Film Noir - A Brief Background

Film Noir - A Brief Background

The term "Film Noir" is French for "dark film" which was first applied to films in 1946. The film genre was huge in the 1940s and 50 due to America's involvement in the Second World War, which left Americans with a new taste for violence and crime after the war.

The films are typically crime films in America, more often than not set in black and white, using the sense and feeling of mystery throughout the films. 

Film Noir films begin with an Every Man in the majority of films, reflecting on how things went wrong. The Every Man is a character who works in a normal day job and leads a normal life, all until a Femme Fatal usually comes along and ruins everything, leading him down a line which ends in bios ultimate demise. The Femme Fatal is a female character, always cast as an attractive woman who the Every Man character falls for. The Femme Fatal in older Film Noir's would wear clothes that were considered as revealing and seductive at the time, designed to seduce both the every man and the viewers at home, most typically middle aged men who were mostly similar to the every man. the Every Man always finds a way to meet the villain, or to cross him and get on his wrong side. The Villain of a Film Noir are often with the Femme Fatal or going to do something to her, which leads the Every Man to turn into an "anti-hero" and do something that will get him into trouble. In some Film Noir's, the Every Man himself can become the Villain because of what he does, often for the Femme Fatal, or the Girl Next Door. The Girl next Door is a character who is often innocent and isn't looking for trouble, she just happens to know the Every Man through their history. In some cases, the girl next door will end up being a main part of the plot either because of the Every Man's relationship to them, or their involvement in the crime. Finally, some Film Noir films contain Henchmen, who are strong men that do all of the dirty work for the villain. Often, henchmen will be the ones that shoot the Every Man or cause him to die or end in a situation he shouldn't be in, as they are the ones that cause the trouble for the main villain.