Film Noir Essay

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The term Film noir is primarily used to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivation. Hollywood's film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s. Film noir from this era is associated with low-key black and-white visual style that has roots in German Expressionist cinematography. Crime is an element of almost every film noir, along with greed and jealousy. Horror is a film genre seeking to extract a negative emotional reaction from its viewers by playing on their primal fears. This is inspired by literature from authors such as Edgar Allan Poe and Mary Shelley. They include scenes that startle the viewer and often deal with the…show more content…
There is a lot of suspense in both genres, not typically in the same way but it is there. For example, in film noir the suspense consists of not knowing who the killer is and finding out later but in horror the suspense is waiting for a fright. Film noir is usually described as being essentially pessimistic and this tends to be the vibe given during a horror film as the characters lose all sense of hope. Noir stories consist of characters being trapped in unwanted situations, fighting against uncaring fate and being frequently doomed. This is very similar to the theme of a horror film, in the sense that they are trapped in terrifying situations and have to fight to escape their circumstances. Both films noir and horror have both been parodied, for example in 1945 Danny Kaye starred in ‘Wonder Man’ which appeared to be the first international film noir parody. Wonder Man is a musical film which is based on a short story by Arthur Sheekman adapted to the screen. An example of horror parody are the ‘Scary Movie’ series. Scary movie is a series of American comedy films made by Keenan Ivory Wayans with his younger brothers, Shawn and Marlon. They specialise in parodying horror films which have included: SAW, Scream, The Grudge, I know what you did last summer, The Exorcist and The haunting. Both horror and films noir tend to include a love interest but in

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