I don't know how you counter the argument that a genre work is made to genre conventions. Since Noir wasn't itself a genre at the time the films were being made, I can't see how a bunch of melodramas and policiers can be lumped together generically.
Well, I think the French critics that named it certainly looked at it in that way. I would tend to say that it has evolved into a genre, that is, I think that today one can say a film is noir and the audience would have certain aesthetic and narrative expectations of that film.
I always consider LAURA an odd fit with the rest of noir.
Well, they have an unusual mix of movies (
The Third Man, It's a Wonderful Life, etc.
), and discuss how "noir" this or that film is.
Oh! Watch closely, and you can tell us who killed the chauffeur.
That would be meaner if I hadn't already seen it umpteen times. Big Bogie and Bacall fan.
I am intrigued that it is paired in the podcast with
The Big Lebowski,
which I loathe (I know, I know).
It's a Wonderful Life
I guess they're talking about the AU segment with Pottersville or Pottsville or whatever it was called where George was never born?
The Big Lebowski, which I loathe
!!!
::shuns megan and her offspring to the sixth generation::
I am intrigued that it is paired in the podcast with The Big Lebowski, which I loathe (I know, I know).
MY SISTER!!!
Thank you, for I have felt so alone.
I can't explain it, it just is.
I am intrigued that it is paired in the podcast with The Big Lebowski, which I loathe (I know, I know).
Oh, yeah, I do remember reading that
The Big Lebowski
is supposed to be sort of a noir parody. As far as loathing, I fell asleep the first time I tried to watch it with friends, but years later, I gave it another shot in another mass viewing and really enjoyed myself.
I didn't really like Lebowski either. I laughed at some parts, but for the most I think I Just Didn't Get It.
The Big Lebowski is completely a noir parody. The Dude is Marlowe as a stoner/draft dodger instead of a WWII vet. Like Marlowe, he bumbles about the city trying to solve a mystery no one cares much about, gets thrown around like a punching bag, works angles that he doesn't really comprehend, watches people die for stupid reasons, and only gets to the end by accident. Oh, and he learns WHAT IT'S LIKE TO FUCK A STRANGER IN THE ASS, DO YOU HEAR ME?
My wife always says that she hates the movie whenever I'm watching it, but then sits down and laughs her ass off.
And, as long as we're talking Coens, what's Miller's Crossing if not noir?
