Defining Film Noir — what is film noir?

Group 1 (Infanit, Gin, Perla, Magaly, Carol, Stacey-Ann)

“A genre of film in which the lighting, characters, music, and overall theme has a dark undertone. Major characters portrayed are shady and the roles which are usually distinct in other genres are muddied and not easily differentiated. Storylines usually encompass some kind of mystery, which is solved at the end of the movie. Some film use flashbacks as a method of creating mystery.”

Group 2 (Krystine, Gladys, Veronica, Christian, Mike)

“A film that uses light and shadows. Usually a crime drama that focuses on a particular character or story with questionable motives.”

Group 3 (Kimberly, Andy, Gianpaul, Simon, Jonathan)

“Film noir is a drama that incorporates elements of shadows, darkness, tension, and mood to create a gritty atmosphere. Within this world are ambiguous characters, who could become good guys, bad guys, or something in between. The protagonist is usually associated with the femme fatale, who usually gets him into some kind of trouble.”

Group 4 (Andrew, Xavier, Danielle, Limmer)

“A noir film is a motion picture which uses shadows to create a dark ambiance throughout the film, along with a mystery to be solved. A femme fatale is usually involved and there is always a sense of tension in the air as the film progresses.”

Group 5 (Martin, Xiu Lan, Ya Zhi, Emmanuel, Melissa)

“Film noir are black and white films that use shadow-work to portray mysterious undertones. These films are crime-based and contain femme fatales, detectives, and the main protagonist who is slick and is always led into danger by the femme fatale.
”

Group 6 (Ebony, Sofia, Jonathan C, Malik)

“A genre of film style involving a lot of dark moods and negativity. The movies are very dramatic — crime stories. Generally framed around a femme fatale. And the films use shadows to tell a story of their own.”

Where is good to be found in the film noir?

Mysteries – solved
Maltese Falcon
Who killed Spade’s partner
What was the Maltese Falcon
who had the M.F.
Find out whether the protagonist will do the right thing?

where is good in the film noir?
— “in the emotions felt by the protagonist as well as the actions that were done by specific characters”
— “no good, just perceived as good”
— DI –

— KEYES (moral person) vs. NORA (innocent)

protagonist at the end usually winds up making the morally BETTER (not necessarily good)

Justice is served by end of film (?)

Double Indemnity – as book and film — differences
— something about movies, films that demands diff types of endings, portrayals, etc?