Deep Singh Munde – 13Y
Independent Study – Mr. Bush
“I don't care... just gimme the woman!” – Dwight, Sin City (2005), "Does the neo-noir genre represent women and does it continue to follow the style of the classic film noir genre, with particular reference to Sin City "
Film Noir is a French term for ‘Black Film’ due to the Chiaroscuro lighting originated from the aesthetics influenced by German Expressionism, a cinematic movement from the 1910’s and 1920’s. Where Neo-noir (from the Greek “neo”, new; and the French “noir”, black) uses elements of Film Noir, but with updated themes, content and mise-en-scene.
According to Douglas Pye (1975), “Generic consistency allows for the shorthand of conventions and stereotypes”. The use of the femme fatale within ‘The Big Sleep’ (1946) and ‘Sin City’ (2005) allows for the confirmed convention and stereotypical roles played by women from the beginning of the ‘Film Noir’ genre – 1940’s to the most recent ‘Neo-noir’ film, Sin City. This essay will begin to consider whether Sin City does represent women and use aspects of the classic noir style to create a, “difference in repetition” (Steven Neale; 1980)
The 1940’s saw Film Noir emerge, a period at which World War 2 was in effect, “Thomas Schatz suggests that the dark visual style of film noir reflected, “progressively darkening cultural attitudes during and after the war” [1]. The narrative structure was non-linear, being rather complex, with the use of flashbacks emphasising the Zeitgeist where societies life deemed complex, irrational and paranoid. Richard Maltby explains that, “Zeitgeist theory of film as cultural history… explains the pessimism, cynicism, violence and paranoia that typifies films noirs as a reflection or, more accurately, an articulation of the cultural and social mood of post-war America; a mood that was itself pessimistic, cynical, violent and paranoid.” [2] Where Carmen, within The Big Sleep has to be put into a psychiatric hospital due to the fact that Marlowe doesn’t turn her into the police for the murder of Regan. This emphasises how societies attitude at the time was reflected within almost every Film Noir, where as in comparison Sin City doesn’t reflect societies attitude rather it being a more fictional narrative and film.
The narrative structure was often, “non-linear and twisting”, [3] and was, “frequently complex, maze-like and convoluted”, which added to the psychological aspect of the films. The narrative structure of Sin City can be seen as twisting, the film is divided into four chapters, ‘That Yellow Bastard’ (Parts I & II), ‘A Hard Goodbye’ and ‘The Big Fat Kill’. Each chapter can be seen to overlap another and t he film begins and ends with ‘That yellow bastard’ creating a twist within the narrative; because the chapter doesn’t fully end until there becomes a new resolution. Furthermore, this also conveys a non-linear narrative structure as there are two other chapters in-between ‘That Yellow Bastard’ (Parts I & II). The use of, “series of flashbacks” [4] allowed for enigmas to be created for the audience who were always left asking questions. “Witty, razor-sharp… dialogue”, was typical of the genre and was expected. “Reflective and confessional, first-person voice-over narration” [5], sutured the audience into the film where they could identify and understand the protagonist. The four chapter narrative of Sin City allows there to be three different protagonists, and each one has their own voice-over. This voice-over allows the audience to identify the hero and identify with him. This also subverts the classic noir style of one protagonist, thus creating a ‘novelty’ within, ‘generic consistency’ (Douglas Pye; 1975)
The characteristics and conventions that are associated with the Film Noir genre were shaped by the ‘Expressionists’ which made up for the lack of large budgets which could have been used for special effects and technological equipment. The lack of budgets, “allowed individual genius to flourish in all its artistic and technical areas”[6], to compensate for small budgets; in effect this was good for the genre to develop it’s own self-made style. Although Sin City had a $40 million budget the film still used similar chiaroscuro lighting and mise-en-scene to the classic noir conventions, allowing Sin City to keep certain “elements and conventions of a genre… in play” (Steven Neale; 1990). Although the film had a bigger budget director Robert Rodriguez was able to be more ‘artistic’ with the film especially as it used CGI. Furthermore, the chapters in Sin City can be identified as an artistic element suggested by Tarantino as he used a similar style in ‘Kill Bill’ (2001).
The very first ‘Expressionist’ films had set designs, which were very unrealistic, and geometrically unusual however, as time progressed, the mise-en-scene was used moreover to create suspense with its connotations, which were read by the audience. The use of cigarettes have become an icon of both the ‘Femme Fatale’ and the ‘Anti-hero’ within the Film Noir genre and is carried over to the Neo-noir genre, within Sin City, and ‘The Big Sleep’ (1946) uses both the protagonist and ‘Femme Fatale’ within the opening scene smoking cigarettes.
The roots of film noir can be found in, ‘Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari’ (1920) with the use of, “their stark camera angles and movements, chiaroscuro lighting and shadowy, high-contrast images” [7], which are all elements of later dated film noir. The ‘Dutch angle’ has been synonymous with Film Noir from the 1920’s in such films.
As these films were directed and constructed by creative individuals, ‘Auteur theory’ can be applied as the stylistic and ideological treatment of a film. Although the view of genre and the auteur are often seen to be antithetical where, “the former emphasizing the recurrent patterns of popular society” [8], which can be seen as a generic label which may be too narrow in a sense, where as, “the latter celebrating the unique ‘signature’ of the individual artist able to ‘transcend’ generic formulae”[9], show’s how an ‘Auteur’ can transform and perhaps can develop genre ideology. The style of ‘Neo-Noir’ in the case of Sin City is dependant on both the genre and auteur. The genre puts emphasis on the black and white effect, witty banter, femme fatale, anti-hero and geometrically unusual backgrounds. Where as in comparison to both auteurs’ – Rodriguez and Tarentino both input witty banter, excessive blood spills, psychological thought from characters, which all together are similar qualities that originate from the genre.
The plots of these early Expressionist films, “at base a highly stylised treatment of contemporary social and human conditions” [10] often dealing with issues of madness, insanity, betrayal. For example when Marv in Sin City finds out Goldie is dead he feels that he was set-up by someone. “I won't let you down, Goldie”; often these films were about crime as opposed to the standard Hollywood film of action-adventure or romance. Sin City can be considered a hybrid in this sense that it has elements of madness as well as romance as we Marv falling in love with Goldie. These intellectual storyline’s came from, “a fan base, which included scholars” [11] which can be identified as perhaps originating from a ‘public sphere’.
A ‘B Movie Status’ may have been the reason for the term, Neo-Noir to emerge due to the fact that, “the term “film noir” had crept into critical discourse”. [12] Neo-Noir films are aware of the modern and technological position that they were in where by they is accessible, which was absent from the classic Film Noir genre. The modern position in which newer neo-noir films were able to use new technology such as CGI which was used heavily in creating one of the first fully digital films – Sin City. The newer neo-noir films had such a comparison due to films like Sin City, which was created in black and white with digital colour enhancements. The use of new technology may have seen this new genre emerge as a fully digital colour Noir film, however directors, Robert Rodriguez and guest director Quentin Tarentino remained faithful to the comic book adaptation and ‘Noir’ style.
Additionally, similar character roles are present within the ‘Neo-Noir’ genre, two of which could be identified as the anti-hero (which can also be identified In Propps character list) and the Femme Fatale, which is key to the genre, which further enforced the comparisons, made to Film-Noir. The ‘Anti-hero’ role was clearly played by Humphrey Bogart in The Big Sleep and a variety of three male protagonists within the Neo-Noir film Sin City subverts the classic one main protagonist, this new ‘novelty’ allows the film to be Neo-noir. Although, the more stereotypical anti-hero is played by Bruce Willis known as Hartigan in Sin City who can be identified as the most stereotypical detective in comparison to Philip Marlowe played by Humphrey Bogart.
The anti-hero (Proppian character) or, “Noir hero is a complicated character, often possessing distinctly unheroic qualities” [13] however, he still gains the sympathy of the audience and can be identified with. The anti-hero is conflicted, usually trapped in a difficult situation and he may have to make choices out of desperation and moral panic largely down to the femme fatale. The majority of audience would be able to idealize the hero, even if he were to be an anti-hero as he is the hero – he wields power, which allows the audience to gain a sense of spectatorship. Hartigan does this a he physically castrates ‘That Yellow Bastard’ he conveys his power by taking away his reproductive organs. Furthermore, Hartigan committing suicide shows his choice out of desperation and idealises him as he safes Nancy’s life.
World War 2 gave women newfound independence and better job-earning power, however they would suffer on the screen in these films of the 40’s (Film-Noir), as the rise of the ‘Femme Fatale’ would appear. The phrase, Femme Fatale means Fatal Women in French. In example, ‘The Lady from Shanghai’ (1948) is a film noir where by the ‘Femme Fatale’ uses her female innocence to persuade the male character that she is a victim.
The ‘Femme Fatale’ is known to be, “double-crossing… unreliable, irresponsible… manipulative” [14] which places men into a sense of illusion and false pretence, where by the male is subjected to the ‘female gaze’, which places them into often compromising and dangerous situations where by they are forced to make difficult decisions. Lauren Bacall plays the role of the femme fatale in The Big Sleep and has become known for her roles as a femme fatale.
Perhaps the reason as to why the femme fatale is overtly sexually active and sexually appealing is due to the fact that, ‘The projection of those libidinous (driven by lust) cravings, which, since they are forbidden, must always prove fatal’. [15] Psychologically, the femme fatale is, “the figure of a certain discursive unease, a potential epistemological trauma” [16] which may be an underlining subconscious thought of men. Furthermore the femme fatale can be interpreted as a symptom of one of the male anxieties about women, “a creature who threatens to castrate and devour her male victim”[17], shows the psychological sub conscious mind set of men which could be the reason as to why men need to project their own issues and faults onto women in order to make them feel inferior. Within Sin City, Hartigan castrates ‘the Yellow Bastard’ and then kills him. Although a male may have castrated another male, this shows how within the subconscious psyche, the penis wields a great sense of importance and power.
However, Robert Stam identifies four key problems with generic labels in film. First of all, ‘Extension’ is where the narrow set ideologies to a certain label may not be open to associate it with anything else. The extension problem in Sin City can be identified as Hartigan the stereotypical protagonist who has his own voice-over, which is often; ‘reflective and confessional’ which can be also often fall into ‘Normativism’. Normativism is where preconceived ideas of criteria for genre are immediately thought of which may lead to stereotypes of a genre. The chiaroscuro lighting and nightlife setting of a Film Noir are stereotypes of the genre; Sin City still follows these elements in order to keep maintaining the ‘generic consistency’ (Douglas Pye) of Film Noir. Monolithic definition is where certain items only belong to one genre, which may lead to stereotyped items and leaves audiences expecting something else due to a single object. Like the extension problem the detective protagonist is a monolithic problem, it can be seen that self-reflecting voice-overs' are mainly associated with Film Noir. Furthermore, the idea of solving a murder is the main theme of Film Noirs. ‘The Hard Goodbye’ solves a murder and recent Neo-noir films such as ‘The Black Dahlia’ (2006) has the same theme. Lastly, ‘Biologism’ is where genres are seen as evolving through a standardized life cycle which may be the case with Film Noir evolving due to technological and economical developments into a new genre; Neo-Noir.
The generic label placed on women as a whole has lead women within films and in life to be seen as inferior to men due to the patriarchal society mind set, where men are seen and known as the bread winners, where by women are mothers and must take care of the home. Additionally, psychologically women are also thought to be incomplete without a penis as it symbolizes power – they are of ‘penis envy’, “Women are represented as ‘not-man’”[18], which simply places women as being known as ‘the other’. As Freudian theory circulates for decades, a ‘myth’ begins to form, this is where people are told something enough times they begin to believe it as the truth (Roland Barthes theory). Within Sin City it appears that women are featured for the sole purpose - to be objectified as they have the ‘to-be-looked-at-ness’ quality, which is used to appeal to the male audience.
Laura Mulvey’s ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema’ essay talks about ‘power relationships’ [19], which can be seen as the person who has the gaze, is in power, as the subject doesn’t know that they are being watched. As the protagonist is usually a male within both ‘Noir’ genres, the audience see through the males perspective, meaning the audience identify with the male protagonist thus enforcing the dominance of males over women as the male protagonist ‘watches’ a female which leads to inevitable objectification as is the case in today’s society. As women are sexually objectified, sub consciously women now use it as, ‘part of the psycho-femme armoury’ [20] (pg. 165) as armoury in order to gain what they desire from men who may be in a position to give them what they need or want.
Furthermore, “From a psychoanalytic perspective… the construction of women characters in film noir to male anxieties which centre on a sexually-aggressive figure of womanhood, who represents the threat of castration” [21] provokes men into the thought of having to suppress women. In example, Nancy Callahan played by Jessica Alba dances around a pole within a bar; the pole in this instance is the phallic object, which completes her as she is of ‘penis envy’ – where by she is now complete with this phallic symbol. This scene somewhat shows that Jessica Alba is clearly only in Sin City to be objectified, which supports the idea of women being subordinate to men where by they play passive roles within films and perhaps also life. Additionally, within ‘The Big Sleep’ shows a bookshop worker having to take off her glasses and untie her hair in order for the protagonist Humphrey Bogart to find her attractive, it appears to seem that he ‘loves her, then leaves her’ which represents women as sex objects. However, in the chapter ‘The Big Fat Kill’ there is an element of role reversal as Brittany Murphy does the loving and the leaving. Murphy is shown to leave her boyfriend, ‘Jackie Boy’ for her “Superman” (Sin City) played by Clive Owen. Chiaroscuro lighting is also used in Sin City to enforce the ideology of women having to be skinny in order to be attractive, lighting is, “attractively lit to accentuate the lines of her body”[22] which may conform the ‘Size Zero’ issue and debate which is due to the fact that ‘Sin City is a contemporary text and reflecting the Zeitgeist.
Sin City has more women in dominant roles when compared to ‘Film-Noir’ texts. For example, the prostitutes within Sin City are independent and don’t have pimps ruling over them, although they may be prostitutes, it’s perhaps for the comic book adaptation purpose only. However, as they are prostitutes and are prone to trouble, they do need Marv played by Mickey Rourke to save them, which perhaps does enforce stereotypical roles of women and men, where by the male has to save the women from danger. This can also illustrate the Proppian characters, Marv can be identified as the hero and the prostitutes can be seen as the princess’ the hero needs to save. Additionally as within Sin City where Hartigan commits suicide in order to ensure Nancy’s safety. Within a patriarchal society, “A cultural practice representing myths about women and femininity”[23] are created and believed although perhaps untrue, where women aren’t as inferior as they are presented within films.
Immediately after World War 2 Dr. Benjamin Spock’s ‘Baby and Child Care’ book registered shifting American attitudes of, “Returning men and women to traditional familial roles”, as “The restoration of an ideal family relations premised on female domesticity and the man’s role as breadwinner” [24] had to be returned to what was deemed to be status quo. However, a psychological view as to why women are actually being objectified may be because men, as a gender need to project their weaknesses onto women in order for themselves to direct their own problems to create an ideology that women have these problems and men help women to overcome them. Perhaps, the reason that men see women as castrated is that they themselves need to be castrated to free themselves; in order to be complete, “Issues of masculinity are central to Film Noir, which they see as dramatising and exploring ‘a particular crisis in male masculinity’”[25]. As the Film Noir genre is heavily male orchestrated and a male detective protagonist leads all films this may be the reason as to why the crisis is central to Film Noir, which can also be seen as to why women don’t have active roles within films.
In conclusion, Sin City does continue to follow the same representations of women as The Big Sleep, where women are objectified and remain passive. Although in Sin City women are more active and have a bigger role to play in scenes, this is for, ‘novelty’ (Douglas Pye; 1975) reasons, the roles given to women pale to insignificance when compared to the multiple male protagonists in leading active roles. Women are still being objectified and treated like sex objects 70 years after the birth of the Film Noir genre. Additionally, the style remains very close to Film Noir aesthetic iconography, which is evident in Sin City. Cigarette smoking, trench coats and witty banter are ever present in Neo-Noir. The only exception is where multiple narratives forces the style to subvert the classic noir style of one protagonist, thus creating a ‘novelty’ within, ‘generic consistency’ (Douglas Pye; 1975). This is done to create dynamism within the new genre.
3174 Words
Works Cited
Books
[1] Chopra-Gant, Mike (2006) pg. 3
[2] Chopra-Gant, Mike (2006) pg. 3
[6] Palmer, R. Barton (1994) pg. VII (beginning of book)
[8] Spicer, Andrew (2002) pg. 105
[9] Spicer, Andrew (2002) pg. 105
[10] Chopra-Gant, Mike (2006) pg. 3
[11] Neale, Steve (2002) pg. 254
[12] Chopra-Gant, Mike (2006) pg. 177
[13] Chopra-Gant, Mike (2006) pg. 157
[15] Kaplan, E. Ann (1999) pg. 164
[16] Doane, Mary Ann (1991) pg.1
[17] Spicer, Andrew (2002) pg. 90
[18] Johnston, Claire (1991) pg. 25
[20] Kaplan, E. Ann (1999) pg. 165
[21] Chopra-Gant, Mike (2006) pg. 163
[22] Spicer, Andrew (2002) pg. 91
[23] Cook, Pam & Bernink, Mieke (1999) pg. 353
[24] Chopra-Gant, Mike (2006) pg. 66
[25] Kaplan, E. Ann (1999) pg. 3
Websites
[3] http://www.filmsite.org/filmnoir.html
[4] http://www.filmsite.org/filmnoir.html
[5] http://www.filmsite.org/filmnoir.html
[7] http://www.filmsite.org/filmnoir.html
[14] http://www.filmsite.org/filmnoir.html
Works
[19] Mulvey, Laura (1975) – within essay quotes have been taken out
Work Consulted
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Expressionism
The Essential Word Dictionary
Bibliography
Cook, Pam & Bernink, Mieke (1999): ‘The Cinema Book’. London: BFI.
Chopra-Gant, Mike (2006):’Hollywood Genres and Postwar America: Masculinity, Family and Nation in Popular Movies and Film Noir’. London: I.B. Tauris & Co Ltd.
Doanne, Mary Ann (1991): ‘Femme Fatales: Feminism, Film Theory, Psychoanalysis’. London: Routledge, Chapman and Hall, Inc.
Johnston, Claire (1991): ‘Women’s cinema as counter-cinema’. Glasgow: SEFT.
Kaplan, E. Ann (1999): ‘Women in Film Noir’. London: BFI.
Neale, Steve (2002): ‘Genre and Contemporary Hollywood ’. London: BFI.
Palmer, R. Barton (1994): ‘Hollywood’s Dark Cinema: The American Film Noir’. New York: Twayne Publishers.
Spicer, Andrew (2002): ‘Film Noir’. Essex: Pearson Education Limited.
Mulvey, Laura (1975): ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema’. Glasgow: Screen
Filmography
Sin City (2005): Frank Miller, Robert Rodriguez, and Quentin Tarantino. USA.
The Big Sleep (1946): Howard Hawks. USA.
