Summary

Summary s on Film Noir Paul Schrader wrote an essay recognized as “ Npotes on Film Noir”, inthis essay he talked about what the readl meaning of film noir is (Grant 229). There are several definitions of film Noir produced by several movie and entertainment industry critics. Similarly Schrader is of the opinion film noir is not a particular movie that portrays the nighlife of urban areas and he further added that a film noir is not even a film that is create don the subject of corruption and criminality. He further stated that these two aspects can not be used to identify a movie as film noir and stated that every film noir contains for elements. These elements were witnessed in the movies that were created in Hollywood during the session of 1940s. He asserts that these four elements make up the best definition of film noir.
Schrader states that the very first element that defines a film noir is the dillusionment that arose after the World War II and the war itself. He states that during the period of 1930s and 1940s, moviews were made for the purpose of conducting propaganda and helping people cheer up due to their sufferings of the issues of the WWII and the Depression. He states that during the early period of the 1940s, movies such as The Maltese Falcon and Laura came into existance and they were a true form of film Noir. In these films, the dillusionment experiencedby the whole nation was portrayed. These movies and the movie The Blue Tahlia represented the scenes of soilders returning back home and they have no work and women had lost tehir jobs.
He further asserts that the second most element that is requried to recognize a movie as film Noir is post-war realism. He states that after the war, Americans were demanding for authencity in the media industry, they no longer wanted to see moves that were melodramatic and represnted the higher class. They wanted the real image of the society to be portrayed in the movies and wanted these movies to be about the issues that they were experiencing. Their tatse for sets even changed and they no longer wanted the actors to make movies in fake settings, they wanted them to shoot movies on the street. For exmaple: They wanted the actors to work in locations such as Norma Desmond’s mansion which was broughdown during the `957.
The third element that differentiates a movie as being a film noir is that such movies used to be influenced by the Germans by a certain extent. This is because during the period of 1930s, there was an increase in the spread of Nazism and several individuals had migrated to US and their they assisted in the film industry and their influence was easily witnessed in the movies of that time period. The main area, that they imapcted was the aesthetics of a movie. When they came into the US film industry they broughtin various techniques which alteredted the shape of US films.
Works Cited
Grant, Barry Keith. Film genre reader III. Austin, Tex.: University of Texas Press, 2003. Print.