Jack Bludis said
The person writing it must feel it: a sense of the lead character's present
situation being all screwed up, the belief--even the subconscious belief on
the part of the lead character--that no matter what he or she does, things
will get worse and worse and worse. And that every effort to get out of the
situation will only make it worse than it was before.
In the general plot of other novels and stories, things get worse and worse
until at the end it seems impossible to escape or succeed, but the lead
does escape, succeed, or reach an otherwise satisfying ending ... with some
hope out there.
In the noir story or novel, there is no salvation, no light at the end of
the tunnel, no success possible, If there is, it isn't noir.
That's not how you do it, but that's how the best noir writers have done
it. There ain't no noir template.
>>>
We've been discussing this on my blog. See
http://mysteryfile.com/blog/?p=1038 .
I think what we've been saying there, as a general consensus thus far, is
that Noir is far more subtle than "no salvation, no light at the the end of
the tunnel."
There ARE happy endings in almost every Noir film made in the 40s and 50s
you can think of.
The kicker? The sense that the happiness is only fleeting and illusionary
and can easily slip away. You think you've beaten fate, but is it only a
Pyrrhic victory?
Hope springs eternal. But a question that lingers in the mind of viewers
of Noir films, though, is: Will it last?
Could this, and worse, happen to me? And if it does, will I be as lucky
next time?
It's the general dark brooding atmosphere that makes Noir what it is, isn't
it? But the feeling that the walls of life closing in don't need to be
there all the time. There can be bits of screwball comedy in Noir films --
as well as happy endings -- and they can still be Noir.
The sense of doom and the bad karma of fate can be pushed off to the side
for a while, even long enough for the protagonists to give each other a big
hug and a kiss at the end, but as soon as the closing credits have played,
the feeling that the world is not always on your side begins to ease its
way back in.
THE BIG CLOCK (the 1948 version) is a good example of a Noir film with
elements of Screwball Comedy in it. See my review at
http://mysteryfile.com/blog/?p=1043 , along with the comments posted so far.
A happy ending, lots of comedy business going on, and it's still Noir.
Best
Steve
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