Re: RARA-AVIS: the city and the country
dspurlock@humana.com
Tue, 24 Nov 1998 08:28:18 -0500
Hi Doug:
<<I'd be interested in taking up this topic and hearing
what other people
have
to say. One might ask the question of flim noir too--where the
urban
landscape (slick streets, concrete buildings, etc.) makes a big
visual
difference. A few random thoughts. The city has more chance
for
anonymity--for the loner to get lost, disappear (think how
Woolrich's stuff
depends on this factor). Capital accumulates to a more
grandiose degree in
the
city, which allows more easily for people like the Sternwoods
et al.
Country/
small town crime novels frequently seem to have a different
ethos (e.g.,
Mario
Balzac knows everyone); perhaps they are a sort on
anti-bucolic--things are
corrupt, not lovely, in the country. Finally, the more
traditional hard-
boiled seems to be about the violence of society/social
forces/individuals.
Something like _Deliverance_ is also about nature--perhaps that
is more in
the
gothic tradition too. Thoughts?>>
Well, look at "Bad Day at Black Rock" -- Spencer Tracy deals
with a whole
passell of bad-tempered folks full of ill will in a little
village out in
the middle of the desert. No urban setting here.
Some Westerns -- particularly some of those Jimmy Stewart
starred in and
directed by Anthony Mann -- have a distinctly hard-boiled
(and in some
cases noir) feel. -- Duane
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