Rob Skogen
Good and evil, male and female, white and black, rich and poor, forward and backward, urban and suburban, us and them. The discourse of duality is one that is as old as time, and one theme that is an undercurrent in all of our readings regarding where the true “essence� of film noir might lie.
Dan Flory’s epistemological approach is a great starting point for our exploration. We could focus our energies arguing the definitions, themes or film techniques that could constitute the “genre�, but all of that is ultimately superficial when we consider film noir in the larger context of American culture and politics. The search for knowledge can lead us to find that there is meaning hidden below the surface, which makes it imperative to change the ways in which we look at the world.
In searching for meaning in WWII propaganda films, we were presented a one-sided, idealistic view of the American way of life. In searching for understanding in the noir movement, we are presented with an ambiguous “other side�, or more realistic representation of how things were at the same time. In this dichotomy, Double Indemnity would be the counterpoint to Sahara’s point. The title alone screams to us to search for a hidden meaning within.
Just as Walter Neff’s relationship with Phyllis would never be the same after the murder, regardless of how hard he tried to cover their tracks, the war impacted American culture in a significant way. Millions of soldiers went over seas for years to fulfill their patriotic duty. This left a void in the social spaces that turned race, class and gender lines upside down forever. These soldiers would return to a different country, one that was going to move forward with or without them, no matter how hard they tried to maintain a sense of status-quo. From the often ignored perspectives of race, class and gender, it is this American struggle to adjust to a new reality that the other articles from this week’s readings attempt to address.
Although these concepts have been hidden in the subconscious of our nation’s history, they are the pulse or rhythm of our existence and provide a framework for furthering our discourse on the American experience. Urban and suburban, forward and backward, rich and poor, white and black, male and female.