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{{Useful Notes}}{{Featured Article}}
[[File:
{{quote|''You need [[Cops and Detectives|cops]], venetian blinds, [[Everybody Smokes|lots of smoking]], [[Nice Hat|hats]], sweat, [[Blind Alley|dead-end streets]], guys who know all the angles except for the one that ends up sticking out of their backs. Sirens of the [[Chase Scene|automotive]] and [[Femme Fatale|female]] kind.''|'''James Lileks''', ''The Bleat'' [http://lileks.com/bleat/?p=701 "Think You Oughta Drink That"]}}▼
▲{{quote|''You need [[Cops and Detectives|cops]], venetian blinds, [[Everybody Smokes|lots of smoking]], [[Nice Hat|hats]], sweat, [[Blind Alley|dead-end streets]], guys who know all the angles except for the one that ends up sticking out of their backs. Sirens of the [[Chase Scene|automotive]] and [[Femme Fatale|female]] kind.''
|'''James Lileks''', ''The Bleat'' [http://lileks.com/bleat/?p{{=}}701 "Think You Oughta Drink That"]{{broken link}} }}
Film Noir is a genre of stylish crime dramas, difficult to define, but the 1940's and 50's were the classic period. Whether works since then can be accurately classed as Noir is a subject of much debate among film critics. Film Noir, and the literature from which it is drawn, is clearly the progenitor of later genres, particularly [[Cyberpunk]].
Common subjects of noir films include murder investigations, [[The Caper|heists]], [[The Con|con games]], and (mostly) innocent men or women [[Wrongly Accused]] of crime. The [[Chronic Backstabbing Disorder|double-cross]] and [[Smoking Is Cool|cigarette smoking]] are mandatory. [[Kudzu Plot|Complicated plots]] are further convoluted by [[Flash Back|Flashbacks]] and [[Flash Forward
''Noir'', in the classic and stylistic sense, is visually darker than your average gangster picture, [[Chiaroscuro|playing with light and long, deep shadows]] instead of bright, documentary-styled camera work. This visual motif is so iconic that homages and parodies are almost universally [[Deliberately Monochrome]], using a [[Fade to Gray|transition between colour and black and white]] where necessary. Scenes are often filmed on location, and night scenes are shot at night. Camera angles are often very creative and unusual, heightening the viewers sense of unease, adding to the atmosphere. The contrast between light and dark is sometimes used in the cinematography to reflect the difference between the [[Big Bad|villain]] and the protagonist(s). the combination of brooding sets with convoluted plots and you have the basis of the genre-defining works. [[Cyberpunk
The [[Anti-Hero]] is the most common protagonist of the
The setting is often [[City Noir|a large, oppressive city (filmed in dark and dusky conditions to create a moody atmosphere)]], with Mexico often playing a big role. Familiar haunts include dimly-lit bars, [[Den of Iniquity|nightclubs filled with questionable clientele]] (including, the [[Gayngster]]) whom the lead may intimidate for information, gambling dens, juke joints and the ubiquitous seedy [[Abandoned Warehouse|waterfront warehouse]]. At night in the big city, you can bet the streets are slick with rain, reflecting streetlights like a Hopper painting. [[Humans Are
The tone and outlook of Film Noir ''must'' be [[Darker and Edgier|bleak]], [[World Half Empty|defeatist]], and [[Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism|pessimistic]]
Film Noir works are often low on [[Mr. Exposition|exposition]] to heighten tension, keeping the audience guessing until the [[The Reveal|final unraveling]]. The conclusion takes place in the closing moments, ties up all the loose ends, answers many (if not all) of the major questions and keeps the [[Grey and Gray Morality|morally ambiguous theme]] of the work intact. These factors contribute to the widely-held opinion that Film Noir works are among the best artistic works of all time ''despite'' their grim settings and contemptible characters.
Not to be confused with the religious conspiracy anime ''[[Noir (
{{genretropes}}
'''Characters and Character Tropes'''
* [[Anti-Hero]]
* [[Bad Cop, Incompetent Cop]]
* [[The Chanteuse]]
* [[The Cynic]]
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* [[Gayngster]]
* [[Hardboiled Detective]]
* [[Jerk
* [[Knight in Sour Armor]]
* [[The Mafia]] and other organized crime.
* [[The Snark Knight]]
'''Other Tropes'''
* [[Deliberately Monochrome]]
* [[Dutch Angle]]
* [[Emerging From the Shadows]]
* [[Everybody Smokes]]
* [[Going
* [[Gray Rain of Depression]]
* [[Private Eye Monologue]]
* [[Smoking Is Cool]]
* [[Sympathy for
* [[Weather Report Narration]]
A common form of [[Something Completely Different]] is the [[Noir Episode]]
{{examples|Examples (the first three subcategories contain Film, Literature and [[Western Animation]]) :}}▼
{{genreworks}}
== Proto-Noir ==▼
▲
▲=== Proto-Noir ===
* The Hardboiled genre of crime and detective fiction, by authors like [[Dashiell Hammett]], James M. Cain, and [[Raymond Chandler]].
* A [[German Expressionism|German Expressionistic]] movie called ''[[
=== Frequently Referenced "Classic" Noirs ===
* ''Stranger On The Third Floor'' (1940)
* ''[[
* ''[[
* ''[[Casablanca]]'' (1943)
* ''[[Double Indemnity]]'' (1944)
* ''[[Laura]]'' (1944)
* ''[[
* ''Detour'' (1945)
* ''[[The Blue Dahlia]]'' (1946)
* ''[[The Big Sleep (
* ''[[The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946
* ''[[The Strange Love Of Martha Ivers]]'' (1946)
* ''[[Gilda]]'' (1946)
* ''[[Out Of The Past]]'' (1947)
* ''[[The Lady From Shanghai]]'' (1947)
* ''[[
* ''[[Key Largo]]'' (1948)
* ''[[The Third Man]]'' (1949)
* ''[[White Heat]]'' (1949)
* ''[[
* ''[[In a Lonely Place]]'' (1950)
* ''[[Sunset Boulevard]]'' (1950)
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* ''The Big Combo'' (1955)
* ''[[Kiss Me Deadly]]'' (1955)
* ''[[The Killing (
* ''[[Sweet Smell of Success]]'' (1957)
* '' [[The Wrong Man]]'' (1957)
* ''[[Touch of Evil]]'' (1958)
=== Post-Classic & Neo-Noir ===▼
▲== Post-Classic & Neo-Noir ==
* ''[[Breathless]]'' (1960)
* ''[[Shoot The Piano Player]]'' (1960)
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* ''[[Le Samourai]]'' (1967). Anything directed by Jean-Pierre Melville.
* ''[[Taggart]]'' (according to the French)
* ''[[Point Blank (
* ''[[Bullitt]]'' (1968)
* ''[[Klute]]'' (1971)
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* ''[[Body Heat]]'' (1981)
* ''[[Blade Runner]]'' (1982), one of the most influential examples of [[Cyberpunk]] showing its Noir pedigree.
* ''[[
* ''[[The Element of Crime]]'' (1984) is simultaneously a [[Homage]] and a [[Deconstruction]] of the genre.
* ''[[Blood Simple]]'' (1985)
* ''[[Angel Heart]]'' (1987) combines Noir with horror to stunning effect.
* ''[[Who Framed Roger Rabbit?]]'' (1988)
* ''[[
* ''[[Batman:
* ''[[Red Rock West]]'' (1992)
* ''[[The Last Seduction]]'' (1994)
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* ''[[The Usual Suspects]]'' (1995), whose title comes from a famous line in ''[[Casablanca]]''.
* ''[[Heat]]'' (1995)
* Clive Barker's ''[[Lord Of Illusions]]'' (1995) combines noir elements with [[
* [[Bound]] (1996)
* ''[[Mulholland Falls]]'' (1996)
* ''[[
* ''[[The Big Lebowski]]'' (1998) is a simultaneous [[Homage]] to and [[The Parody|parody of]] Film Noir specific tropes.
** This is known as "Parody of Reaffirmation", like Weird Al parodying music, but at the same time is making music, or Scream parodying horror movies, all the while being a horror movie.
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* ''Renaissance'' (2006) (Black & white CG movie set in Paris, [[Recycled in Space|IN THE FUTURE]])
* ''[[The Empire State Building Murders]]'' (2006) uses [[Talking Heads]] and film noir clips to tell its own noir story.
* ''[[
* [[The Bourne Series]] (2002-2007) has a heavy neo-noir feel in many scenes
* ''[[Fight Club]]'' (1999)
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* ''The Spirit'' (2008). Oh man, The Spirit.
* ''[[Public Enemies]]'' (2009)
* ''[[
* ''[[Drive]]'' (2011)
== Anime and Manga ==
* ''[[
* ''[[
* ''[[Ergo Proxy]]''. Especially the first few episodes.
* ''[[Ghost in
* ''[[Noir (
* ''[[Darker
* ''[[Speed Grapher]]'' is set in a Tokyo which is a [[City Noir]] teaming with corruption and has its hero in [[Intrepid Reporter]] Saiga who is a good example of a [[Knight in Sour Armor]].
* ''[[Monster (
== Comic Books ==
* ''[[
* ''[[Sin City]]''
* ''[[Dogby Walks Alone]]'' - parodied by being placed in a [[Theme Park]] setting.
* The ''Marvel Noir'' line. Changes to Wolverine, for example, include his signature claws actually being handheld Japanese weapons. Naturally, there's a different version of Logan on the X-Men. In normal Marvel continuity, such street-level heroes as Daredevil, [[Moon Knight]] and the Punisher have all had runs or story arcs that followed many noir conventions.
* ''[[Blacksad]]'' - An anthropomorphic detective series, that follows the stories of John Blacksad.
* ''The Damned'' - A detective cursed to never die working for demonic(literally demons) gang bosses in the midst of a war with a rival organization.
* The third series of ''X-Factor'' features Jamie Madrox's attempt at a noir mutant detective agency.
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* ''Incognito'' by Ed Brubaker.
* Brian Michael Bendis's ''[[Alias (Comic Book)|Alias]]'' by Ed Brubaker.
* ''[[Watchmen (
▲== Fan Fiction ==
▲* The aptly named ''[[Coruscant Noir (Fanfic)|Coruscant Noir]]''.
* ''[[A Dark Knight Over Sin City]]''
* There's an ongoing [[
* ''[[Nights in
* [http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7206038/1/bDial_b_bM_b_For_bMutant_b Dial M For Mutant] puts the characters of X-Men: First Class into the noir setting, complete with copious use of 30's/40's slang.
* ''[[Calvin and Hobbes: The Series
== Literature ==
* Most of Lawrence Block's work, Bernie Rhodenbarr mysteries in particular.
* The ''[[Garrett
* The novels of [[Dashiell Hammett]], [[Raymond Chandler]], [[James M. Cain]], and Jim Thompson.
* [[The Dresden Files]], which is Noir [[X Meets Y|meets]] [[Urban Fantasy]].
* And [[The Automatic Detective]] is Noir [[X Meets Y|meets]] [[Raygun Gothic]].
* ''[[Felidae]]'' is a
== Spoofs and Parodies ==▼
* ''[[Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (Film)|Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid]]'' (1982)▼
* ''Play It Again, Sam'' (1972), a [[Woody Allen]] film that matches up Allen's "neurotic Jew" character with [[Humphrey Bogart]]. [[Hilarity Ensues]].▼
* ''[[Problem Sleuth (Webcomic)|Problem Sleuth]]'', at least setting-wise, plays with the genre and its tropes in part. The bulk of the work is an incredibly silly take on the [[Eastern RPG]], but it's decidedly within a [[Film Noir]] framework. And when it does noir, oh, ''[http://www.topatoco.com/graphics/00000001/mspa-office-print.jpg it does noir]''.▼
** In a similar vein, ''[[Homestuck (Webcomic)|Homestuck]]'''s Midnight Crew intermission plays with the [[Heroic Sociopath|darker]] end of the genre's spectrum, [[Timey-Wimey Ball|just with extra time travel]].▼
* ''[[Kiss Kiss Bang Bang]]'', an [[Affectionate Parody]] with {{spoiler|a [[Averted Trope|surprisingly happy ending]].}}▼
* The [[Affectionate Parody|Tracer Bullet]] stories in ''[[Calvin and Hobbes]]''.▼
* ''[[Sam and Max Freelance Police]]'', especially with the character Flint Paper.▼
** In ''[[Sam and Max Freelance Police (Video Game)|Sam and Max Freelance Police]] Season 3: Episode 3'', Max gets murdered and Sam has an '[[Heroic BSOD|embarrassing noirish rampage]]' that turns the game into a [[Film Noir]] spoof for a while, down to the lighting and the camera angles in the cutscenes. Highlights include Sam demonstrating his edgy true-to-life violence by [[Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique|slapping people in the face mid sentence]] and having a 'Noir' option during conversations which causes him to [[Wangst|give a largely incoherent metaphorical description about how amoral and miserable he is]].▼
* Less spoof than reference, but Tyrell Badd of ''[[Ace Attorney|Ace Attorney Investigations]] is a blatant noir detective down to the stubble, trenchcoat, and tragic past.▼
* ''The Black Bird'' is a film spoof of ''[[The Maltese Falcon (Film)|The Maltese Falcon]]'' without much originality.▼
* ''[[Rock Slyde (Film)|Rock Slyde]]'' (2009) is a modern film-noir parody starring [[Patrick Warburton]] as "Rock Slyde", private-eye and former [[Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot|homosexual-pirate musical-pornstar]].▼
* One of the scenarios in the Artificial Reality machine in [[Red Dwarf (TV)|Red Dwarf]] is a film noir setting, complete with monochrome, a [[Femme Fatale]], [[Al Capone]]-style outfits and a car from the 30s.▼
== Live Action TV ==
* ''[[Veronica Mars]]'' somehow effectively used this style in a San Diego high school setting.
* ''[[
* An episode of ''[[Moonlighting]]'' did this well.
* ''[[Smallville]]'' had a Jimmy centric episode set in a noir dream sequence.
* Other than being set in Hawaii, ''[[Magnum,
* [[Kamen Rider Double]] is based on Noir.
* ''[[Terriers]]''
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* The BBC two part Drama "Exile"
* ''[[Peter Gunn]]''
* ''[[
* Season 5, episode 10 of ''[[
* ''[[
== Music ==
* [[Wall of Voodoo|Stan Ridgway]]'s 1986 single [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arxG4gzJU5k "The Big Heat"], from the album of the same name, is a Film Noir movie compressed into a song {{spoiler|with bonus [[Time Travel]] elements -- or maybe it's [[Days of Future Past]]}}.
== Video Games ==
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* ''[[Grim Fandango]]'' (1998)
* ''The Black Dahlia'' (1998) - correct setting, period clothes and corny dialogue to boot.
* ''[[
* ''[[Max Payne (
** Its sequel even used the tagline "A Film Noir Love Story". Which is somewhat ironic, given that the protagonist is much less cynical jaded in the sequel than in the original.
* ''Deja Vu''
* ''Jack Orlando: A Graphic Adventure''
* ''Dead Head Fred''
* ''[[
* The ''[[Thief]]'' series (1998- ). [[Troperrific|Dear God]], the ''Thief'' series...
* ''[[Hotel Dusk: Room 215]]'' (2006) and it's sequel, ''[[Last Window]]'' (2010)
* ''[[Heavy Rain]]'' (2010)
* The later ''[[Hitman]]'' games start to veer into this territory by virtue of [[Growing the Beard]] and aiming for a more [[Darker and Edgier]] feel. Several missions in the third and fourth game (''Contracts'' and ''Blood Money'') have a genuinely noir tone.
* ''[[
* [[The Shivah]], by [[Wadjet Eye Games]]
* ''Emerald City Confidential'' is described by the producer as follows: 'Harsh city streets, grey rainy skies, femmes fatales, tough guys, trenchcoats, fedoras and plot twists. It's [[Wizard of Oz|Oz]], seen through the eyes of Raymond Chandler'.
* ''Blackwell Legacy'' uses some elements of the noir (one of the protagonists is a [[Deadpan Snarker]] ghost from the 30's). People in Wadjed Eye Games must really like this genre.
* ''[[Deus Ex: Human Revolution
* [[
* By virtue of evoking late 80s scifi movies, ''[[Mass Effect 2]]'' evokes this in parts, especially on Omega, Ilium and the Citadel. Thane and Samara's loyalty missions are even investigations with much less action than the rest of the game (oddly enough, both characters are stoic badasses with philosophical sides).
* ''[[Video Game/Blade Runner|Blade Runner]]'' (1997) follows the movie with its distinctive noir feeling mixed with s-f settings.
* ''Carte Blanche: For a Fistful of Teeth''. Bonus points for [[Deliberately Monochrome|black-and-white graphics]].
== Webcomics ==
* ''Automata'', and it's sequel ''Blood and Oil''; two short stories created by the [[Penny Arcade]] duo. [http://penny-arcade.com/archive/results/search&keywords=automata/\]
* A shortlived [https://web.archive.org/web/20090930015043/http://www.studiotriumph.com/talbot/?comic=1 webcomic] placed [[Lawrence Talbot]] into a film noir setting. [[Fridge Brilliance]], as Talbot's whole bag has always been existential angst.
* [[Living
* [[Two Rooks]] combines crime noir with a dystopian setting.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20131005161551/http://www.sintitulocomic.com/2007/06/17/page-01/ Sin Titulo] definitely has noir undertones (and it uses color very sparingly).
== Web Original ==
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tRfL2EUhDo The Deadliest Tag] and [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFyxJd6uOQg Deadliest Tag Chapter Two] on [[Vlog Tag]].
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* ''[[Batman:
== Other ==
* The 2007 Hollywood Portfolio of Vanity Fair magazine set up a faux noir film called [http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2007/03/filmnoir_portfolio200703#slide=1 "Killers Kill, Dead Men Die"] to accompany the series of photos taken, complete with casting and set descriptions in the captions.
▲== Spoofs and Parodies ==
▲* ''[[Play It Again, Sam]]'' (1972), a [[Woody Allen]] film that matches up Allen's "neurotic Jew" character with [[Humphrey Bogart]]. [[Hilarity Ensues]].
▲* ''[[
▲** In a similar vein, ''[[
▲* ''[[Kiss Kiss Bang Bang]]'', an [[Affectionate Parody]] with {{spoiler|a [[Averted Trope|surprisingly happy ending]].}}
▲* The [[Affectionate Parody|Tracer Bullet]] stories in ''[[Calvin and Hobbes]]''.
▲* ''[[Sam and Max Freelance Police]]'', especially with the character Flint Paper.
▲** In ''[[The Adventures of Sam
▲* Less spoof than reference, but Tyrell Badd of ''[[Ace Attorney|Ace Attorney Investigations]] is a blatant noir detective down to the stubble, trenchcoat, and tragic past.
▲* ''The Black Bird'' is a film spoof of ''[[
▲* ''[[
▲* One of the scenarios in the Artificial Reality machine in ''[[
{{reflist}}
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[[Category:Urban Fantasy Tropes]]
[[Category:Genres]]
[[Category:
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