--- In
rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com, William Ahearn
<williamahearn@...> wrote:
> Not so. If you say such-and-such is noir because a,
b,
> and c say it is noir, then that is an answer. In
this
> case, it's IMDB lists it as noir.
The word "noir" is polysemic, in particular when it's used in
expressions such as "film noir" and "noir novel". Some apply
to designate a style, others to designate content. Besides,
classifications are not really worth that much, certainly not
when compared to the story, which is the thing. If I give you
a bicycle and tell you it's an airplane, you may be
momentarily puzzled but you still ride it, you still use it
as a bicycle. The same if someone says that a film or a novel
is "noir". Not a big deal.
>I'm really not a
> wisenheimer. All I'm trying to do is to find
the
> definition that includes say "Dark Passasge" (or "In
A
> Lonely Place"), "The Big Sleep" (or another
private
> eye film) and say "The Asphalt Jungle." All
are
> considered noir by some but not by me and all
I'm
> looking for -- and not necessarily from you -- is
the
> unified field theory that says these are
noir.
Good luck in your unified field theory. You are going to need
it. I bet when you find the ultimate definition, a new book
or film comes out that makes you change it. Over and over...
Writers and filmmakers are interested in writing or filming
stories, not so much in fitting certain fixed criteria so
it's "noir" (or "drama", or "comedy" or any of the other
arbitrary classifications).
Best,
mrt
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 16 Sep 2007 EDT