14.5 DISCUSSION: A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night and neo-noir

14.5 DISCUSSION: A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night and neo-noir



Now that we have considered 3 neo-noir films (The Long Goodbye, A Scanner Darkly and A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night) how do you see noir being morphed and adapted for a more contemporary audience? What elements of noir are constant, what is new and fresh? Provide a clip and/or screenshot(s) to help illustrate your point.

My post: 

One of the readings referred to the extra crisp contrasting black and whites of the film for the noir visuals of the film. This scene showed that light contrast [sorry couldn't upload] and also like our other neo-noirs that he is in a dream-state as this is a repeating visual at a time Arash is pensive about his life. So far we've seen a lot of anti-heros in dream-like states in neo-noir. 


[It is the picture of Arash at the end of a tunnel. I have exceeded my image storage capacity as this is my last class and I can't figure out how to delete the stored images.]

Arctor has become an unwilling participant in living in a dream-like state but there are many scenes where he is pensive about his life. We learn about his backstory of having a wife and family. He is now not able to fully understand his life, but is aware that he is observing his own house as he almost calls his friend from his work when he is concerned about an OD.

Marlowe played by Elliott Gould almost seems like a drug addict in the film the ways he has a laisse fare ‘That's Okay with me’ attitude about everything that is happening. The one time that he is serious is when he is drunk, and Mrs. Wade tells him that her husband killed Sylvia Lennox. He wants the police attention now, but they don't take him seriously. 

There has also been this dubious line between right and wrong in all three films and unlike days of the Hays Code, there is no paying for one's sins at the end. The Girl kills men but for the right reason (their abuse of women). Marlowe rids the world of a murderer without there being a long capture and trial although he himself kills him. Arctor is a good person, but his work situates him actively living in an illegal drug den.

From what I’ve seen so far, unlike the classic noir femme fatale, the neo-noir femme fatale does not die in the end or go to jail. This has been the case for the neo-noir femme fatales of The Long Goodbye, A Scanner Darkly and A Girl Walks Home Alone. It’s a nice change in this class. I was especially glad that The Girl came out okay.


[picture of one of the last scenes where the two look at each other sitting in the car.]



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