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As he surrenders to police in The Killing, Johnny Clay sums up the failure of his intricately planned robbery with a shrug, and mutters, “What’s the difference?”
Terms of Engagement: Film Noir
Though there is general agreement about the origin of the term film noir, there is considerable disagreement about whether film noir is a genre, style, or cycle. Unfortunately, these classifications matter if for no other reason than because they affect which films are admitted to the canon.
Genre advocates contend that film noir has common features just like other genre films. After all, they claim, that is how one knows one is watching a film noir. Westerns typically present characters in cowboy hats and boots, with pistol belts and six-guns, a sheriff or marshal, a rancher or farmer, a doc, and a tinhorn. They feature a town with a saloon, a livery stable, a jail, or they are set at a ranch, wagon train, cattle-drive, or cavalry fort. These iconic symbols immediately cue the viewer that a Western is in progress. Noir films, genre advocates argue, contain certain noir-ish characters such as the femme fatale, the private detective, the victim of circumstance, a crew assembled for a heist, etcetera. These films include urban mean streets and back alleys, the detective’s austere office and apartment, the shabby hotel rooms, the slick nightclubs.
Style advocates contend that certain cinematic and narrative characteristics distinguish film noir. Narrative devices include first-person voiceovers, flashback reports, nonlinear scene sequences, convoluted plots, and unresolved endings. Visual features include oblique camera perspectives, deep-focus photography, low-key lighting, and tightly framed compositions. These techniques contribute to the shadowy, unstable, and dangerous atmosphere of film noir. Some style advocates point out that these methods can be applied to a comedy, horror, or science fiction film. If the style position is accepted, film noir is not limited to a specific historical period, nor is it restricted to crime films.