Description
[Contemporary] Film noir, a French term literally meaning “black film,” has become a term employed to reference an historical period of the American crime film (1940s and 1950s) and as descriptive of a film genre independent of historical boundaries. Film noir echoed the changing attitudes toward gender, definitions of evil, concepts of the family, psychoanalytical descriptions of behavior, etc., in American society after World War II. This course will examine the history of the film noir genre and the influences the genre has had upon subsequent film directors. The literature from which film noir is derived will also be considered.