Film Noir - Genre or Not? by Chris Hansen
Film noir is a cinematic term that has been used to describe Hollywood crime dramas from the 1940's to the late 1950's. They tend to emphasize moral ambiguity and sexual motivation. Through the black and white visual style and prototypical story lines I do believe that film noir is a genre. According to the American Hertiage New Dictionary of cultural literacy a genre is defined as "The kind or type of a work of art, from the French, meaning "kind" or "genus." Literary genres include the novel and the sonnet. Musical genres include the concerto and the symphony. Film genres include Westerns and horror movies." Since film noir has a black and white visual style, with melancholy, disillusionment, ambiguity, evil, guilt moods it can be categorized as a genre. This type of genre normally has a femme fatale (Phyllis) who has sexual motivation with her husband, step daughters boyfriend as well as an insurance salesman. The femme fatale is normally the means for the leading male going into darkness. Film noir utilizes certain cinematography techniques that help separate it as its own genre as well. Shots are often filmed in a way that gives the viewer a sense of claustrophobia and desperateness, or just a generally uneasy feeling. This is accomplished using the striking contrast of black and white, coupled with the prevalent use of shadows and filming in small spaces. It is for these reasons that I believe film noir qualifies as its own genre.