Psycho noir is a relatively new term that's been popping to
describe movies like Blue Velvet, Fight Club and Memento
where the protagonist is somewhat out of touch with
reality.
I posted the following definition of psycho noir on my
Hardluck Stories web-site, not sure if others agree, but this
is my view of it, especially how it pertains to
Thompson:
"...where the protagonists perceptions and rationalizations
are just off center enough to send them to hell."
The esteemable James Winter posted the following definition
on his Northcoast Exhile blog, which I could succinct +
pretty good:
"In psycho noir, the protagonist is, quite frankly, a
scumbag, knows he's a scumbag, yet deludes himself that he is
not."
I look at standard noir more like James M. Cain's "Double
Indemnity" or "Postman Always Rings Twice"--where the
protagonist crosses a line where there's no
turning--basically Jack Bludis's definition of
noir==screwed.
--Dave
--- In
rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com, "Kat Richardson"
<kathyr136@...> wrote:
>
> --- "Dave Zeltserman" <dz@> wrote:
> His books fall into the following
categories--psycho
> > noir, standard noir, literary/crime novels
where the hero
> > perserveres, conman oriented,
semi-autobiographical and two early
> > Faulkner-like novels, Heed the Thunder and Now
and on Earth,
which
> > are very good. My favorites of his pure
noir....
> ---
>
> Sorry to butt in and show my ignorance on a first
date--err...
> post--I'm new and though I like hardboiled and noir,
I'm not sure I
> know what all the shades of meaning in your list
are. I get
> "lit/crime" and conman and semi-autobio, but can you
break down the
> differences between "psycho-noir," "standard noir"
and "pure noir"
for
> me? I'm lost with these and I missed any helpful
hints that might
be
> posted elsewhere.
>
> Thanks for your patience with this noob.
>
> Kat
>
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 26 Jul 2007 EDT