The Philosophy of Neo-Noir (The Philosophy of Popular Culture)

222 Pages·2007·1.49 MB·english

by  Mark T. Conard

(cid:1134)e Philosophy of Neo-Noir
T(cid:289)(cid:286) P(cid:289)(cid:290)(cid:293)(cid:296)(cid:300)(cid:296)(cid:297)(cid:289)(cid:306) (cid:296)(cid:287) P(cid:296)(cid:297)(cid:302)(cid:293)(cid:282)(cid:299) C(cid:302)(cid:293)(cid:301)(cid:302)(cid:299)(cid:286)
(cid:1134)e books published in the Philosophy of Popular Culture series will illuminate
and explore philosophical themes and ideas that occur in popular culture. (cid:1134)e
goal of this series is to demonstrate how philosophical inquiry has been reinvigo-
rated by increased scholarly interest in the intersection of popular culture and
philosophy, as well as to explore through philosophical analysis beloved modes
of entertainment, such as movies, TV shows, and music. Philosophical concepts
will be made accessible to the general reader through examples in popular
culture. (cid:1134)is series seeks to publish both established and emerging scholars who
will engage a major area of popular culture for philosophical interpretation and
examine the philosophical underpinnings of its themes. Eschewing ephemeral
trends of philosophical and cultural theory, authors will establish and elaborate
on connections between traditional philosophical ideas from important thinkers
and the ever-expanding world of popular culture.
Series Editor
Mark T. Conard, Marymount Manhattan College, NY
(cid:1134)e Philosophy
of Neo-Noir
Edited by Mark T. Conard
The฀University฀Press฀of฀Kentucky
Publication of this volume was made possible in part by a grant
from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Copyright © 2007 by (cid:1134)e University Press of Kentucky
Scholarly publisher for the Commonwealth,
serving Bellarmine University, Berea College, Centre
College of Kentucky, Eastern Kentucky University,
(cid:1134)e Filson Historical Society, Georgetown College,
Kentucky Historical Society, Kentucky State University,
Morehead State University, Murray State University,
Northern Kentucky University, Transylvania University,
University of Kentucky, University of Louisville,
and Western Kentucky University.
All rights reserved.
Editorial and Sales O(cid:275)ces: (cid:1134)e University Press of Kentucky
663 South Limestone Street, Lexington, Kentucky 40508-4008
www.kentuckypress.com
11 10 09 08 07 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
(cid:1134)e philosophy of neo-noir / edited by Mark T. Conard.
p. cm. — ((cid:1134)e philosophy of popular culture)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-8131-2422-3 (hardcover : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-8131-2422-0 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Film noir—United States—History and criticism.
I. Conard, Mark T., 1965-
PN1995.9.F54P56 2006
791.43’6556—dc22
2006032084
(cid:1134)is book is printed on acid-free recycled paper meeting
the requirements of the American National Standard
for Permanence in Paper for Printed Library Materials.
Manufactured in the United States of America.
Member of the Association of
American University Presses
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Introduction 1
Part 1: Subjectivity, Knowledge,
and Human Nature in Neo-Noir
Space, Time, and Subjectivity in Neo-Noir Cinema 7
Jerold J. Abrams
Blade Runner and Sartre: (cid:1134)e Boundaries of Humanity 21
Judith Barad
John Locke, Personal Identity, and Memento 35
Basil Smith
Problems of Memory and Identity in
Neo-Noir’s Existentialist Antihero 47
Andrew Spicer
Part 2: Justice, Guilt, and Redemption:
Morality in Neo-Noir
(cid:1134)e Murder of Moral Idealism: Kant and the Death of
Ian Campbell in (cid:1134)e Onion Field 67
Douglas L. Berger
Justice and Moral Corruption in A Simple Plan 83
Aeon J. Skoble
“Saint” Sydney: Atonement and Moral Inversion in Hard Eight 91
Donald R. D’Aries and Foster Hirsch
Reservoir Dogs: Redemption in a Postmodern World 101
Mark T. Conard
vi Contents
Part 3: Elements of Neo-Noir
(cid:1134)e Dark Sublimity of Chinatown 119
Richard Gilmore
(cid:1134)e Human Comedy Perpetuates Itself:
Nihilism and Comedy in Coen Neo-Noir 137
(cid:1134)omas S. Hibbs
(cid:1134)e New Sincerity of Neo-Noir: (cid:1134)e Example of
(cid:1134)e Man Who Wasn’t (cid:1134)ere 151
R. Barton Palmer
“Anything Is Possible Here”: Capitalism, Neo-Noir, and Chinatown 167
Jeanne Schuler and Patrick Murray
Sunshine Noir: Postmodernism and Miami Vice 183
Steven M. Sanders
Contributors 203
Index 207
Acknowledgments
First, I’d like to thank the contributors for all their hard work and pa-
tience, which are clearly evident in these terrific essays. Many thanks are
also due to Steve Wrinn and Anne Dean Watkins at the University Press of
Kentucky, with whom it continues to be a real pleasure to work. Last, for
all their love and support, I want to thank my family and friends, especially
Pepper Landis, John and Linda Pappas, Aeon Skoble, and Jerry Williams.
vii
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Introduction
In David Lynch’s Blue Velvet (1986), Je(cid:274)rey (Kyle MacLachlan) allows his
curiosity to get the best of him, as he spies on Dorothy Vallens (Isabella
Rossellini), has sadomasochistic sex with her, and ends up shooting the
vile Frank Booth (Dennis Hopper)—all very noir. In Alan Parker’s Angel
Heart (1987), Harry Angel (Mickey Rourke) is unwittingly sent on a search
for himself by none other than Lucifer—also trés noir. How about when, in
Curtis Hanson’s L.A. Confidential (1997), police o(cid:275)cer Bud White (Russell
Crowe) shoots an unarmed suspected rapist or hero cop Ed Exley (Guy
Pearce) shotguns Captain Dudley Smith (James Cromwell) in the back?
Yep, clearly noir. And you know it’s noir when, in Bryan Singer’s (cid:1134)e Usual
Suspects (1995), Agent Dave Kujan (Chazz Palminteri) discovers that
Verbal Kint (Kevin Spacey), who may or may not be Keyser Soze, has been
spinning a tale about an assassination dressed up to look like a drug heist,
to the point where at the end of the movie we in the audience don’t know
if anything we’ve just been watching is supposed to have happened or not.
Indeed, it’s all so very noir.
But what does that mean, exactly? What is film noir? And what is
neo-noir?
My earlier volume, (cid:1134)e Philosophy of Film Noir (University Press of
Kentucky, 2006), dealt mostly with movies from the classic noir period,
which falls between 1941 and 1958, beginning with John Huston’s (cid:1134)e
Maltese Falcon and ending with Orson Welles’s Touch of Evil. You know
a classic noir film when you see it, with its unusual lighting (the constant
opposition of light and shadow), its tilted camera angles, and its o(cid:274)-center
scene compositions. But, besides these technical cinematic features, there
are a number of themes that characterize film noir, such as the inversion of
traditional values (bad guys as heroes, traditional good guys like cops do-
ing bad things) and a kind of moral ambivalence (it’s hard to tell right from
wrong any more); there’s also the feeling of alienation, paranoia, and pes-
simism; themes of crime and violence abound; and the movies attempt to
disorient the spectator, mostly through the filming techniques mentioned
above. Some classic examples of films noirs are Double Indemnity (Billy
1