2.2 Pulp Fiction and Voiceover Narration

 2.2 Pulp Fiction and Voiceover Narration

Cover and Back matter of the 1943 Signet edition of Double Indemnity

The pulp novella by James M. Cain was published in serial form in 1935. Pulp books often provided the plots to film noir. 

Straight after the story was first published, film companies were competing to buy the property. Then the Hays Office put the kibosh on it. They said: 

“The general low tone and sordid flavor of this story makes it, in our judgment, thoroughly unacceptable for screen presentation before mixed audiences in the theater. I am sure you will agree that it is most important…to avoid what the code calls "the hardening of audiences," especially those who are young and impressionable, to the thought and fact of crime.”

Eight years later they decided to try again. At first the Hays Office said no, then they relented, although they did insist Phyllis used a larger towel.


THE IMPORTANCE OF VOICEOVER

One of the typical conventions of noir is the use of voiceover. 

1.Double Indemnity lets you know right away who is speaking, when, and
  from where, but other films use voice-over and flashback more
  ambiguously.

2.We need to think about the motives of narrative voices, how much they
   know and whether they are telling the truth, when and to whom they are
   speaking. This is a biased version of what happened because it’s from
    Walter’s POV

3.In this way, Noir emphasizes narrative gaps, and the possibility that
   narratives can deceive.

4.The snappy dialogue you hear comes from the pulp novels


INFLUENCES ON THIS FILM: HARDBOILED CRIME FICTION


  • Generally refers to a type of detective crime fiction.
  • Contain unsentimental portrayals of violence and sex.
  • Began in the mid 1920s. Refined by Raymond Chandler in the late 1930s.
  • Plots were pillaged for noir films in the 1940s, and their authors were often employed to write the scripts.

The Hardboiled Detective

  • He works alone.
  • Roughly 35-45 years old, a loner and a tough guy.
  • His usual diet consists of fried eggs, black coffee and cigarettes.
  • He hangs out at shady all-night bars.
  • He is a heavy drinker but always aware of his surroundings and is able to fight back when attacked.
  • He shoots criminals or takes a beating if it helps him solve a case.
  • He is always poor.
  • Cases that at first seem straightforward, often turn out to be quite complicated, forcing him to embark on an odyssey through the urban landscape.
  • He is involved with organized crime and other lowlifes on the "mean streets" of, preferably Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, or Chicago.
  • A hard-boiled private eye has an ambivalent attitude towards the police.
  • It is his ambition to save America and rid it of its mean elements all by himself.

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