I Just Don't Know What You Are: Definition of Noir as a Genre

Samantha Shapard

Noir Film and Novel

Michael Sinowitz

November 3, 2017

I Just Don't Know What You Are: Definition of Noir as a Genre

            Noir /nwär/:

            Adjective (French): Black

            Noun: A word characterizing crime fiction

            It’s clear even to someone who has never studied noir that it centers around crime and darkness. Novels and films categorized as noir contain shady characters, hard-boiled detectives, and battles with the police. However, it is unclear how else we can conveniently categorize noir. Is it a genre, encompassing both books and movies? A visual style of black and white, fedoras and trenchcoats? A critical category defined only by critics after the classic period of the 1930s to the 1950s had ended? A mood or set of themes about the hopelessness of humanity? There are so many different ideas about what noir is that it can make anyone feel a bit dizzy. As James Naremore says in his book More Than Night: Film Noir in its Contexts, “It has always been easier to recognize a film noir than to define to term” (Naremore, 9). However, in my opinion, this debate surrounding the definition of noir is unnecessary. The concept of a genre covers all of these other notions into one simple term. Genres can have a certain style. They can be used by critics. They group together works of similar themes. I firmly believe that the term noir refers to a genre that groups both classic works and future works together.

            “But wait,” critics protest. “How can you define noir as a genre, when the term noir only began being applied to these works long after their creation? If the writers or directors of noirs didn’t know that they were making noirs, then how can we possibly call that a genre?” To this point., John G. Cawelti proposes the life cycle of genres, which goes from “an initial period of articulation and discovery, through a phase of conscious self-awareness on the part of both creators and audiences” (Cawelti, 208). It’s unlikely that every genre ever created was self-aware at its beginning. Initially, the first person to write a romantic comedy might have called it ‘a funny love story’. This doesn’t mean that their work isn’t a romantic comedy. It just means that at the time of its creation, there was no specific term to define what the person was writing. Noir is simply another example of this phenomenon. Since it is one of the newest genres to be created, people view its beginnings more critically. No one could say for sure whether the first person to write a romance called it a romance or not, since that was so long ago. But people do know that the early creators of noirs didn’t refer to them as noirs, which makes it a hot subject for debate. I believe that while initially, the term noir might have been viewed as a critical category used by critics trying to define these works after their creation, the very act of their classifying it in this way confirms that it is a genre: much in the way that critics might group teen dystopian fiction together. Oftentimes, critics are the ones who are able to logically group texts together and come up with genre titles in the first place. Early writers in a genre don’t have much else to compare their work to, while critics are able to view a large body of works and make a conclusion about what said works have in common. In addition, in order to write in a certain genre, you don’t necessarily have to know what you’re writing. There’s no reason to believe that because classic noirs weren’t intentionally created as works in the noir genre, they aren’t works that can fall under this description.

                  “Alright then, you keep saying noir is a genre,” you might be thinking to yourself, “but I’ve read books from tons of genres, and noir doesn’t fit in with the rest of them. The genre of a romance always has two characters who fall in love. Sci-fi always takes place in space. But some noirs have nothing at all in common!” To which, I would respond that you’re right. When comparing two texts like The Maltese Falcon and The Postman Always Rings Twice, there don’t seem to be many similarities. The Maltese Falcon has a detective, a mystery with a crime boss, and a femme fatale. The Postman Always Rings Twice is about a lower-class man who falls in love with a woman and murders her husband. There aren’t even any detectives in The Postman Always Rings Twice. It seems almost impossible to group these two novels together. However, I would like to call upon Ludwig Wittengstein’s concept of family resemblance in genres. Wittengstein makes the point that not all works in a genre need to be exactly alike in order to categorize them together. M.H. Abrams, in his book A Glossary of Literary Terms sums up Wittengstein’s point by saying that in genres “there are no essential defining features, but only a set of family resemblances; each member shares some of those resemblances with some, but not all, of the other members of the genre” (Abrams, 150). Therefore, it’s acceptable that the films Laura and Sunset Boulevard don’t have a strict femme fatale, and that The Postman Always Rings Twice and Double Indemnity are from the point of view of criminals instead of detectives. Not all noirs need to have all of the same elements in order to form a genre. Just like how in some sci-fi movies there are aliens, while in some there aren’t, not all noirs need to be exactly alike. In fact, if they were all cookie cutter copies of one another, it would make for a very boring genre!

            “But I only apply the term noir to movies,” you might protest. “I just can’t see those books as noirs. That’s why I think it’s a visual style, because the movies are so distinctive. The books feel different to me.” However, I disagree with that statement. As John T. Irwin, noir essayist, writes, “…many of the earliest and best noir films were adaptations of… novels”, and Paul Schrader, quoted in the same book, comments that authors of then-called hard-boiled novels had an immense impact on noir films (Irwin, 209). Does turning a book into a movie change its genre? When The Hunger Games became a movie, was it not still a teen dystopia? How about The Fault in Our Stars? Did that stop being a romance? What about movie to book novelizations? Do those lose their genres in translation? The obvious answer to all of these questions is no. Therefore, we cannot define noir as simply being a category of movies, because the books and movies of the genre are intertwined. This means that noir cannot be referred to as a ‘visual style’, because the books have no visuals. While certain elements that might seem visual are present in both the novels and films—the presence of rain, the constant wearing of fedoras, and the dingy offices, to name a few—they are still not physically visual in the novels. Instead, we might choose to refer to these things as generic elements that contribute to the concept of family resemblance between the works.

            “But why does any of this matter?” the casual reader argues. “Who cares whether or not you view noir as a genre, a visual style, or a mood? There’s no reason to be writing an entire essay about it.” It’s true. The discussion surrounding noir often feels superficial and, to be honest, a bit tiring. People have been arguing about this notion for years. Isn’t it time to give it a rest? However, the debate endures. Due to its recency as a genre and its start in American novels and Hollywood, noir is a central element to American culture, and it will continue to remain prevent for decades to come. Even now, the argument surrounding noir continues into recently created books and movies. If noir is a genre, did it die when the classic period ended? Is any work of noir created after 1960 really a noir? Noir is a topic on which few people across history can agree. However, this debate creates fascinating discussions about the nature of genres and works of fiction throughout history. Can genres end? What separates earlier works in a genre from later works? What defines a genre, and who has the right to create one? Noir provides an excellent vehicle for examining questions of genre because it is one of the most recent and distinctive groups of fiction that we can look at to define a genre. Despite the fact that it was created just a little over eighty years ago, noir has had a history almost as rich as any other body of fictional works. Through noir, we can learn how to classify future groups of texts and finally come to a decision about what a genre is or isn’t.

I would like to conclude with a statement from the Marriam-Webster dictionary. The definition they provide of a genre is “a category of artistic, musical, or literary composition characterized by a particular style, form, or content” (Merriam-Webster). Does that not sum up all of the other arguments about what noir is? A genre can include a style, mood, and themes. Due to the all-encompassing nature of a genre, it makes the most sense to refer to noir as such. Referring to noir as anything but a genre excludes important aspects that tie together these works of fiction. Viewing noir as a visual style excludes the novels. Perceiving noir as a set of themes or ideas excludes works that don’t perfectly fit into this list. Seeing noir as a critical term forces the notion of genre intentionality and denies the associations these works naturally have with one another and the effect that they had on each other during the time of their creation. The debate around noir is far from over, and an entire book on the term would be unable to cover every argument surrounding it. However, I believe that referring to noir as a genre is a step in the right direction that everyone should be able to agree on.

Works Cited

Abrams, M. H. A Glossary of Literary Terms. Wasdworth Press, 2012.

Cawelti, John G. Mystery, Violence, and Popular Culture. University of Wisconsin Press/Popular Press, 2004.

“Definition of Noir.” Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster, www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/noir.

Irwin, John T. Unless the Threat of Death Is Behind Them: Hard-Boiled Fiction and Film Noir. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008.

Naremore, James. More than Night: Film Noir in its Contexts. University of California Press, 2008.