Among the elements that define the classic film noir -- chiaroscuro
lighting, voice-over narration, and such archetypal characters as
the world-weary private eye and the femme fatale -- perhaps no
element is more responsible for the genre's continued popularity
among movie buffs, filmmakers, and critics than the palpable sense
of anxiety that emanates from the screen. Because the genre emerged
in the shadow of the Second World War, this profound psychological
and philosophical unease is usually ascribed either to postwar
fears about the atomic bomb or to the reactions of returning
soldiers to a new social landscape. In Noir Anxiety, however, Kelly
Oliver and Benigno Trigo interpret what has been called the
"free-floating anxiety" of film noir as concrete apprehensions
about race and sexuality.
Applying feminist and postcolonial psychoanalytic theory to
traditional noir films (Murder, My Sweet; The Lady from Shanghai;
Vertigo; and Touch of Evil) and the "neo-noirs" of the 1970s,
1980s, and 1990s (Chinatown, Devil in a Blue Dress, and Bound), the
authors uncover a rich array of unconscious worries and desires
about ambiguous sexual, racial, and national identities, often
displaced onto these films' narrative and stylistic components. In
particular, Oliver and Trigo focus on the looming absence of the
mother figure within the genre and fears about maternal sexuality
and miscegenation. Drawing on the work of Freud and Julia Kristeva,
Noir Anxiety locates film noir's studied ambivalence toward these
critical themes within the genre's social, historical, and
cinematic context.
General
Imprint: |
University of Minnesota Press
|
Country of origin: |
United States |
Release date: |
December 2002 |
First published: |
December 2002 |
Authors: |
Kelly Oliver
|
Contributors: |
Benigno Trigo
|
Dimensions: |
229 x 149 x 18mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Paperback
|
Pages: |
336 |
ISBN-13: |
978-0-8166-4110-9 |
Categories: |
Books >
Arts & Architecture >
General
|
LSN: |
0-8166-4110-2 |
Barcode: |
9780816641109 |
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!