In Paris, in the Summer of 1964, after the hiatus of World War II, French critics were again given the opportunity to view films from Hollywood. The films they saw, including "Murder my Sweet", "Double Indemnity", "Laura", "The Killers" and the "Woman in the Window" prompted the naming and theoretization of a new phenomenon: "film noir". Much that has been written about the genre since has remained within this preliminary assessment. Whilst sympathetic with much of the analysis of the early French critics, this collection ...
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In Paris, in the Summer of 1964, after the hiatus of World War II, French critics were again given the opportunity to view films from Hollywood. The films they saw, including "Murder my Sweet", "Double Indemnity", "Laura", "The Killers" and the "Woman in the Window" prompted the naming and theoretization of a new phenomenon: "film noir". Much that has been written about the genre since has remained within this preliminary assessment. Whilst sympathetic with much of the analysis of the early French critics, this collection of original essays attempts to move beyond their first look. Beginning with an anatomy of that look - of the "poujadist" climate that nourished it and the imminent collapse of the Hollywood studio system, the essays in "Shades of Noir" re-explore and call into question the object it first constructed. The impetus for this shift in perspective comes from the films themselves, viewed in the light of contemporary social and political concerns and from new theoretical insights. Several essays analyze the re-emergence of noir in recent years, most notably in the hybrid forms produced in the 1980s by the merging of "noir" with "sci-fi" and horror - for example "Blade Runner" and "Angel heart" - and in films by new Black directors such as "Deep Cover", "Straight out of Brooklyn", "Rage in Harlem" and "One False Move". Other essays focus on the open urban territory in which the "noir" hero hides out: the office spaces in Chandler and the sense of waiting that fills empty warehouses, corridors and hotel rooms are closely observed. Finally "Shades of Noir" pays renewed attention to the lethel relation between the sexes to the "femme fatale" and the role of other women on "noir". As the role of women expands, the "femme fatale" remains deadly, but this deadliness takes on new meanings. The book is illustrated throughout with stills from noir cult classics. The contributors are: Janet Bergstrom, Joan Copjec, Elizabeth Cowie, Manthia Dianwara, Fredric Jameson, Dean McCannell, Fred Pfeil, David Reid, Marc Vernet, Slavoj Zizek.
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Add this copy of Shades of Noir: a Reader to cart. $54.49, fair condition, Sold by Anybook rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Lincoln, UNITED KINGDOM, published 1993 by Verso Books.
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Seller's Description:
This is an ex-library book and may have the usual library/used-book markings inside. This book has hardback covers. Book contains pencil markings. In fair condition, suitable as a study copy. No dust jacket. Please note the Image in this listing is a stock photo and may not match the covers of the actual item, 900grams, ISBN: 9780860914600.
This is a very large paperback, well written analysis of this genre but which in my view goes too deeply into the subject and with some chosen examples examined in too great a detail. A book purely for the keenest of 'noir' buffs.
