FMP- Secondary Research

Along side my primary research I also conducted some secondary. I went about this by using the internet to dive a little deeper into not just the noir genre, but also gang culture in 1950s america and how these two elements can come together to help my FMP.

Film Noir

First things first, what is film noir? "A French term meaning "black film," or film of the night, inspired by classic crime novels" (Ebert R. 1995). The genre was the one of the first to make the audience know that the story was most likely to not have a happy ending. Sets and environments were all designed to "...reek of the night, of shadows, of alleys, of the back doors of fancy places, of apartment buildings with a high turnover rate, of taxi drivers and bartenders who have seen it all." (Ebert R. 1995)

There is a lot of tropes which come with the noir genre. One of the biggest has to be 
cigarettes. "Everybody in film noir is always smoking, as if to say, 'On top of everything else, I've been assigned to get through three packs today.' The best smoking movie of all time is "Out of the Past," in which Robert Mitchum and Kirk Douglas smoke furiously at each other. At one point Mitchum enters a room, Douglas extends a pack and says, "Cigarette?" and Mitchum, holding up this hand, says, "Smoking."."

Noir also has a very strict dress code:

"For women: low necklines, floppy hats, mascara, lipstick, dressing rooms, boudoirs, calling the doorman by his first name, high heels, red dresses, elbowlength gloves, mixing drinks, having gangsters as boyfriends, having soft spots for alcoholic private eyes, wanting a lot of someone else's women, sprawling dead on the floor with every limb meticulously arranged and every hair in place.

"For men: fedoras, suits and ties, shabby residential hotels with a neon sign blinking through the window, buying yourself a drink out of the office bottle, cars with running boards, all-night diners, protecting kids who shouldn't be playing with the big guys, being on first-name terms with homicide cops, knowing a lot of people whose descriptions end in "ies," such as bookies, newsies, junkies, alkys, jockeys and cabbies." (Ebert R. 1995)

The final key puzzle pieces to the Film noir were "women who would just as soon kill you as love you, and vice versa".  Movies are also shot in black and white or made to look like they are. A film that includes some colour is normally moved into the neo-noir.

1950s American Crime Culture

Although organised crime has always been present in the western world, it wasn't till the early 1900s when prohibition swept the united states that crime groups starting making a lot of money, and therefor grew into crime empires. They would smuggle alcohol over the boarder from Mexico and sell it in under ground clubs and "speak-easies". By the time prohibition was lifted, crime organisations were worth more than more big business, meaning they had all the money and resources they needed.

Then came the second world war. The young men that returned from the violence were trained killing machines, with no problem with doing dirty jobs. This gave crime empires a lot of fresh meat. This membership surge meant that criminals now had small armies at there disposal. In turn, violence between rival gangs grew with events like the Valentine day massacres highlighting the brutal nature of the this shady under belly.