The Obvious & The Code by Bellour

According to this article, in a sequence of shots in The Big Sleep, there is "a folding effect which clearly demonstrates the way in which the narration, even down to its details, proceeds through a differential integration of its constituent elements." Personally, I have no idea what that means. I think the article was trying to discuss a formal pattern or several formal patterns created in a series of twelve shots of a conversation between two characters in a car, but I could not follow the author's arguments. Perhaps it would have been clearer if I had seen The Big Sleep before reading the article, or even if a series of screen caps had accompanied the article, but with just the words on the page I was completely baffled. I kept reading over sentences like, "The shots which follow accentuate this imbalance in accordance with a progression which is at the same time inverse, similar, and different to that of the image‐presence progression," wondering how something could be simultaneously inverse, similar and different, and yet still constitute a clear formal pattern.

In fact, the author seemed to be struggling so hard to say something meaningful about these twelve shots that it actually made me think that there was no real meaning in the sequence, it was just the most logical way for the editor to arrange those pieces of footage. Again, maybe if I'd viewed the scene it would have helped my understanding.

Every time I thought I understood a sentence, such as:

"". . . I guess I am in love with you." This phrase, which occurs twice, uttered first by Vivian and then by Marlowe, clearly shows the extent to which the reduplication effect—in this instance a simple mirror effect linked to the admission of love—is constitutive of the narrative."

...it would be follow by a sentence so convoluted I immediately felt lost again:

"But this is so at the cost of an inversion which underscores the fact that repetition is constitutive only inasmuch as it takes its starting point from the difference circumscribing it, within a movement of bi‐motivation which is in fact the specific necessity of this type of narrative."

I really don't understand how I can be eight months away from being an officially college educated adult and still feel barely able to flounder through a six page article in my native language. Did anyone find this article interesting or informative or even comprehensible? Am I just missing some key vocabulary that would suddenly make this all clear to me?

Film Noir

I really enjoyed reading these articles. I've always been a big fan of the hard-boiled detective genre in fiction (Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, etc.) so it was interesting to learn about how that style translates into the visual sphere. It was good to read the articles right before we watched "Double Indemnity" so that we could look out for the specific stylistic conventions of the genre onscreen. With this background knowledge, it was really interesting to pay special attention to the light and shadow as equally important film elements as character and plot.

It also got me thinking about some more contemporary films that could be classified as neo-noirs (I swear I was going to write about this before I saw the other blog posts). One of my favorite movies is "Chinatown," a 1973 Roman Polanski film starring Jack Nicholson. It, like the films discussed in the articles, features a morally ambiguous private eye negotiating the shadowy, rain-slicked streets of Los Angeles in a convoluted psychological story of corruption and sexual misconduct. Another one I thought of (as did other classmates) is "Sin City," a movie based on the Frank Miller graphic novel of the same name. Although director Robert Rodriguez had the advantage of adapting from a comic book (which is essentially a storyboard), that movie overplays genre tropes to make a connection with the audience: the hard-drinking, down-on-his-luck detective, the buxom femme fatale, the corrupt social and political patriarchy, etc. I really like now being able to trace specific influences of the genre into movies released much later than the original movement.

Visual Motifs of Film Noir (Place and Peterson)

I found it very interesting that manipulating the lighting in scenes can help shape the film's dramatic effect. Film Noir usually utilizes high contrast in lighting, dark shadows, and directional lighting (e.g back lighting, key lighting, or fill lighting) all in order to add the the 'feel' of the film. Furthermore, the space in these scenes is manipulated in order to shape the emotional ambiance of the film. This was something that I somewhat unconsciously noticed a lot of in Double Indemnity.
I knew the the film makers were placing the characters irregularly in the frame, but I did not recognize the purpose of this until I read Place and Peterson's work. It is so interesting that the reason for doing this is in order to establish a certain 'feeling' in the scene. Solely from the visual effects of utilizing the lighting and space in the frame, actors can appear to be helpless, inferior, superior... adding an extra dimension to the film and evoke a feeling for the audience.

Film Noir-- Schrader

I found Paul Schrader's Notes on Film Noir very interesting in that films followed the collective mentality of the American people at the time (40's through early 50's). He talks about post-war realism and that people wanted films that reflected their desire for the harsh truth-- the realities of American society at the time, whereas in the past, during the great depression, people wanted uplifting, moire unrealistic films to be able to forget about reality. I think that Double Indemnity (made in 1944) is a great example of Film Noir and follows a lot of the thematic elements of the period including night scenes, rainfall scenes, romantic narration, complex chronological order, and the use of shadowing-- when Neff speaks with his hat on, his face is blackened out for dramatic effect. I think that this movement of darker cinema, portraying crime, corruption, and a more sardonic depiction of American life, paved the way for more socially critical movies that would never have been accepted before this movement.

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.

Application of Film Noir

I found the readings on Film Noir to be interesting and comprehendible. I went into the readings never having heard of the term, “film noir” used before so everything I know now comes solely from the readings. When Paul Schrader wrote about the stylistics, I was able to apply his ideas to films I have already watched. For example, in talking about the lighting he says the “the majority of scenes are lit for night.” This was very apparent in Double Indemnity. I noticed that the lighting was always very dim and was merely highlighting the characters so that we could see their movements and interactions. The lighting definitely contributes to the dim and eerie mood of such films. In the second article we read the authors call the lighting of film noir as "low key." Later in his points about stylistics he notes that “there is a love of romantic narration.” This could easily be proved in films such as Double Indemnity and North By Northwest. Much of the dialogue seemed to hopelessly romantic, similar to the way Schrader notes. Schrader says that what is perhaps the over riding noir theme is “a passion for the past and present but also a fear of the future.” Again, since we just watched it, it is easy to apply this to Double Indemnity because Walter and Phyllis seemed so passionate in the moment and even when talking about their plans but also very skeptical about how the plan will play out in the future.

I found it very interesting when Schrader said, “it gave artists a chance to work with previously forbidden themes.” I suppose this is referring to on screen kisses and controversial film topics like affairs and violence. “For a long time, film noir, with its emphasis on corruption and despair, was considered an aberration of the American character.” While this may have been the case once, that theme definitely does not seem to me apparent in the present. Id be interesting in learning more about the transition into acceptance of controversial films.

I enjoyed reading the article on Film Noir. I had never heard the term or been aware of what it was. I didn’t know that Film noir was not a genre, but is defined by tone and mood. Also, the fact that Film noir is a specific period of film history. After watching Double indemnity, and comparing to other movies made in that time that I have seen, the article made more sense to me. I began to think differently about certain scenes, for example the first time The two lovers meet in Walters apartment, every room they walk into the lights stay off the entire time. The idea of the four catalytic elements that defined Film noir were very interesting. The War and post war disillusionment, Post war realism, The German influence and the hard boiled tradition, were all helpful concepts in understanding Film noir and the reason behind it.