Blog 6

        “Space, Time, and Subjectivity in Neo-Noir Cinema” by Jerold Abrams.  Wow there is a lot to think about in this article. Especially about the neo noir protagonist and the classic noir protagonist. I really wish I had enough time to see the movies that where discussed in the article to give you better examples but the ones that I did see were so long ago that I don’t remember the contents of them. But I really enjoyed the article and how Abrams put the examples together. The best way I can think of to compare the differences of the classic noir protagonist and neo noir protagonist in the article is simply put. The classic role is about a character trying to find out about crime and in the processes he is challenged about his own character. In neo noir the protagonist is much more complex, he is for the most part trying to solve a crime but in the underlining process trying to find himself and who he really is. This most of the time results in his own demise. What I found more interesting in this article is the loss of the femme fatal. There might be one but in most of the movies that Abrams mention that I have some memory on I really don’t remember a femme fatal changing or altering the main characters choices in life. Most of the time that’s handled by an outside source.

        Like in the description of the movie angle hart with De Niro and Rourke in which case is classified as past noir, is about the protagonist also being the villain along with the devil kind of taking the place of the femme fatale. The examples of neo noir the past, present and future that abrams gives in the article was in mind really good. I like that he gave movie examples to go by and that’s a big help in making my decision for what kind of movie I want to do my report on. The future noir is what intrigues me the most. I like how they take the frustration of classic noir and transformed into the future by adding the elements of sci-fi. In this I mean you still have the traditional some body done somebody wrong but now you have some aliens involve or maybe even android’s. It really brings in the third element, could you imagine Bogart chasing down E.T. lol. With present day noir I think most of this involves conflict from with in, and I really think Abram’s open my eyes to a new kind of noir with the Bourne saga. I would have never thought of Jason Bourne as the classic noir protagonist but after reading how they use and illness as say may amnesia to bring that whole crime era back it now makes perfect sense. After reading this article it really has me thinking on what movies I have enjoyed over the years that can be classified as noir.