to expose the corrupt underbelly of American crime through film and literature.

Both Sunset Boulevard and The Killing explore similar concepts as other noir films, like corruption, mental stability, and a critique of the American Dream. The difference between these two films and other noir films is the specific character tropes, and the execution of finding justice through unorthodox methods. When looking at the formation of the noir genre, however, it is reasonable to place Sunset Boulevard and The Killing in the noir genre. Both films have enough fulfilled “requirements,” especially due to the fact that the directors and writers were not aware yet of noir as a specific genre. Noir being classified as a movement during the classic and historical period allows for these films and novels to have a specific underlying theme and tone, while not having to tick all the boxes of what noir is. In these earlier periods, the themes were the focus, looking at crime and morality during the 1930’s through the 1950’s in America through a dark lens.

As the classic noir period ends, however, the birth of postmodernism and neo noir films solidify the formation of the noir genre. As the directors and writers new what films they were modeling after, it became clear that a genre had formed and was becoming self-aware. The return to noir during the late 1960’s and 1970’s was due partly because of the unrest within America. American citizens were protesting the western values and the American Dream that was not possible for many, and similarly to the 1930’s and 1940’s during the Great Depression and World War II, the Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam War were cause for major restlessness. This connects to the theory of noir becoming a genre as well, noting that during both heights of noir, the sociopolitical conditions of America were very similar.

Noir transforming from a movement to a genre is a reflection of what the artists during these time periods were doing. At the height of classic noir with The Maltese Falcon through Touch of Evil, the directors and writers were expressing ideologies that they connected with from Europe and creating a movement opposing corruption they saw within the American Dream. The directors were focused not on a genre to fit into, but on what these existentialist and expressionist principles were and how to express them in American culture. These easily recognizable concepts and tones were later filed into a genre once directors in the 1970’s started to replicate the dark stories of noir. This transformation from movement to genre represents the evolution of noir itself, and what the goals of the directors were at the time.