Film Noir

Before reading the assigned articles, I never knew what constitutes a movie as film noir. All of the elements that are embedded within film noir can clearly be seen through Double Indemnity. In general, I found it very interesting that film noir is not necessarily a genre, but rather the tone and mood of a film. One question that came up while reading is the issue of lighting. Both Schrader and Peterson address how film noir entails particular lighting techniques that were opposite of the dominant lighting techniques which emerged by the early forties. Peterson says, "Unlike the even illumination of high-key lighting which seeks to display attractively all areas of the frame, the low-key noir style opposes light and dark, hiding faces, rooms, urban landscapes..." (66). Although this may be done on purpose as compared to the normal techniques, I can't help but think this happened just because the films are presented in black and white. Today, because films are made in color, there are not just stark contrasts between black and white and shadows aren't as prominent. I guess my question is if this happened because of the lack of technology and if this could happen today to the extent that it used to?
I was interested in film noir after these articles and decided to google the subject. I found an article that addressed one more key element of film noir that I didn't seem to notice was mentioned in the assigned articles: the femme fatale. The authors defines this as "as irresistibly attractive woman, especially one who leads men into danger or disaster." This is clearly the character of Phyllis in Double Indemnity and thought it was another interesting element that Peterson or Schrader lacked to mention.