Somebody said that Altman attempted to deconstruct the
classic PI, whose main symbol is Marlowe (please agree).
Derrida's "method of deconstructions" consists in pointing
out, or unveiling, unresolvable contradictions in binary
oppositions, such as masculine-feminine, good guy-bad guy,
heterosexual-homosexual, liberal-conservative, and so
on.
Perhaps Altman did some of this by showing a different
Marlowe, a more blended personality. Certainly there is
nothing too outrageous in his version of Chandler's novel.
Long before Altman, Norbert Davis had brilliantly
deconstructed the classic PI, though Davis is now an obscure
figure and his historical influence is close to zero.
As to writing in order to bury a genre, it can be done.
Cervantes did it, most notably, with the chivalric genre --
however, the genre was already decaying, therefore ready for
funereal caricature.
I believe Kurosawa attempted to deconstruct the Samurai, not
once but many times. I think he succeeded, though,
paradoxically, he made the (deconstructed) New Samurai
popular throughout the world...
Monte Hellman and Arthur Penn (Little Big Man), and others in
the following years, attempted similar deconstructions of the
western, with artistic success but without totally killing
the genre --it was and remains moribund but will likely take
a long time to die.
Tom Wolfe, in his famous essay in the Herald Tribune,
deconstructed the "New Yorker genre". The attack was
devastating but did not bury the genre or the magazine. Open
it today and you will still see languid stories about
"crossing glances at the Starbucks one afternoon",
which
"reminded of my mother", "a sparrow came close as I was
weeding the garden", and such and such again.
To want to bury is one thing, but genres don't die by decree.
Even when people stop believing in them, they manage to
survive. I, for one, am always ready to pick up a good PI
novel, as long as it's a good read. The same for science
fiction stories, or any kind of stories, even New Yorker
stories (I feel generous, and Cheever did write for
them).
Best,
MrT
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