The Philosophy of Neo-Noir

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Release : 2007-01-05
Genre : Performing Arts
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Book Rating : 306/5 ( reviews)

The Philosophy of Neo-Noir - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook The Philosophy of Neo-Noir write by Mark T. Conard. This book was released on 2007-01-05. The Philosophy of Neo-Noir available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Film noir is a classic genre characterized by visual elements such as tilted camera angles, skewed scene compositions, and an interplay between darkness and light. Common motifs include crime and punishment, the upheaval of traditional moral values, and a pessimistic stance on the meaning of life and on the place of humankind in the universe. Spanning the 1940s and 1950s, the classic film noir era saw the release of many of Hollywood's best-loved studies of shady characters and shadowy underworlds, including Double Indemnity, The Big Sleep, Touch of Evil, and The Maltese Falcon. Neo-noir is a somewhat loosely defined genre of films produced after the classic noir era that display the visual or thematic hallmarks of the noir sensibility. The essays collected in The Philosophy of Neo-Noir explore the philosophical implications of neo-noir touchstones such as Blade Runner, Chinatown, Reservoir Dogs, Memento, and the films of the Coen brothers. Through the lens of philosophy, Mark T. Conard and the contributors examine previously obscure layers of meaning in these challenging films. The contributors also consider these neo-noir films as a means of addressing philosophical questions about guilt, redemption, the essence of human nature, and problems of knowledge, memory and identity. In the neo-noir universe, the lines between right and wrong and good and evil are blurred, and the detective and the criminal frequently mirror each other's most debilitating personality traits. The neo-noir detective—more antihero than hero—is frequently a morally compromised and spiritually shaken individual whose pursuit of a criminal masks the search for lost or unattainable aspects of the self. Conard argues that the films discussed in The Philosophy of Neo-Noir convey ambiguity, disillusionment, and disorientation more effectively than even the most iconic films of the classic noir era. Able to self-consciously draw upon noir conventions and simultaneously subvert them, neo-noir directors push beyond the earlier genre's limitations and open new paths of cinematic and philosophical exploration.

The Philosophy of Film Noir

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Release : 2006-01-01
Genre : Reference
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Book Rating : 771/5 ( reviews)

The Philosophy of Film Noir - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook The Philosophy of Film Noir write by Mark T. Conard. This book was released on 2006-01-01. The Philosophy of Film Noir available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Explores philosophical themes and ideas inherent in classic noir and neo-noir films, establishing connections to diverse thinkers ranging from Camus to the Frankfurt School. The authors, each focusing on a different aspect of the genre, explores the philosophical underpinnings of classic films.

Fatalism in American Film Noir

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Release : 2012
Genre : Performing Arts
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Book Rating : 894/5 ( reviews)

Fatalism in American Film Noir - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook Fatalism in American Film Noir write by Robert B. Pippin. This book was released on 2012. Fatalism in American Film Noir available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. This book reveals the ways in which American film noir explore the declining credibility of individuals as causal centers of agency, and how we live with the acknowledgment of such limitations.

The Philosophy of the Coen Brothers

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Release : 2008-12-12
Genre : Performing Arts
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Book Rating : 698/5 ( reviews)

The Philosophy of the Coen Brothers - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook The Philosophy of the Coen Brothers write by Mark T. Conard. This book was released on 2008-12-12. The Philosophy of the Coen Brothers available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. “Written for both fans of the Coen brothers and the philosophically curious, without the technical language . . . educational and entertaining.” —Library Journal Joel and Ethan Coen have made films that redefined the gangster movie, the screwball comedy, the fable, and the film noir, but no matter what genre they’re playing with, they consistently focus on the struggles of complex characters to understand themselves and their places in the strange worlds they inhabit. To borrow a phrase from Barton Fink, all Coen films explore “the life of the mind” and show that the human condition can often be simultaneously comic and tragic, profound and absurd. The essays in this book explore the challenging moral and philosophical terrain of the Coen repertoire. Several address how Coen films often share film noir’s essential philosophical assumptions: power corrupts, evil is real, and human control of fate is an illusion. In Fargo, not even Minnesota’s blankets of snow can hide Jerry Lundegaard’s crimes or brighten his long, dark night of the soul. The tale of love, marriage, betrayal, and divorce in Intolerable Cruelty transcends the plight of the characters to illuminate competing theories of justice. Even in lighter fare, such as Raising Arizona and The Big Lebowski, the comedy emerges from characters’ journeys to the brink of an amoral abyss. However, the Coens often knowingly and gleefully subvert conventions and occasionally offer symbolic rebirths and other hopeful outcomes. At the end of The Big Lebowski, for example, the Dude abides, his laziness has become a virtue, and the human comedy is perpetuating itself with the promised arrival of a newborn Lebowski. The Philosophy of the Coen Brothers sheds new light on the work of these cinematic visionaries. From Blood Simple to No Country for Old Men, the Coens’ characters look for answers—though in some cases, their quest for answers leads, at best, only to more questions.

Neo-Noir as Post-Classical Hollywood Cinema

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Release : 2020-08-31
Genre : Performing Arts
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Book Rating : 683/5 ( reviews)

Neo-Noir as Post-Classical Hollywood Cinema - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook Neo-Noir as Post-Classical Hollywood Cinema write by Robert Arnett. This book was released on 2020-08-31. Neo-Noir as Post-Classical Hollywood Cinema available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Neo-Noir as Post-Classical Hollywood Cinema suggests the terms “noir” and “neo-noir” have been rendered almost meaningless by overuse. The book seeks to re-establish a purpose for neo-noir films and re-consider the organization of 60 years of neo-noir films. Using the notion of post-classical, the book establishes how neo-noir breaks into many movements, some based on time and others based on thematic similarities. The combined movements then form a mosaic of neo-noir. The time-based movements examine Transitional Noir (1960s-early 1970s), Hollywood Renaissance Noir in the 1970s, Eighties Noir, Nineties Noir, and Digital Noir of the 2000s. The thematic movements explore Nostalgia Noir, Hybrid Noir, and Remake and Homage Noir. Academics as well as film buffs will find this book appealing as it deconstructs popular films and places them within new contexts.