Film Noir: Comparing Casablanca And Blade Runner

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Film Noir Research Paper We have always had the desire to tell a story. Cave paintings depict warriors battling mighty beasts that roamed the Prairies of the America's, the forests of Europe and the African continent where it is said the first man walked and hence populated and eventually conquered the Neanderthal. Here in Australia, Aboriginal paintings tell the story of a nomadic existence. These ancient works also tell us the ancient struggle between good and evil, gods and monsters. The question is, why do we feel the need to tell a tale? Is it because the desire for something more, other than the banality of the day to day grind of existing, fuels our imagination, not only to be something else, but also the need to pass it on. For a community…show more content…
Listed in the above paragraph the first criteria (1) a genre similar to westerns, comedies or horror (2) a period tied to that era of the 40's and late 50's and (3) a cinematic style with its own unique look. It would be unfair not to mention that there are also purists out there that believe film noir cannot be in colour nor be a genre. Then, that would exclude my personal opinion, that the best film ever made other than Casablanca was Blade Runner. This brilliant film would fall short of the mark because it does not keep with the tradition of containing dark, shadowy images shot in black and white or scenes set in seedy run down city places of the 40's and 50's. Although the film does portray leading characters that are akin to Caligula or Nero with a touch of Caesar. They have seen it all and have done everything. But still fail to succeed. Another example is of two beautiful women. One, you would introduce to your mother (Sean Young's character) and the other, you wouldn't ( the Darryl Hannah portrayal), because she would end up sleeping with her. (This attitude came about because women during the war in America found their true independence, they worked in jobs that men had a monopoly on). The evolution of film noir came principally because of supply and demand. The building blocks to capitalism. The studios had to churn these films out because of public demand, The suits funded these lesser projects with a limited budget. The private eye, the detective, etc, all pulp fiction or B-grade films, the term Hollywood used for the support for their main
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