"Does the neo-noir genre continue to follow the representations of the classic film noir genre, with particular reference to ‘Sin City’ (2005)"


Sunday, 25 November 2007

10 Websites

http://www.crimeculture.com/Contents/NeoNoir.html

Definition and info about the Neo Noir genre.

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http://www.crimeculture.com/Contents/Film%20Noir.html

Same as above.. about Film Noir.

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http://www.boxofficemojo.com/genres/chart/?id=neonoir.htm

Popular Neo Noir films, could be useful for SHEP.

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http://www.moderntimes.com/style/

What makes Film Noir inovating.

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http://www.filmsite.org/filmnoir.html

Descriptions and definitions.

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http://www.greencine.com/static/primers/noir.jsp

Where Film Noir has orignated from. Good for historical aspect (SHEP)

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http://www.imagesjournal.com/issue02/infocus.htm

Explains some famous Film Noir films.

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http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/intgenre/intgenre.html

Genre Theory website from Daniel Chandler (famous Genre Theorist)

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http://www.filmsite.org/genres.html

Definition of what Genre is.

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http://www.resnet.trinity.edu/wmclean/sincity.htm

This website has an article which links Sin City to Film Noir and has some interesting ideas.

Another 10 Keywords

Vladimir Propp = Binary Oppositions. Kevin is Marv's opposite character.

Typography = The font used for Sin City is particular to the film and can distinguish it apart from other films.

Male Gaze = Women are objectified by men. Marv and pretty much everyone objectifies Jessica Alba..

Zeitgiest = Spirit of the age.. which is quite unique to my text as Neo Noir is based on a genre from the 1940's yet uses 21st century ideologies.

Patriarchal Society = Male dominated soceity. Sin City is a very patriarchal film.

Hybrid genre = A film who uses conventions from two genres. Can Sin City be a mixture of Film Noir and Neo Noir or is it soley Neo Noir?

Motif = reoccuring theme or element that is repeated to give a messege.

Narrative theory = what makes up a narrative which is particular to certain genres. Levi Strauss and Propp are narrative theorists.

Barthes = Enigma Code. Sin City's narrative creates a lot of enigma's for the audience.

Barthes (again) = Myth. When an ideology is repeated enough, people start to believe it. Sin City has generalized sterotypes such as men being the hero for pretty much every women in the film.

Genre Theorists

Douglas Pye (1975)

Generic consistency allows for the shorthand of conventions and stereotypes but also for the interplay between confirmed expectations and novelty

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Andrew Taylor (1986)

"Genre is what we collectively believe it to be"


The Cinema Book

How exactly 'Noir' was defined.

Cook, Pam; Bernink, Mieke (2003): The Cinema Book. Stephen Street, London: British Film Institute.

"The first book-length study of noir (Borde and Chaumeton, 1955) began this work by mapping out various recurrent themes within noir (violence, crime, pyschological emphasis) and relating this to particular films."

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This study had to be done as:

"British and American critics failed to take film noir seriously"

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They failed to take the films seriously as:

"Critics' dislike was compounded by economic snobbery: the low budgets and B-film status of many film noirs were seen as a priori proof that the films were 'trash'."

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Additionally, Paul Schrader suggests:

"Schrader goes on to suggest that the fundamental reason for the neglect of noir was the importance of visual style to the form: 'American critics have been traditionally moe interested in theme than style"

The Cinema Book

Cook, Pam; Bernink, Mieke (2003): The Cinema Book. Stephen Street, London: British Film Institute.

"Whoever went to the movies with any regularity during 1946 was caught in the midst of Hollywood's profound post war affection fro morbid drama. From January through December deep shadows, clutching hands, exploding revolvers, sadistic villians and heroines tormented with deeply rooted diseases of the mind flashed across the screen in a panting display of psychoneuroses, unsublimated sex and murder most foul"

This article from a 1947 'Life' magazine.

Blog Buddy Meeting Summary

Aman

Me and Aman have decided to look at definitions of what genre is. Additionally, we have decided to both look at theorist Rick Altman as he covers genre as a whole.

The next stage of research is more theorists which we can both use.

Thursday, 22 November 2007

Book Research - Part 1

Cook, Pam; Bernink, Mieke (2003): The Cinema Book. Stephen Street, London: British Film Institute.

“The genre offers a ‘never-never land’ governed by absolute inflexible laws”

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Brian Murphy, ‘Monster movies: they came from beneath the 50s’, Journal of Popular Film 1(1), winter 1972


“Since we are dealing with a visual medium we ought surely to look for out defining criteria at what we actually see on the screen…”

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Edward Buscombe, ‘The idea of genre in the American cinema’, Screen 2(2), March/April 1970


“By iconography Buscombe meant recurrent images, including the physical attributes and dress of the actors, the setting…”


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The Media Student’s Book

“‘Genre’ is a French word for ‘type’ or ‘kind’, as in biological classification of plants and animals. In study of the media, it involves some long-standing debates about the categorisation of mass produced popular forms, and audiences’ pleasure in them.”

Sunday, 4 November 2007

Task 9 - Blog Buddies

Rohini

A Short summary of each study.

Her independent studies based on the genre change in.. musicals. =/
Umm.. yeah..
how and why the conventions have changed from old to more modern musicals..

Areas of overlap between each study (texts, topics, issues, debates).

Our studies both focus on the change and development in our own respected genres.

Task 9 - Blog Buddies

Aman

A Short summary of each study.


Aman's independent study is based on Children of Men, and it asks the question of whether it conforms or subverts the stereotypical Sci-Fi genre.

Areas of overlap between each study (texts, topics, issues, debates).

Both our studies focus on genre changes, the similarities and differences our texts have compared to stereotypical ideologies that are given to our respective genres.

Blog Buddies

Aman

A Short summary of each study.


Aman's independant study is based on Children of Men, and it asks the question of wether it confroms or subverts the stereotypical Sci-Fi genre.

Areas of overlap between each study(texts,topics,issues,debates).


What you've each learned from looking at each other's study that might be useful.

By looking at Pardeep's study I have gained some knowledge about how conventional beauty can effect how women are represented, she has also got some really helpful theorists and websites that I could also use in my independent study, information on female role models etc. Pardeep has also got some really useful reviews that brings up important iss