Blog #7

The topic   for  blog  #7 was  select out of  the four  stories  from the gold  coast  section the one that you feel is the best example of noir and one that would be the most difficult to classify as noir.

So now let me  start   with the fact  that  all four stories sucked, they  are  very short  stories  so  they  don’t really have any context   they  don’t  get  you wrapped  up  and  make  you want  to keep  reading  it’s like   four very shorts  stories that  are meant   to  torture the mind of the reader  with  doubts, so  at the  end  of  the   every single  story  you are  intrigued  on  the  why,  the  how   of   the stories  and you end  up  with   this  confused look  on your  face   that  just    says really?  That’s all you got?. But anyhow.

 Let me   start   with the one I believe is the one that it’s hardest to classify as a noir.
“Kinship.” By Brian Ascalon Roley. (299).
In my personal  opinion  this story  was  the hardest one  to classify  as noir, it does not  seem  dark  at  all it  does  not present  that noir  ambiance,  it  just  feels like  a  story   being  told by someone who wants  to get  it  out of t heir  system.  It lacks  the  femme  fatale, and the protagonist could  pass  as a so call  detective  but  not  in the true sense  of  the word   because  all he investigates  is the house  where the person that  hurt veronica’s  husband lives. And  the only   sentence   that I  can  perceive  as  dark and  that  it gives  me  that sensation of  noir  its all  the way  at the  end  of  the  story.

I am a father  too, I said  it  loud enough  for Manny  to hear, and  then I  reached  down  and  stuck  him.(317)
 That is  the only  moment  when  you  can  truly  feel  the noir because  you  can  just picture yourself as the victim, and  feel  Tomas heavy  breathing   full of anger  tell you  that last  words  you will ever  hear.

But  that is  about  it   there is no  other  moment  when  you feel  the chills  of  noir,  the sensation that you are trapped and there will  no  way out.

Now  the  one  that  can  best  represent  what Noir is.

Even  though all  four  stories where  totally lame  the  one that  can  pass  as noir  because  to be honest  is not  the best  example  but it  will be   out  these  four stories I  would  say it  has  to  be  “The girl who kissed Barnaby Jone” By Scott Phillips.  I personally  thought    the story  sucked but  it  does  have  more  characteristics of  what noir  is classified  to be, it  includes  the protagonist  that’s between   a  fine line of  good and  evil,  you have the  Femme  fatale  that drags  him  to  his own damnation, also  he know he  is a  sucker  for her  he  acknowledges   the fact that  he  would   do  anything  for  that  female.

 “I have a great big boner with Cherie’s name on it, and if she asked me to shovel shit I’d ask her how fast she needed it shoveled. “Where, exactly?”(287)

The  female  known  as  Cherie’s  is  the  Femme  fatale, she is  the expert in getting  men  to do  what she wants, well kind of  because in this  story, the one  man  she calls  decides to  ditch  her because  he realizes  she is  bat shit  crazy. At  the end  he  still ends  death or  that’s  what  the  end implies. All throughout this  ten page story  she  can  feel  a little  bit of  Noir  it is all set  up in a  dark  environment  you  have  the lust factor  the lust  and  sex  is   in  most of  the lines,  you  have the protagonist  who   falls like  a dumbass  for the  girl  just  because  she  has  a “smoking  hot body”, you have a  murder  taken place  in  shady  place.  so  therefore I believe  that story  fits noir  the best.

Surrounding Darkness Blog #6

According  to  Jerold J. Abra the author  of  the  article Space, Time, and Subjectivity  in Neo-Noir Cinema  the  role  of  the protagonist  in  the  Neo-Noir  is no longer  the figure  that  tries  to  find  and  fight  crime  but  rather  the opposite   Now  he  is  on the quest  to  find  himself  he  is  in the line between  existing and no longer doing  it  so in order  to continue  his path  he must find himself  first  before  there is any fatal consequences, The protagonist  is  also now a  fusion  of  the hero and  the  villain  therefore there is  the  need to coexist  with  himself.

In the Noir genre there is 3 basic subgenres past neo-noir, future neo-noir, and present neo-noir.

Past Neo-Noir  has its  very  own  characteristics  that  differentiate    it  them  from the   rest   of  the  subgenres  in  the  story line  seems  to  be v very  low  tech and  involves  theological aspects   for  what I  understood it  focusses on  the  darkness and  the light  there  is  that  fight    between  God  and  the Devil but  they  always  have  their  soldier  if  you  could call them  that,  the authors  gives   us  the  example  of  the movie  Angel Heart (Alan Parker, 1987)  in  which   Lucifer   sends    a  certain  individual  to  recover  the  soul  that   already belongs  to  him,  but  that individual   does not  know  that the person   that he is looking  for   its  himself   so  you  see  again  the characteristic of  trying to  find  himself   the  protagonist  does not  know  necessarily that  he  is looking  for himself   he   finds out   as   he  advances,  the protagonist  still  keeps   certain  detective  features   like  the normal  intuitive  and  interrogative personality.

Future Neo-Noir    leaves the  theological aspect  being  not  completely  but  almost the  theological  aspect  is  replaced   by  the  sci-fi   aspect    it’s no longer   a  fight  between  angels  and  demons but   between   man-kind   and  robots  or  aliens  in  this  kind  of Noir    the protagonist  seems   to  be in a battle   for  the  sake of  earth  he has  to  fight   for human kind  against   strangers  of  the earth  technology  is  used   basically  in  almost  every detail  of  the creation of  this  film  but not  to  the  point  where  it  seems overcrowded  with  special  effects.

The author’s states that Present Neo-Noir on the other hand   is it   staged   neither in the distant past noir in the distant future.   But it  is  hard   to  tell where    it  is  staged  but    the  struggle   of  the protagonist  is  it  the  same  he   still  tries  to  find   himself.
 Even  then   when   Neo- Noir   has  different  characteristics   some  of  the elements  of  noir  still   stay  and  are part  of the genre, such as the femme  fatale  and  the  detective  figure  and  the maze  perception  of  things    there   still that  feeling of  entrapment   and  darkness surrounding  the protagonist   the use   of   shadows   it  is  still   used, basic little  details  are kept  but  most  likely  the  protagonist is  the one  that changes  the  most   as  I  have already  stated   he no longer  searches  for  crime   he  is now  on  the  path to  find himself  sometimes   this  ending  in a very fatal  way.