Cameron White: Film Noir
First off I want to say that I thought the film Double Indemnity was brilliant portrayal of film noir. One theme of film noir that was very apparent through the film the use of "black and white" as a way to portray "good and evil." At the beginning of the film Walter Neff goes to Phyllis's house to sell her insurance. At this point in the film Phyllis comes off as a very genuinely kind lady and is wearing a white dress which symbolizes "good." After Phyllis finds out about the accidental insurance policy she uses her good looks and kind personality to seduce Mr. Neff into thinking that she is in love with him along with that her husband is a terrible man that treats her with no respect. This is "femme fatale," at its finest. As the film goes on Phyllis turns from wearing white attire to black showing the evil side, which we find out are her true colors. An example where she wears the color black is on the night she kills her husband. Film Noir was also used in the killing through the use of music. The music was very loud and fast, which I believe was a way to let the viewer be aware something bad is about to happen.
White and black also played another role in the film when it came to African Americans as actors during the 1940's and 1950's. During this time in history segregation between whites and black was prevalent. As discussed in lecture whites lived in the cites while blacks lived in urban areas (Eric Avilo). The same sort of things were happening in the film industry, white played the main roles while blacks and other minorities had the roles of maids and butlers. Walter Wright was the spokes person for blacks to help them get better roles in films. An example of this from Double Indemnity is how Phyllis has a maid working for her.
I really enjoyed this film because of the use of film noir and how the producer made it so easy to follow.