In a message dated 10/3/07 7:21:55 AM,
williamahearn@yahoo.com writes:
>
> --- jacquesdebierue <
jacquesdebierue@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> > What do you mean by "screwed"? That there
is
> > something wrong in the
> > head with the character or that he ends up
screwed?
>
> In the context of the conversation, it's dead,
in
> prison or insane.
>
or worse
>
> > If it's the head
> > thing, I can think of plenty of noir novels
where
> > the character simply
> > takes the wrong turn and is trapped. Jason
Starr's
> > protagonist who
> > always smells like fish (I forget his name) is
one
> > of those.
>
> His name is Mickey Prada and I'm working on an
essay
> about Starr as we speak. Again, we're
extrapolating
> from a simple statement from Jack and not a
manifesto
> published in Semiotics. Frankly, I think
defining
> Hendricks, Abbott and Starr as noir minimizes
what
> they're actually up to. Ken Bruen plays at being
noir
> as a fashion, which is different from Miami
Purity's
> playing with the themes. One of the aspects of
Starr's
> work (I'm into my third Starr book at the moment)
that
> I really appreciate is that there's nothing
retro
> about it. The whole concept of neo-noir is nothing
but
> diddling with styles but I digress . . .
>
I don't share the sentiment that noir minimizes them. they're
modern torchbearers. the fact that there's nothing retro in
Jason's work, or Vicki's (I haven't read Megan Abbott yet),
nothing stylistically self conscious about the prose or
storytelling, and yet they are still the same sort of stories
that James M. Cain would be writing if he were born in 1955
or 1975 or with a vagina keeps the genre from becoming quaint
and obsolete
>
> >
> > So I have to register a protest against
this
> > minimalist "screwed"
> > definition of noir. It doesn't always
fit.
> >
> Of course it doesn't fit. How could it especially
when
> you throw Kafka and Body Heat into the equation?
And
> for my money, "Pretty Poison" is classic noir
where
> "Body Heat" is a false homage. But that's just
me.
>
I'd consider Body Heat an homage if it was more concerned
with being dark and sinister in its style of presentation
rather than naturalistic and of its time. instead, Body Heat
is a perfect noir film, and opened the door for others to try
and take noir out of the past and into lives that they can
relate to
John Lau
**************************************
See what's new at http://www.aol.com
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 03 Oct 2007 EDT