The Enduring Legacy of Film Noir: A Reflection on Society and the Human Condition

in the 20th century two great Wars plagued a generation and cultures from across the world processed their

subsequent trauma through their art German expressionist filmmakers sought an escape from The Morbid realities of

their country post World War I so their movies inherently rejected realism yet expressed a very real struggle with The

Human Condition the French processed their growing paranoia and fear in the buildup to World War II through poetic

realism these films aim to show the world as it really was but also go beyond it to find beauty in it they were

trapped at a difficult place in time powerless to change their circumstances so the only thing they could do was try

to find meaning and value during that time the Romanticism native to French Cinema had been replaced with something

a lot darker and existential Italian Cinema had been overseen by a fascist regime for the majority of the early

21st century where films had to be sanctioned by the general director of cinematography to promote their

pro-fascist ideals through the film industry after musolini was overthrown in World War II Italian filmmakers took

the opportunity to transcend the artificiality of their industry and focus on the everyday struggles of the

working class in a bleak broken country they depicted the harsh reality ities of their Nation but also initiated a

healing process through the expression of it this was known as Italian neorealism you might notice a Common

Thread through these movements the exploration of The Human Condition and the Blurred Lines between the real and

absurd after so Much Death and destruction people sought to find meaning in a hopeless World they had a

dire need to process the reality in which they suffered America's need for this manifested in the form of film

[Music] Noir much like Italy the American film industry had a complicated history with

censorship prior to the movement in 1930 the motion pitch distribution of America founded the haze motion picture

production code discouraging all themes related to violence sex and illegal activity the compensating moral values

Clause dictated that any character within a film who openly defied the law must receive Justice and Punishment by

the film's end no crime could go unpunished this caused a ripple effect across the industry Hitchcock's 1941

film suspicion had to shoot multiple endings as the production couldn't be sure that the film would be allowed to

release under it its original one George Marshalls the blue Dalia had to alter its protagonist Johnny Morrison whose

background as a murderer was changed to a former policeman popular hardboiled fiction writers such as James Kane and

Raymond charell had their work censored or banned completely however World War II brought an ease to cinematic

restrictions due to a need for the output of Allied propaganda pro-american War films required more explicit

violence in order to depict images of wartime it was during this moment that filmmakers saw their opportunity and the

movement began many Staples of the genre were produced during war time but once the war was over Hollywood was fin freed

from the mandate to produce propaganda and promote patriotism filmmakers were sick of the glamorization of their

culture which actively denied the crippled nature of their society like the Italians they needed to process

their loss and express their pain as a means of healing film Noir had a good running start but after the war the

genre truly flourished Double Indemnity highlights the DraStic change in restrictions of the industry the best

this film is the poster child of the movement where writers like Raymond charler had previously had their Works

banned their books were now being adapted into a movie the director Billy Wilder hailed from Austria bringing a

flavor of German expressionism to combine with chanda's hardboiled detective writing Double Indemnity is by

all accounts the definitive film Noir it was a statement to the industry that these previously taboo themes were not

only allowed but encouraged many tropes subcribed to film Noir today are featured in this film it centers around

a morally gray protagonist often described as a man on the edge private investigators a fertile ground from

which these characters grow their job requires them to maneuver between both sides of the law and they often become

seduced by a fem FAL defined as a woman who is very attractive in a mysterious way usually Leading Men into dangerous

and compromising situations causing their destruction prior to the movement women largely served as a muse or a

romantic interest in movies but America had experienced a change in the balance of power between genders postwar many

physically and psychologically wounded male veterans returned home to find women had developed financial and sexual

Independence after joining the workforce and Men found such women alluring but also frightening Phyllis dedrion was a

prime example of this archetype in Double Indemnity where women now derived power from their sexuality rather than

weakness corruption and moral ambiguity lies at the heart of all great Noir authorative roles are often depicted

much differently from tradition with most lawmen being corrupt or rotten the line between hero and villain becomes

very blurred many films find their characters to be simple cogs in the machine where the system will always win

like many countries during the war the populace was subjected to the powers that be who used them flippantly for

their own gains there's a sense of helplessness that persists throughout most Noah stories that no hero can ever

hope to beat in the end the protagonist is both a criminal and a victim of a larger power the another key component

is the composition Shadows intricate patterns skewed angles and dark tones dominate the genre the Mison s usually

adds a feeling of inevitability and doomed to the characters placing them in large portraits where they're Often

dwarfed by darkness and rarely placed in positions of control within the frame linearity is the enemy of film Noir

stories are often told in non-chronological order with a narration from a character looking back in

retrospect conspiracy is designed to confuse you and steer you down the wrong path away from those who rather remain

unseen and The Narrative of these films reflects that one could often finish a film Noir and wonder what the point of

it was in the end it was all for nothing and no one achieved what they wanted many veterans returning home from war

ask the same questions and while it seemed that the films provide no solution to this problem the very

expression of it is an answer it's telling the audience we know how you feel and you're not alone forget a it's

China Town [Music]

to this day you will hear people critiquing newly released movies and classing them as a Noir story but the

movement only lasted from 1941 to 1958 the films of this period are technically the only ones to be classed definitively

as such which means even Classics of the genre such as Chinatown are not technically within the cannon everything

post 1958 is a spiritual successor and the passing of the torch continues the movement's feeling through time as the

internal conflicts and socioeconomic issues of the West continue to change this successor would go on to be known

as neon Noir a movement reacting to a global war and all the tragedies that occurred within it is not something that

can be sustained as time goes on the world grows more peaceful and complacent or the big issues facing society change

entirely the nature of warfare changes nowadays America isn't always the good guy and often Wars are fought outside of

the battlefield so it's hard to understand how the genre survived since its conception like anything that wishes

to survive it had to adapt but the fact that it's been able to maintain its core values over the past 80 years says more

about our real world than the one on film chinatown's plot was rooted in the Watergate scandal that had occurred 2

years prior to its release The Manchurian Candidate followed soldiers returning from the Korean War who had

been brainwashed by Communists highlighting the ludicracy of far-right McCarthyism and the Red Scare but also

the dangerous mentality of the far-left the remake of the film in the early 2000s changed the focus to the Gulf War

with a social commentary on how multinational corporations profited from it during the bush Cheney Administration

the genre has taken on a responsibility to comment on The Wider issues of the time but as time goes on the issues

plaguing Nations in The Wider World become more nuanced and intricate adapting to contemporary socioeconomic

and political issues is one way which the genre has survived but it's also done it through branching off into

various sub genres in the Blockbuster sense film Noir found its way into sci-fi and superhero films and has

complemented each genre surprisingly well but there have been other more Niche sub genres that have accumulated

smaller filmographies over time but I'll tell you what after seeing Los Angeles and this a here story I'm about to

unfold well I guess I've seen something every bit as Stupify as you'd see in any of those

other places the lack of a better term Stone and Noir have found their own space in today's industry films like

under the Silver Lake inherent Vice the kid detective confess Fletch the nice guys and the big Labowski all find their

story strongly rooted in the principles of the movement while not all of these films contain a focus on Stoners or

drugs in general they take place in incredibly relaxed settings with more aloof protagonists often more in line

with the beach bump archetype than the man on the edge they're not necessarily outcasts in the traditional sense but

certainly occupy a space between the normal population and people on The Fringe of society the stoner element

complements these films very well often the plot involves an idea of falling down a rabbit hole of increasingly

complex conspiracy with many distractions littered around the world to steer these characters off course the

external tone of the film seems much lighter but underneath this superficial layer lies incredibly dark characters

and a prevailing sense of hopelessness and pain Asian Cinema has carved out an impressive slate of Noir filmography

from Japan to Korea and although a little late to the game film noirs featuring female leads are becoming more

prevalent in the Modern Age however there is a developing trend of overusing the term film Noir and many filmmakers

and audiences ascribe the term to films that don't necessarily fall under the bracket if you look up the John Wick

series you'll likely see the genre comes under neon Noir it's a film with a lot of dark imagery and a morally great

protagonist but outside of that it has nothing to do with the genre this bastardization of the term helps keep

the genre alive on paper but in reality it risks diluting the traits of the original movement to to the point where

these movies become something unrecognizable any film that's dark and includes some form of corruption is now

being dubbed as neon Noir and my theory is it makes the film sound more smart an action movie carries a certain stigma

but a neon Noir Thriller has a certain ring to it there are many recent films that do in fact fall under the category

as society's issues becomes more nuanced so too do the films I'm not the first person to say that we're in a time where

alienation and distrust of authority are at an all-time high in the age of the internet information is a plenty and the

truth is skewed and it becomes hard to to decide for what's real and what's fake through all the noise and

technology is only serving to make the artificial increasingly indistinguishable from the real it's

connecting us yet separating us at the same time our morally gray protagonist has developed to reflect the next

generation of viewers as they try to navigate through a world of digital strife and misinformation the influx of

attention to mental health and male loneliness has tapped into an audience and sparked a controversial dialogue

Nightcrawler examines the heartless nature of news reporting and people's obsession with tragedy it exposes how

mainstream media exploits our instinct to be drawn towards the horrid and the negative and induce a mentality of

fear-mongering in order to increase viewership its main character reflects the by any means necessary approach to

success and just how addicted we've become to productivity and Rising through the corporate ladder in the

modern day Lou has a personality disorder and while the film does a great job of getting us to empathize with him

it's clear by the end of the story that the only real way to prosper and cope with a career in news media is by being

a literal psychopath what if my problem wasn't that I don't understand people but that

I don't like them the new Blade Runner film examines the growing obsession with e girls or artificial relationships with

digital women technology has made an entire generation of adults antisocial from increased exposure to information

via the Internet and social media along with social movements women are now more wary of men who approach them and men

are more anxious about being rejected historically men are expected to make the first move but due to the reasons

already mentioned they're much more reluctant to do so corporations have fueled this Gap via the Internet and

then capitalized on it by developing products to satiate male desire and loneliness but in the end everyone's

suffering due to the same thing both sides miss out in this scenario the relationship between Kay and joy is

inherently unhealthy he lives an obvious lie with a superficial wife which seems tragic in a way but the film makes a

convincing case for how they love for each other is real only to tear that notion down and [ __ ] him showing how

these artificial women are just a product designed to exploit your loneliness multiple real women make

advances on him during the film but he rejects them all and he can't bear life without his AI companion even her name

Joy is a not so subtle reference to a prominent type of pornography the director of the most recent Batman movie

Matt Reeves has spoken at length about the emotional immaturity of his Bruce Wayne this character has been beloved by

male audiences for decades and has seen many variations previous generations experienced a Charming well-kept Man

with a handle on his life and a hesitant to express his internal struggle but he has become increasingly angry and

conflicted as the years have gone on Robert Patterson's iteration is emblematic of a lot of problems young

males are facing today he's invested his entire life in developing a certain set of unique skills but it comes at the

cost of of developing basic emotional maturity and an inability to communicate with those who matter to him the most

his entire being is formed around a drive to avoid processing his childhood trauma finding an outlet through

extremely unhealthy means with each of these examples it might feel like we're getting further and further away from

the topic at hand but if you break each one down to the basic ingredients you'll see a strong resemblance to the original

movement hopelessness and alienation in a society that's too big for any one person to overcome a society that's

changing too fast to keep up with it would be incredibly reductive to compare the Men's sufferings Day to the trauma

of the veterans returning from the war but whatever films like Double Indemnity and the multis Falcon were tapping into

back in the' 40s films like BL Runner and Nightcrawler are tapping into now the fascinating and worrying world of

Insel culture has become strongly tied to many modern day neon Noir the films I've already mentioned along with Drive

Fight Club taxi driver and many more have developed a narrative with a certain type of viewer this idea of a

very lonely unhealthy young male a social outcast who lives by night and struggles to communicate with women who

who feels oppressed and forbidden to express himself at the risk of rejection or punishment we have to watch these

characters gradually realize that they are not special and the world will go on without them regardless of whether

they're still drifting through it you are not special you are not a beautiful or

unique snowf you the same decaying organic matter as everything else much like the

plot of Fight Club we're seeing the characters of these films tap into some deep rooted pain within a large group of

the population which provokes a strong reaction one that causes men to I and deify certain people that they perhaps

shouldn't and it causes them to lose sight of the very reason they love this film to begin with and turn into

something worse it's painfully ironic that this kind of thing is happening in 2023 because back in the early 2000s

Fight Club addressed this issue showing how lost young males can easily fall into traps through idolizing the wrong

principles the film was a warning and yet so many of us have taken the wrong meaning from it and other films like it

much like the characters in the movie what I've just described is essentially the character Arc of the Riddler once

again showing knowing how this genre reflects the ever developing problems in our society film Noir is manifesting in

reality now stronger than ever some of these movies like under the Silver Lake or the kid detective feel like an

antidote to this issue they take the box of every Trope on the checklist but our character manages to find a way to

endure the ending is not necessarily hopeful but the very fact they find a way to survive in this world is a

victory within itself they may not solve their Conflict by the end of the story but they have begun the healing process

and are more able to carry their burden I believe there in lies the Crux of the genre sometimes there are no answers

there is no justice and you will fall down the wrong path in life the only thing you can hope to do in those

situations is endure suffer and allow the pain to run its course and know that while you're alone in the process there

are many in the world who share your burden none of these films are bad or unhealthy and what we take away from

them is equally important in each one the messages are up to the individual to interpret but how we act on those

interpretations is up to us right now there is a growing Trend in social media where men approach drunk

girls outside of nightclubs and interrogate them for the movies that are red flags in a man I think this trend is

equally disrespectful to both men and women but it's a symptom of the Contemporary problems that these neon

noirs are dealing with these videos are designed to take advantage of inated women who are more likely to be

unrestrained in their opinion than they would have been earlier in the day and the aim of these videos is to use those

opinions to fuel male rage making men feel insecure for liking certain movies and consequently doubling down on those

opinions and resenting women for rejecting them neon noirs are now involved in an issue that could have

never existed back in the conception of the movement people could only be familiar with the movie if they had seen

it whereas now everyone has a vague recognition of these films through the memes on their social media feed often

edited in a way to make the movie seem as though they hate women or leftwing Notions in general like night crwler the

media exploits bias and fears to provoke conflict and Garner attention for profit we're in a fascinating yet very scary

time film Noir was a reaction to society but now Society is reacting to film Noir ultimately I believe this attempt will

fail what these social media priers misunderstand is that eventually a new film will show this issue from a more

objective carefully crafted perspective thereby taking the power out of those in our culture who alienate us and further

so division there will always be another problem and there will always be another film to respond to it it will outlive

any single person we all enjoy certain movies because they tap into something that resonates with our subconscious and

expresses an internal issue within ourselves through an external medium it's therapeutic the issues stem from

how we choose to react to those Expressions whether you allow it to confirm a bias or use it to help view

your problems from an outside perspective the power of film Noir lies in its birth it was born out of a need

to express alienation grief paranoia hopelessness and anger these are all feelings we experience in our lifetimes

and it highlights how helpless we feel in relation to the biggest system that we're born into and as time goes on we

only uncover more about the ugliness of that system as information becomes more accessible this is how film no survived

through the years and why it will likely never die or perhaps a more fitting statement would be that as long as we

have major systemic issues in our society we will always have film Noir Ernest Hemingway once wrote The

World Is A Fine Place and worth fighting for I agree with the second [Music]

part