The Theme of Death in the Noir Films

Film Noir comprise a cycle of mainly Hollywood films that were produced between 1940s and 1950s. they are mostly set in the criminal social surrounding  and explores the dark sides of modernity. The term “Film Noir” is technically adopted to describe movies that significantly cover sexual motivations and cynical attitudes. The stories and attitudes of traditional noir derive from the school of crime fiction that emerged simultaneously with the Great Depression. It is not only for the academics and for film addicts. In fact, the classical filmmakers were concerned with reaching a wide audience. The issue of feminism greatly arises in the Noir films. One notable female personality is Cowie. She explains that the Noir films became contentious because they openly advocated for death and suffering. Through her, the filmmaker has strove to show how humanity is closely connected with death. In other words, death is made to appear more of a relief from the pressures of life rather than a dreadful state. It is perceived as a means to an end as opposed to an end itself.

The golden age of the 1930s and the end of the music era during the 19502 presented a unique form of genre classification of films, just as they are done in the current age.  The underlying technique included emphasizing on the mainstream opinion while at the same time maintaining the boundaries of maintaining societal values and social acceptance. The Noir films met such a threshold of acceptability and ushered in a dark, deviant, and immoral world that did not feature in other film categories. The directors painted the picture of villains as deceitful, murderers, greedy, and paranoia, in sharp contrast of the heroes of the movies, who were  confused, weak, and susceptible to the lure of a beautiful and charming woman. For instance, in Sunset Boulevard and Double Indemnity, a variety of Noir themes are employed by the director; Wilder Billy. The entanglement of the male character, moments of despair and claustrophobia, as well as the greed and the power of the dominating femme fatale in most of the Noir films help to enhance the dark sinister petition of the Noir films.

During and just after the Second World War, movie lovers responded to the fresh, vivid, and adult-focused type of films- just like many directors, writers, actors, and cinematographers. They were driven by a deep passion to introduce a more mature content to Hollywood stakeholders. The studios commenced producing murder dramas and crime thrillers with a particular venomous and dark view of existence. A Paris retrospective of American films, in 1946, clearly confirmed the trend toward a darker and a higher level of cynical crime melodramas. Several Gallic critics also noted this fact, and they christened the new type of product; the Noir films, which were literally known as the “Black Films.”

In the Noir films, there is a slim distance between the desire to live and death. In fact death is not just the end of life, but a sign of destruction and doom in a person’s/society’s social patterns. The movies could be likened to the popular Samson and Delilah Story, where the protagonist encountered real destruction of his reputation and physical features before the real death happened to him. On the other hand, the Philistines (who were the antagonists) met their death in the end because of their close connection with a dreadful personality. According to the Noir films, the connection with death is expressed more through the degradation of moral values as indicated by rising levels of crime and other social evils. In fact, crime is a typical representation of the Noir movies. It makes the audience to view the acts of crime from the criminals’ personal perceptions, and also the victims’, and not from a third party (Irwin, 123). They are able to witness for themselves all elements of power and greed. Another notable phenomenon is how love is replaced with sex with the intention of attaining the protagonists’ remorseless intentions. It makes them (the audience) to sympathize with the male characters (who are the criminals), at specific points of the movie. They easily fall victims because they are vulnerable to the charms of the female characters that lure them with sex and wealth.

The seemingly inextricable connection between desire and death compels the Noir protagonists to pursue their own destruction.  A few artists, if there is any, made the effort to name their movies “Noir” at their time of release, but the clear co-mingling of undermined innocence, hard-edged cynicism, doomed romanticism, shadowy sexuality, and desperate desires unleashed during the post-war era, proved to amass a lot of influence among the industry stakeholders in the original period. It also affected future generations of story writers and story tellers, both cinematic and literary. Even common advertisements (such as film clips, brilliant insights, film stills, and others) concerning the Noir films persuade potential spectators to immerse themselves in a cloud of social and mass media darkness, in Facebook and Twitter, for a complete entertainment in the film world.

The desire for death is represented by strong emotional states, such as fear, loneliness, fear,and others. They suck the lives out of the characters, making them to opt for death and destruction as a way of coping with the harsh realities of life. The majority of film analysts provide that the movie adopted such a cover because of its relationship with the Second World War. Most of the films were produced during and after the war, prompting film writers and movie producers to inculcate such powerful and influential themes of death, destruction, and others. Romance and sexual immorality also features as powerful death tools that facilitate the destruction of many men in the Noir films.

It is crucial to understand the set of elements that result in the definition of the Noir films. The issue has continued to evoke endless debates from time immemorial. Some quarters argued that is lenient to associate the film with such attributes as erotic, cruel, ambivalent, strange, and oneiric. They comprise the elements used by French critics known as Etienne Chaumeton and Raymond Borde, in their 1941 book, which treated the subject of ethical degragation with originality and seminality. They continue to argue that the Noir films do not reflect the two attributes in the same measures. While one is virtual and dreamlike, the other reflects brutality of the highest order. The cinematic features, such as unbalanced compositions and low-level lighting, sharp and oppressive music, offending dialogues, breathtaking performances, and other techniques that stress of  the evil nature of the societies in the Noir films. A variety of visual methods also feature, including those that fit well within the boundaries of Hollywood films.

Double Indemnity is a Noir film released in 1944, and directed by Raymond Chandler and Billy Wilder.  French critics first used the term “Double Indemnity” to refer to the high and disturbing crime movies and plays in Hollywood that displayed growing cynism and sexual motivations. The movie clearly reveals the theme of the Desire of Death, as well as how feminist qualities are used to destroy the masculinity of the male characters. For instance, the main actor; Fred MacMurray, is an insurance agent, and is married to a provocative and winning woman who hopes that death will one day intervene by taking her husband. Consequently, Double Idemnity is a term used to describe a clause used by insurance companies that aims at doubling the payable funds to the client in the case that they lose their life partners. The payout is made when the claimers prove beyond reasonable doubt that the death was caused by natural means, such as accidents, illnesses, and sundry. It is a mind paradigmatic shifting tool because of its influence in setting film and cinematic standards for other films that ensued. Such was its impact that the government recognized it for its cultural significance. It is currently preserved at the National Film Registry (Irwin, 345).

 In the Noir films, destruction preceded death and doom. The characters appear to be concerned only with their selfish interests. They employ any evil tactic at their disposal to achieve their ends. In Double Indemnity, Neff’s wife, Phyllis Detrichson, devises ways to lure her husband into signing their life insurance policy under her name since she is the next of kin. Though the move is rational, her intentions are not immoral. It is because she plots to take away the life of her husband through an accident so that she can make the insurance claim. The audience would expect that their matrimonial relationship to counter them against selfish desires. It is clear that the union between Neff and Phyllis is not based on love but materialism. It exposes the evil and canny characters to their own destruction, because every evil is paid back with evil in the end.

Conclusion

It is crucial to understand the nature of the Noir films in order to comprehend how death is used as a means to an end, and not the end. Most of the films depict low level lighting, sharp dialogues, oppressive music, and outstanding performances covered in gothic romance. The characters are not blamed  because the qualities of cynicism, hard-heartedness, and he disillusionment of the male character were only included to reflect the state of affairs during that time. Despite knowing about the consequences of their actions, most characters in the Noir films, most specifically, Double Indemnity, Kiss Me Deadly, and The Lady from Shanghai, all comprise of female characters who lure the male ones into their own destruction. In the end, the sinister motives destroy their own executors. The choices that the antagonist makes neatly design their own downfall and when they come into terms with the reality, they regret about their plans and actions, but it is too late.

Works Cited

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Irwin, John T. Unless the Threat of Death Is Behind Them: Hard-boiled Fiction and Film Noir. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006. Print.

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