On the other hand, Who Framed Roger Rabbit represents the use of the neo-noir element as a "marketing device." It has been described as "a hilarious caricature on film noir," almost to the point of satirizing the genre (Gundareva)
Film Noir In its classical incarnation, film noir is notable for its "power to fascinate," (Harris 3)
Holden offers a cynical summation of classic noir elements: "A world-weary private eye, following a trail of increasingly sordid clues ends up gazing into a bottomless pit of corruption and evil," (1). Inside that bottomless pit are "at least one femme fatale and any number of murderous fat cats chortling behind the scenes as they pull the strings," (Holden 1)
The relationships among the three characters exist for Mundson to be able to exploit the power of his sexuality as much as possible. But - and this is a key element of the power that women have in film noir - women often have the power to turn back the power and force of men's sexuality (Kaplan 116-117)
Without the typical black and white and lighter and darker shades, the films would probably not be as intriguing as they were. The fact that the shadows created the scenes more emphatically because of the tremendously captivating effect that the black and white setting is something that just isn't seen in contemporary film making, and perhaps this a vital area that is neglected wit the invention of color films (Palmer, 1997)
Initially, when A Touch of Evil was made it was a virtual flop. There were very few people who thought that it was film material worth watching, and in the end it was regarded as a classic, with about the same number of people who downed it at its release sneering at it again (Rhodes, 1998)
It is through the film's highly stylized non-linear editing that the audience is given insight into the constant battle between good and evil that Leonard confronts on a daily basis. Film noir is known for interweaving good and evil with the concepts often being merged into one (Borde & Chaumeton 12)
Each of these films, and others within the genre, share characteristics such as "iconography, visual style, narrative strategy, subject matter and characterization (4). Additionally, the film genre's style helps to "[engage] the viewer in a critical relation with its narrative compositions" (Conley 327)
Because Teddy demonstrates that he, too, tries to manipulate Leonard for his own gain, brings forth his own death and can also be considered to fulfill the role of the pere fatale, a character that emerges in neo-noir films. Many times, these noir characters are at risk of losing themselves in the qualities that they initially believed to be in opposition to who they are and what they represent and sometimes makes them have a distorted view of him or herself (Lott 549)
Because he cannot remember what individual's intentions are, he must constantly try to remember through notes that he takes, however, these notes are unreliable because the information that he is given by others is unreliable and thus Leonard is never sure if a person's intentions are good because someone has tricked him into thinking that their intentions are good, or if they are truly good. Film noir's objective was to invalidate cultural norms to create tension and disrupt order to bring about "the disappearance of psychological bearings or guideposts" (Naremore 19)
Memento as Film Noir Christopher Nolan's Memento as Film Noir Film noir rose to prominence in the late 1940s and was at first described as being "murder with a psychological twist (Spicer 1)
Cain. Likewise, within film noir, the realms of good and evil are able to become intrinsically intertwined and often are merged into one another (Borde & Chaumeton 12)
Gittes formerly worked as an officer with the Los Angeles Police Department, working mainly in Chinatown alongside Lt. Lou Escobar (Polanski)
Chinatown and Film Noir The influence of classic film noir on Chinatown Rising to prominence in the late 1940s and initially described as "murder with a psychological twist," film noir helped to introduce audiences to a new genre that could be distinguished by its subject matter, themes, and stylistic trademarks (Spicer 1)
Dirks categorizes film noir as an offshoot or sub-genre of the generic crime/gangster and detective/mystery sagas of the 1930s, some based on real people such as Al Capone. The immediate source of film noir is obviously the hard-boiled detective novel of the American or English origin (Borde and Chaumeton 15)
Film Noir The late Gerald Mast describes, "the noir world was a dark place, psychologically and morally as well as cinematographically" (297). The word 'noir' is the French word for black and French film critics started the term film noir "who noticed the trend of how dark and black the looks and themes of many American crime and detective films were after the war" (Dirks 1)
Genre films work within a reality the public can understand. John Ford was famous for saying of genre "the secret is to make films that please the public and also allow the director to reveal his personality" (Schatz 9)
This concept can be seen through Roberts as he transitions from an innocent man into a murderer. Roberts is "convinced that his vagrant status will prejudice the law against him" and as such, he feels he must assume the identity of someone who is not a vagrant (Silver & Ursini 28)
Paranoia, Entrapment, And the Corruption of the American Dream in Double Indemnity and Detour Film noir can be described as "murder with a psychological twist" (Spicer 1)