Tuesday, July 03, 2007

There's Nobody to Like

is a criticism I'm seeing in critiques of noir lately. Well, isn't that essentially noir? Isn't it about the failure of everyman in society? Who did you like in Double Indemnity or The Postman Always Rings Twice or in lots of the classic noir. The most we can/should feel is a fleeting sypathy for a chump or innocent caught up in it. But not really even them because they will also give in to it.
If the prose is crisp, if the style interesting, if the people behave in the way noir people should, isn't this enough? I'm not talking about hyper-violence here, just the conventions of noir.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

First one whines about antiheroes, then one dies.

Sandra Scoppettone said...

A wonderful point, Patti. Good examples.

Anonymous said...

This may not be a dead on example--but the first character I thought of was Tony Soprano.
John McAuley

pattinase (abbott) said...

Good example, John, although he did have his good moments. Of course, we got to see him in action over a long period of time, but on the whole....

Sandra-The Dead Girl was amazing. I didn't know the director was Karen Montcrief. Loved Blue Car too.