FIST 100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Fatalism, Visual Language, Melodrama
Document Summary
Defining traits: themes generally dark. Reflects the unpleasant underside of existence; moral malaise. Brutal, unhealthy, sadistic aspects of human experience: narrative patterns: The everyman protagonists; average, normal characters driven by their past or some sort of weakness/tragic flaw to repeat mistakes that ultimately lead to their downfall. Fatalism outlook that all events are predetermined and inevitable; we are stuck with whatever fate we"re given, there is no way to change things. Style dark aesthetic echoes dark sensibilities and themes. Grabs our attention (as opposed to hollywood concealing its style) Historical background: french critics responsible for making and recognizing film noir as a phenomenon, crime thrillers and melodramas, schrader never before had films dared to take such a harsh uncomplimentary look at american life (8) Origins: german expressionism (in the 20s; influences american films 20 years later) Fritz lang; the cabinet of dr caligari: french sound films of the 30s, american pulp/hard-boiled novels and crime fiction, crime/gangster genre films.
