Born in the World War II era, film noir constructs narratives of crime, deceit, betrayal, and treachery, making use of such dark-toned genres as the gangster film, the detective drama, the police procedural, and the tale of misbegotten romance. Wrapping dark, shadowy stories in a dark, shadowy style, it weaves modern myths around the femme fatale, the hardboiled hero, the tormented city, and the never-ending battle between cynicism and hope. This course examines noir masterpieces in their historical, cultural, and literary contexts.

[Generic course description – note that the course will take the general approach described here but will study more than one director in the context of a single multifaceted area of cinematic discourse: In this course students will watch and study a series of films by a single director, accompanied by historical and theoretical articles which help to contextualize the movies. Students will look at such issues as the concept of the “auteur”, art and film theory, audience reactions to work, reception theory, and the role of the director as artist. This course will also introduce students to analysis of the style and discourses of cinematic narratives and the complex and ever-changing relationship between studio production and audience consumption. The director whose work is selected will vary each time the course is taught.]

 

Course Learning Outcomes:

• Students will sharpen their critical skills through historical and theoretical study of cinematic texts that employ artful narrative and audiovisual devices to explore such key issues as urban anxiety, policing and criminal justice, sexuality and gender, sociopolitical protest, and cold-war paranoia in the context of American society during the post-World War II era. Issues of censorship in popular culture will also be addressed. Students will gain heightened understanding of the many ways in which film is inextricably tied to ideology, and will sharpen their ability to discern the sociopolitical attitudes and biases that emerge when films are analyzed in sufficient depth. Students will thereby increase their understanding of the social, psychological, political, and philosophical roles played by moving-image media in contemporary culture.
• Students will cultivate skills for analyzing key themes, tropes, and stylistic traits of English-language cinema through the analysis of important and influential works with specific social and political implications.
• Students will learn to integrate different modes of understanding – historical, sociological, psychological – related to modern artistic phenomena and will acquire proficiency in bringing these to bear on the works of leading moving-image artists.
• Students will further their ability to communicate ideas and opinions cogently and effectively.

 

All required and recommended books are available through the MICA bookstore and are readily available elsewhere as well.

 

Required Books:

James Naremore, More Than Night: Film Noir in Its Contexts, Updated and Expanded

Edition (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008)

Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon (New York: Vintage, 1992)

Richard Schickel, Double Indemnity (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 1992)

Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep (New York: Vintage, 1988)

Graham Greene, The Third Man (New York: Penguin Books, 1999)

Walter Mosley, Devil in a Blue Dress: An Easy Rawlins Novel (New York: Washington Square

Press, 2002)

 

Recommended Reading:

James M. Cain, Double Indemnity (New York: Vintage, 1978)

David Thomson, The Big Sleep (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 1997)

 

• Students are strongly encouraged to read Naremore’s book More Than Night: Film Noir in Its Contexts from cover to cover, although reading beyond the portions specified in the course schedule is optional. • Assigned reading materials not included in the required books are posted on Canvas, and many can be accessed via the URLs listed under the course schedule below. • Additional reading may be assigned during the semester.