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［作者简介］宋贝，女，北京林业大学外语学院英语语言文学专业硕士研究生，研究方向：美国研究。

Through Film into America ：American Culture in Film Noir

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Song Bei

（Beijing Forestry University ，Beijing ，100083）

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Abstract ］The term “film noir ”was first coined by French film critics Nino Frank in 1946，who was inspired by the word “Série Noire ”．It refers to crime drama films in 1940s in US．The birth of film noir in America resulted from many factors．It is not only a film genre but also a social and cultural phenomenon ，through which we can see the American socie-ty at that time and have a deeper understanding of America．

［Key words ］film noir ，American ，culture ［中图分类号］J905

［文献标识码］A

［文章编号］1672-8610（2012）06-0060-02I．Introduction

Film Noir was coined by French film critics ，Nino Frank ，in 1946．It originated in America ，emerging out of a synthesis of hard －boiled fiction and German Expressionism．The term is also associated with certain visual and narrative traits ［1］12，which distinguished it from other film genres．Up to now ，the influence of it is still can be seen in Hollywood films．Film noirs is not on-ly a genre ；it reflected the culture and society．Through it we can learn more about America．Ⅱ．Origins of Film Noir

According to Paul Schrader ，there were some elements in Hollywood in the Forties which brought about the film noir．Each of the following four catalytic elements ，however ，can define the film noir ；the distinctly noir tonality draws from each of these elements （Schrader ，1988：66）．

2．1The influence of German expressionism

The visual style of film noir can be traced to Expressionism movement ，an artistic movement of the 1910s and 1920s that involved theater ，photography ，painting ，sculpture ，and archi-tecture ，as well as cinema．The growing threat of Nazi in Germa-ny led to the immigration of many important film artistes ，who had involved in the Expressionist movement．With their arrival ，a unique lighting style was brought to Hollywood ，which exerts great influence on noir films ，distinguishing noir films from other genres．

2．2The tradition of hard －boiled fiction In 1930s ，“hard －boiled ”school of writers such as ，Ray-mond Chandler ，Dashiell Hammett ，James M．Cain ，Horace McCoy and John O ’Hara presented readers a new kind of novel ，which is totally different from earlier detective stories both in content and style．Many classic film noirs were based on or adap-ted from them．The Maltese Falcon ，The Big Sleep ，Double In-demnity ，Mildred Pierce and the Postman Always Rings Twice

were just among them．Besides ，many of theses authors were

hired to be screen writers．Raymond Chandler ’s script of Double Indemnity was regarded as the best written and most characteris-tically noir of the period．

2．3Post －war realism

Because of the war damages ，film producers in different countries began to turn to realism．People got tired of seeing the stereotyped scenes in studios and they wanted to see the cruel re-ality and scenes on location．The trend of realism set film noir in streets and lanes people are familiar with ，giving people different impression ，thus it successfully separated film noir from the do-main of the high －class melodramas．Ⅲ．Aesthetics of Film Noir

Film noir is different from other genres．Not only because most film noir involves in crime and detective ，more importantly film noir tends to span variety of genres ，this particular style de-veloped from people ’s unconsciousness ，it is not the production

of film maker ’

s subjective efforts but production of various social factors ，thus it has its own unique style．

3．1Lighting and line

One of the characteristics of film noir is the use of low －key lighting ，which causes the effect of obscuring the scene ，weake-ning the stars．Thus ，it successfully shifted the focus from stars to the story itself．Besides ，the use of shadows cast on the back-ground of settings and actors emphasizes the cold and the atmos-phere of despair in noirs．

In film noirs ，oblique and vertical lines are preferred to hor-izontal ，which is a repeated use of composition．Oblique lines create a sense of restless and unstable．

3．2Narrative patterns

Most of film noirs provide us with a same narrative frame-work —a detective story．Heroes in film noirs are those who are flawed and morally questionable ，heroines are often femme fa-tales．As James Damico ，an American film theorist ，concluded ：

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06—语文学刊·外语教育教学2012年第6期

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the hero is fated to do so or by chance，or because he has been hired for a job specifically associated with her，a man whose ex-perience of life has left him sanguine and often bitter meets a not －innocent woman of similar outlook to whom he is sexually and fatally attracted…and brings about the sometimes metaphoric，but usually literally destruction of the woman，and frequently the protagonist himself．［2］103

Ⅳ．Through Film Noir into America

Film noir reflects the transition of American ideology，when American society entered into the era of expenditure of mass from pre－industrial period；a period that the old mythology had gone with the wind，yet the new myth hadn’t come into being；a peri-od that people were facing an identity crisis．During the wartime，the country worked as a whole instead of individuals．However，when peace came，the impetus of solidarity disappeared，a sense of disillusionment emerged in postwar America．< …… 此处隐藏：6466字，全部文档内容请下载后查看。喜欢就下载吧 ……