Darkness Calls: A Critical Investigation of Neo-Noir
This book examines the contrasting forms neo-noir has taken on screen, asking what prompts our continued interest in tales of criminality and moral uncertainty. Neo-noir plots are both familiar and diverse, found in a host of media formats today, and now span the globe. Yet despite its apparent prevalence—and increased academic attention—many core questions remain unanswered. What has propelled noir’s appeal, half a century on after its supposed decline? What has led film-makers and series-creators to rework given tropes? What debates continue to divide critics? And why are we, as viewers, so drawn to stories that often show us at our worst? Referencing a range of films and series, citing critical work in the field—while also challenging many of the assumptions made—this book sets out to advance our understanding of a subject that has fascinated audiences and academics alike. Theories relating to gender identity and neo-noir’s tricky generic status are discussed, together with an evaluation of differing comic inflections and socio-political concerns, concluding that, although neo-noir is capable of being both progressive and reactionary, it also mobilises potentially radical questions about who we are and what we might be capable of.
1130558092
Darkness Calls: A Critical Investigation of Neo-Noir
This book examines the contrasting forms neo-noir has taken on screen, asking what prompts our continued interest in tales of criminality and moral uncertainty. Neo-noir plots are both familiar and diverse, found in a host of media formats today, and now span the globe. Yet despite its apparent prevalence—and increased academic attention—many core questions remain unanswered. What has propelled noir’s appeal, half a century on after its supposed decline? What has led film-makers and series-creators to rework given tropes? What debates continue to divide critics? And why are we, as viewers, so drawn to stories that often show us at our worst? Referencing a range of films and series, citing critical work in the field—while also challenging many of the assumptions made—this book sets out to advance our understanding of a subject that has fascinated audiences and academics alike. Theories relating to gender identity and neo-noir’s tricky generic status are discussed, together with an evaluation of differing comic inflections and socio-political concerns, concluding that, although neo-noir is capable of being both progressive and reactionary, it also mobilises potentially radical questions about who we are and what we might be capable of.
41.49 In Stock
Darkness Calls: A Critical Investigation of Neo-Noir

Darkness Calls: A Critical Investigation of Neo-Noir

by Sue Short
Darkness Calls: A Critical Investigation of Neo-Noir

Darkness Calls: A Critical Investigation of Neo-Noir

by Sue Short

eBook1st ed. 2019 (1st ed. 2019)

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Overview

This book examines the contrasting forms neo-noir has taken on screen, asking what prompts our continued interest in tales of criminality and moral uncertainty. Neo-noir plots are both familiar and diverse, found in a host of media formats today, and now span the globe. Yet despite its apparent prevalence—and increased academic attention—many core questions remain unanswered. What has propelled noir’s appeal, half a century on after its supposed decline? What has led film-makers and series-creators to rework given tropes? What debates continue to divide critics? And why are we, as viewers, so drawn to stories that often show us at our worst? Referencing a range of films and series, citing critical work in the field—while also challenging many of the assumptions made—this book sets out to advance our understanding of a subject that has fascinated audiences and academics alike. Theories relating to gender identity and neo-noir’s tricky generic status are discussed, together with an evaluation of differing comic inflections and socio-political concerns, concluding that, although neo-noir is capable of being both progressive and reactionary, it also mobilises potentially radical questions about who we are and what we might be capable of.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9783030138073
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Publication date: 09/14/2019
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
File size: 493 KB

About the Author

Sue Short is a lecturer and writer and has an Honorary Research Fellowship at Birkbeck College, University of London, UK. Prior publications include Cyborg Cinema (2004), Misfit Sisters: Screen Horror as Female Rites of Passage (2006), Cult Telefantasy Series (2011) and Fairy Tale and Film: Old Tales with a New Spin (2015).

Table of Contents

1. Introduction: in pursuit of the neo-noir.- 2. Crime, corruption and social critique: a thematic overview of noir.- 3.  Conflict and crisis: masculinity and noir.- 4. Fear and fantasy: women in noir.- 5. Noir by any other name?: generic confusion and diffusion.- 6. A lighter shade of noir: differing uses of comedy.- 7. Fatalism vs free will: nihilism and noir.
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