RARA-AVIS: The "enjoyment" of noir and hardboiled fiction

From: Bludis Jack ( buildsnburns@yahoo.com)
Date: 29 Oct 2005


George C. Upper III asks:

<<Do the vicarious experiences of noir heroes / anti-heroes provide a release for the fear and pity, a la Aristotle's Poetics, that we normally bottle up?>>

Speaking of noir, I believe the vicarious experiece of noir gives us a sense of relief in the sense of "but for the grace of God
(nature/higher power/my own intelligence and/or intuition) go I."

We see the coming demise of the noir protagonist. Most of us would not do what he does and thus save ourselves.

In a rare noir work like "The Confession" we sense a vacuum or psychotic twist--take your pick--in a person's psychological make up, and we are thankful that nothing that terrible has grabbed us.

<<works "mere" entertainment, in the sense of escapism? Do they somehow inform us about the true nature of the world in which we live?>>

We see human failing and know or hope we would never do that. It somehow, I believe, reinforces our individual true nature--or if we happen to be off kilter someplace, we identify. "Yeah, go get
'em."

<<Or do we, perhaps perversely, wish we lived in a world like those of our hard-boiled heroes?>>

Now, you're talking hard-boiled and not noir. For me, absolutely. I would like to live "safely" in that world and know I won't get killed, maimed or otherwise screwed up.

I'm not sure that in the hardboiled world it is necessarily perverse.

In the noir world? Yeah, that's pervese.

Jack Bludis

http://www.jackbludis.com Shamus nominee for "Shadow of the Dahlia" Amazon.com / BN.com / MysteryLovesCompany.com

        
                
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