Annotated Bibliography

Bernaerts, Lars. "Fight Club and the Embedding of Delirium in Narrative." Style 43.3 (2009): 373-387. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 24 Apr. 2011

It descibes the role of Tyler. It uses dialogue from the film to show what they are talking about. It points out elements of noir and neo-noir.

Diken, Bulent, and Carsten Bagge Laustsen. "Enjoy Your Fight!--'Fight Club' as a Symptom of the Network Society." Cultural Values 6.4 (2002): 349. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 24 Apr. 2011.

 

It talks about the different themes in Fight Club. It talks about the roles of both Jack and Tyler. It also talks about the themes and how Jack and Tyler fit into them.

 

GREVEN, DAVID. "Contemporary Hollywood Masculinity and the Double-Protagonist Film." Cinema Journal 48.4 (2009): 22-43. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 24 Apr. 2011.

 

Tals about how there are two male protagonists. It describes how they are played by two big male stars and how that does not happen in hollywood. It also points out the theme of masculinity.

 

Lee, T. "Virtual Violence in Fight Club: This Is What Transformation of Masculine Ego Feels Like." Journal of American & Comparative Cultures 25.3/4 (2002): 418-423. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 24 Apr. 2011.

 

Talks mainly about Jack. Shows the theme of masculinity. It also shows the traits that are exibited by Jack and Tyler.

 

Panek, Elliot. "The Poet and the Detective: Defining the Psychological Puzzle Film." Film Criticism 31.1/2 (2006): 62-88. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 24 Apr. 2011.

 

It  describes how Fight Club took the viewers by surprise. It talks mostly about Tyler. It talks about how the film makes you question what is real and what is not.

Research Proposal

After looking through all the films to choose from, the film I chose to do my research paper on was Fight Club. Fight Club is told through the eyes of Norton. He is the ambiguous protagonist. Him and his friend Tyler start fighting outside of a bar. Together them and other men form the Fight Club. Norton fits the role of the ambiguous protagonist in the fight scenes because he is trying to make how he feels on the inside match what he looks like on the outside. Marla is the femme fatale who gets involved with Tyler. Tyler and Norton turn out to be the same person. Tyler controls Norton when Norton is asleep. It shows elements of Noir with the ambiguous protagonist Norton and the femme fatale Marla. It also shows elements of Neo-Noir. One of the obvious things is it is no longer black and white but in color. It also is open about the fact the Tyler and Marla are together instead of just aluding to it like they did in Double Indemnity. Also in Noir there was some time of punishment for the ambiguous protagonist or the femme fatale. In Neo-Noir however the criminals often get away with the crimes they have committed, showing that the punishment does not always fit the crime. Tgere are a variety of things in Fight Club that show characteristics of Noir and Neo-Noir.  These are just a few things from Fight Club that show those characteristics.
Sources
Bernaerts, Lars. "Fight Club and the Embedding of Delirium in Narrative." Style 43.3 (2009): 373-387. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 24 Apr. 2011

Diken, Bulent, and Carsten Bagge Laustsen. "Enjoy Your Fight!--'Fight Club' as a Symptom of the Network Society." Cultural Values 6.4 (2002): 349. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 24 Apr. 2011.

GREVEN, DAVID. "Contemporary Hollywood Masculinity and the Double-Protagonist Film." Cinema Journal 48.4 (2009): 22-43. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 24 Apr. 2011.

Lee, T. "Virtual Violence in Fight Club: This Is What Transformation of Masculine Ego Feels Like." Journal of American & Comparative Cultures 25.3/4 (2002): 418-423. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 24 Apr. 2011.

Panek, Elliot. "The Poet and the Detective: Defining the Psychological Puzzle Film." Film Criticism 31.1/2 (2006): 62-88. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 24 Apr. 2011.

The Gold Coast Section

     The story I found most difficult to classify as noir was "The Hour When The Ship Comes In". One reason that it was difficult to classify as noir was the fact there was no clear femme fatale.  It was more like a crime show from the criminals point of view. It just told about the crimes they did. I could not find a motive behind what they did other than drugs.
     The one I found easiest to classify as noir was "The Girl Who Kissed Barnaby Jones".  It had the ambiguous protagonist, Barnaby Jones. It had the femme fatale, Cherie. It also had the victim, Gary. It starts off similar to most noir style writings. It has the ambiguous protagonist at work describing what he does for a living. Then he gets the call from the femme fatale to come over. When he gets there one of the first things the writer does it describes the femme fatale. He describes her like this, "Cherie is the ur-cocktail waitress, tall and leggy with hair dyed blond, hanging straight with an inward flip just below her jawline, and looking at her face and body you wouldn't take her for more than forty." (Hamilton 288). It focuses on her looks and nothing else. Another thing that makes it like noir is that Barnaby Jones gets that gut instinct that something is wrong when she ask him to help her, just like Walter Huff did. He describes it like this, "I have the uneasy presentiment that what she wants me to do is something horrible ..." (Hamilton 293).  Then instead of leaving he stays to find out what it is. The final thing that makes it like noir is that in the end the femme fatale gets away with it.

What is a Protagonist?

The two main characters in “The Kidnapper Bell” and “City of Commerce” are very similar. They are both married men and lead double lives. So what is a protagonist in neo-noir? To me a protagonist in neo-noir is someone who is married. If they are not married, they are in a committed relationship. They lead a secret life that they keep hidden from their significant other. What they have waiting for them when they get home is not enough for them so they go out and form another life to get their fix. They tend to be into drugs, alcohol, sex, or a combination of those three. They do not like staying in one place for to long. Because of this they tend to leave when things get serious and abandon of way of life to start another. They lie to the person they are with. They tell them they are going to one place when in reality they are going to do something completely different. They answer to no one. They keep the things they did why they were away from there partner a secret from everybody else. They have moments of regret but they do not last for long. They have to stay focused on the task at hand. They can not dwell on what they did because they have to stay calm so that they do not get caught. Finally, they lie to themselves so they do not have to admit the truth of what they have done.

Female Protagonist and Narrator

Having a female as both the protagonist and the first-person narrator gave you a different motive for the reason she killed. In Double Indemnity where we see a man kill we know what it is for. We expect it. Walter Huff kills the husband so that he can have his wife. In “The Method” she has a different reason for murder. One that kept me guessing to the very end. She did it because he used her. She did it for revenge. Other than having a different motive for the killing it also does not have the same sexual tension that Double Indemnity had between Walter Huff and Phyllis Nirdlinger. In “The Method” there was a sexual relationship between Holly and Richard, but they did not have to keep it a secret in the same way that Walter Huff and Phyllis Nirdlinger did. In fact you did not even know it had to be a secret until almost the end. Then you find out that Richard and the lady that Holly was renting a room from used to be a couple. I would still consider this to be noir. It still has the protagonist and still is telling is from their perspective. One thing that is different in “The Method” though is that Holly changes from what she originally planned to do. She originally planned on taking things from the former actress that she rented from. That planned changed as she got to know her and found out that her and Richard used to be a couple. When she found out that Richard was just using her. Then she decided to kill Richard for revenge.

Blog 7

One way the genre has been updated is that in”Dangerous Days” by Emory Holmes II is that we a mix of different races instead of just whites. In Double Indemnity it was very censored. They did not cuss. They did not openly talk about drinking. We see the complete opposite in “Dangerous Days”. They openly talk about drinking. In “Dangerous Days” one example of this is, “The two men drank in Cravitz’s conference room overlooking 43rd. The potent cactus brew was thick and cool and sweet, and Cravitz was genuinely thrilled to have a taste of the fabled Mexican moonshine.” (Hamilton, 55). We see that they not only bring up the fact that they are drinking, but also they go on to describe it. Another thing about Double Indemnity is that they never come out and say that Phyllis Nirdlinger and Walter Huff are doing anything more than kissing, but it is implied. In “Dangerous Days” I already mentioned that they cussed but they also talk about sex openly. An example were you can see this clearly in “Dangerous Days” is, “ “Oh, he fuckin’ somebody’s boyfriend then. Somethin’ up,” Cash said, then dropped the subject.” (Hamilton, 61). These are some ways the the genre has been updated. One thing we learn about neo-noir in “The Dark Past Returns: Gender Themes in Neo-Noir” by Heather Fireman is the the femme fatale is not punished. We see this in “Midnight in Silicon Alley”. His wife Leila was behind of everything that happened to him and at the end she drove away into the sunset. 

Neo-Noir VS Film Noir

Film Noir and Neo-Noir seem very much alike. They deal with the ambiguous protagonist, the detective and the femme fatale. In “The Dark Past Keeps Returning: Gender Themes in Neo-Noir” they tell the difference really good. They say, “Neo-noirs of the late twentieth century exist in a postmodern frame of mind. Most noir is modernist and tries to find truth and make sense of a warped world. In postmodernism, the world is too warped and incomprehensible, and our access to it is so flawed that we cannot make sense of it.” In Neo-Nor we see a change in gender rules. We used to see the man go to work and the woman stay home and take of the kids. In Neo-Nor we see the women take charge and make a living for there family while the men stay home and look after the kids. Neo-Noir deals with a lot of post-modernism. Post modernism is best described in “The Dark Past Keeps Returning: Gender Themes” as, “Postmodernism confuses and compresses space and time. In the postmodern era, satellites, cable TV, and the internet create a global village, in which we can instantaneously be anywhere or anytime.” There is no linearity in Neo-Noir. While Neo-Noir stays with the basic concept of Film Noir, it also makes a name for itself. It goes on its own timeline. Not everything happens in sequence like we see in Film Noir. One last thing that really changes in Neo-Noir is the femme fatale. She gets off scott free. No justice for what she has done. Instead a get out of jail free card to go and do it again.

Film Analysis of Double Indemnity

The article I chose you use was Masculine Impairment in Double Indemnity and The Last Seduction by Kerry E. Bogert. One of the things I noticed in the film and that Kerry E. Bogert brought up was how when Phyllis came down the stairs the camera first only pictured her feet and then when she got to the bottom it finally showed us her face. Kerry E. Bogert says, “She is immediately sexualized, and we know she will be the cause of Walter’s demise. Her slow descent down the stairs foreshadows her own demise as well.” When I saw this part of the film it stuck out to me because of the anklet on her ankle, because that is one of the first things Walter pointed out when he met her. I see how she says that it sexualized her because instead of focusing on what she had to say, it focused on her looks. I like how she compared her coming down the stairs slowly to the way she will eventually meet her own ending. Kerry E. Bogert also mentions the man in the beginning of the film on crutches coming towards the camera. Kerry E. Bogert says, “When we are first introduced to Walter, he is nothing more than a shadowy figure on crutches. Hobbling slowly towards the screen, he is a physical manifestation of his own internal weakness.” I think this describes Walter very well. He is physically capable, as we see when he kills Phyllis’s husband and eventually Phyllis. Emotionally though he is a mess. Going back between good and evil. Eventually falling completely to the evil side.

The Outcome

I was not happy with the ending. I was okay with it for Walter Huff. You could tell through the book that Walter Huff genuinely felt sorry for what he had done. Every time he was around Lola he felt guilty for what he had done. The more he got to know her and spend time with her the more he could not stand what he had done. Then after he got shot and winded up in the hospital, he wanted to make sure that Lola did not get hurt by the police. He knew she did not do it. He also knew that Nino did not do it. He knew they were there and did not know why they were there. He still knew that Phyllis is the one that did it. I think his confession came because he cared so much for Lola and he wanted to finally be punished for what he did. For phyllis though I thought she got off to easy. Especially since this was not her first murder. She had killed kids, the first Mrs. Nirdlinger, and then finally had Mr. Nirdlinger killed. I don’t think the punishment was really a punishment for her. For Walter Huff having to be around Phyllis was probably punishment. To have remember everything that happened when you are by yourself thinking about is enough, but then he will probably also remember every time he sees her face. The person he first cared about. The person he ultimately killed for. The person he now did not want to have anything to do with. 

Walter Huff's Feeling Change

The relationship between Walter Huff and Phyllis Nirdlinger takes a big twist in this section of the novel. In the first section they both trusted each other. They got along. They wanted to spend time with each other. In the second part they become distance. The first time you see this is when they argue you about him taking the train. Walter Huff wants him to take the train and Phyllis Nirdlinger says her husband will not go for it.
In this piece of conversation you can see Walter Huff get mad at Phyllis Nirdlinger for the first time. Starting
with Phyllis Nirdlinger, ""Hadn't we better give up the train idea?" "Listen it's the train or we don't do it."
"Well, my goodness, you don't have to snap at me." "Just pulling off some piker job, that don't interest me. But this, hitting it for the limit, that's what I go for. It's all I go for." "I was just wondering." "Quit wondering."" (Caine 36-37). This is just one of the few times in this section of the novel that he gets mad at her. Another time is after the murder takes place and she is driving him back to his car. He gets mad because her shoes are scuffed up. He tells her she should not have carried the body from the car. He tells her she should have let him carry the body. You also see after the murder and Walter Huff is back in his apartment how his feelings have changed for Phyllis Nirdlinger. "I had killed a man. I had killed a man to get a woman. I had put myself in her power, so there was one person in the world that could point a finger at me, and I would have to die. I had done all that for her, and I never wanted to see her again as long as I lived. That's all it takes, one drop of fear, to curdle love into hate." (Caine 54). I think this shows the one of the descriptions of film noir because in "Primary Character and Convictions of Film Noir: Themes and Styles" they write, "Film Noir films (mostly shot in grays, blacks and whites) show the dark and inhumane side of human nature with cynicism and doomed loved , and they emphasize the brutal, unhealthy, seamy, shadowy, dark and dadistic sides of the human experience." One things he mentions is doomed loved. At the beginning Walter Huff would do anything to see Phyllis Nirdlinger. Now he is doing everything he can to stay away from her.

Double Indemnity - Aspects of Film Noir

The quote I have chosen to show that Double Indemnity has characteristics of film noir is “film noir is [crime] from within; from the point of view of the criminal.” I chose this quote because the story is told from Walter Huff’s point of view. While Phyllis Nordlinger first brought up the ideal of accident insurance, “But all of a sudden she looked at me, and I felt a chill creep straight up my back and into the roots of my hair. “Do you handle accident insurance?”” (Caine 6) and was probably already thinking about murdering him, it was Walter Huff who first brought up the idea of murder, “”You’re going to drop a crown block on him.”” (Caine 16). Phyllis Nordlinger denies everything at first and leaves his house. Later she goes back and denies it more, “”But - Walter, that’s what I’ve come for, again tonight. I’ve thought it over. I realize that there have been one or two things I’ve said that could give you a completely wrong impression. In a way, I’m glad you warned me about them to somebody else without knowing the - construction that could be put on them. But know that I do know, you must surely see that - anything of the sort must be out of my mind. Forever.”” (Caine 17). Walter Huff doesn’t let her off that easy though. He continue to tell her that she is going to murder her husband and then goes a step farther by saying that he is going to help her. After a while she finally admits to it and tells him what her plan is. After hearing her plan he tells her that it is no good and gives her an idea of how it is going to go down. Why Phyllis Nordlinger was already thinking about murder, Walter Huff is the real mastermind behind it all. Setting it up so that she doesn’t get caught.

Film Noir

Film noir deals with mostly black and white movies. They have a lot to do with crime. People who you would be innocent turn out to be the villains. They use shadows to draw your attention to certain details. They are not about the happy ending. They show the depressing part of life. The things we think can never happen to us. It has to do with the dangers in life. The things we do not see coming are way. It deals with the things that go on in our mind that we would not tend to say out loud or to act on. We see the corruption in the world. It rebels against authority. It left behind the 50’s style. Leave It to Beaver and Happy Days were a thing of the past. No more perfect families. It showed the faults that were in the world. It showed people that you might not truly know someone as well as you thought you did. It deals with drinking and smoking. It taught the world to go against society. Do what you want to do and do not conform to the way society wants you to be. Be an individual and not a follower. There was no clear good side or bad side. Sunny skies were not in the forecast. The women not as innocent as June Cleaver. Long skirts and button up blouses were a thing of the past. Buckle your seat belts the road is filled with twist and turns and a few bumps in the road.