Please note the following call for essays for
the forthcoming ?Companion to Film Noir?. Please
contact Dr Andrew Spicer (University of the West
of England):
<mailto:(Andrew2.Spicer /at/ uwe.ac.uk)>(Andrew2.Spicer /at/ uwe.ac.uk)
or Dr Helen Hanson (University of Exeter):
<mailto:(h.m.hanson /at/ exeter.ac.uk)>(h.m.hanson /at/ exeter.ac.uk)
if you would like to contribute.
Companion to Film Noir
edited by Andrew Spicer and Helen Hanson
Blackwell?s ?Companions to Film Genre? Series
Overview
As a disputed category, film noir has generated
a lively interest and debate ever since the term
was first used post-war France. The films that
constitute the (contested) canon of film noir
continue to be highly valued and enjoyed, and to
produce a formidable body of commentary.
Although American ?classic? noir (1940-59)
continues to create intense interest, in the
last fifteen years the understanding of film
noir has widened to include neo-noir (American
film noir produced after 1959), film noirs in
other countries (in Europe, Asia, Latin America
and Australasia), and noir in other forms:
comics and graphic novels, posters, radio,
television and videogames, all of which now
constitute what James Naremore in ?More than
Night: Film Noir in its Contexts? (1998/2008)
identifies as a global and interrelated ?noir
mediascape?. Since its tentative beginnings in
the late 1970s, critical (and populist)
discussion of film noir has become so extensive
that a major overview is now necessary.
The ?Companion to Film Noir? will treat noir as
a dynamic cultural form that is a global
phenomenon that exists in multiple contexts, and
will attempt to map this wide terrain by
situating film noir within its various
historical, political, social, cultural and
industrial contexts. The scope of each essay is
intended to be wide-ranging, the exploration of
a topic rather than a particular film-maker or
film, and thus to scrutinize critically existing
debates and develop them further, extending
analysis into new areas. We wish to encourage
contributors to take intellectual risks rather
than repeating the tried and tested, and to be
guided by the overarching question:
what is the current state of play in film noir
studies and how could it be developed most productively?
By bringing together approximately 30 essays
from an international range of scholars, it is
intended that the Companion will become a
central text in film noir studies, one that
consolidates existing work in a number of
important areas, but also develops and extends
that work and sets the agenda for future studies.
Identified topics
[n.b. the volume as a whole will have an
introductory overview by the editors who will
also supply brief introductions to each section]
A) Theoretical approaches to film noir and neo-noir
As a contested critical category, film noir
always needs to be carefully defined and
rigorously justified. The essays in this
section will examine this ongoing debate from a
range of perspectives. Following the
overarching aims of the volume, the authors
will extend discussion beyond the familiar
parameters and take a fresh look at the ?problem? of film noir.
1. A critical history of film noir studies
This essay will conduct a critical survey of the
history of studies of film noir and neo-noir.
What can this history tell us about the use of film noir and neo- noir as
discursive categories? I? Has its use obscured
or ignored important cultural contexts and
connections, or has film noir been a genuinely
important and productive concept?
2. Hybridised film noir
Is film noir best conceived not as a singular
category with clear boundaries but as a hybrid
classification, composed of elements from different genres? This essay
will explore noir?s relationship with science
fiction, horror and westerns and the various
combinations and re-combinations that have occurred.
3. Periodizing film noir
How have film noir and neo-noir been defined
chronologically and what are the implications of
the conventional chronological divisions? This
essay will critique the standard construction of
noir chronology ? film noir:
1940-1959, neo-noir: 1981 onwards ? partly by
exploring American noir in the 1960s and 1970s,
the so-called but undefined period of ?late noir?.
4. The ?cult? of noir: fandom and cinephilia
This essay will explore the ways in which
specific films noir have become fetishised
objects of desire for fans and collectors but
also the whole notion of film noir itself as a
?special? kind of cinema. Many studies have
explored fandom and cinephilia, the increasing
use of fan sites and blogs, and the rise of the
film collector supported by a range of
marketing devices (DVDs with ?extras etc.), but
not ones that look specifically at the film
noir. How has the ?cult? of noir affected our
whole understanding of film noir and
neo-noir?
B) A cultural history of film noir:
film noir?s hybrid histories/influences
How do we account for the emergence of film
noir as an historical phenomenon and what are
the political, social and cultural forces that led to its formation?
5. European influences
This essay will explore the complex ?dialogues?
between European and American cinema in the
inter-war period. The important influences of
German Expressionism and French Poetic Realism
have become clichés in conventional
understandings of film noir but this essay will
be an opportunity to re-think and re-examine the
nature of these relationships ? including the
role of émigré personnel ? in the formation of
film noir, exploring such issues as lighting
technologies, sound design, narrative construction and modes of framing.
6. Crime fiction and noir
This essay will re-examine the relationship
between hard-boiled crime fiction and the
emergence of film noir, ranging over a broad
range of authors rather than just the best
known known (Hammett, Chandler, Cain and
Woolrich) and will range over short stories and
serialised fiction as well as full-length novels.
7. Film precursors
A number of films have been identified that seem
to anticipate the style and subject matter of
film noir, but what was their production context
and what is the precise nature of their role in the emergence of film noir?
8. 1930s Horror and Gothic cinema
Under-represented in early studies of film
noir that emphasized the influence of
hard-boiled crime fiction, the ways in which
film noir developed from the Gothic ?tradition?
is crucial in understanding its development.
The essay would present an overview of existing
studies and enlarge their range, considering
the horror films of the 1930s and the female gothic film.
9. Realism and film noir
Although the ?semi-documentary? has been
recognised as an important sub-category within
the main film noir cycle, few studies have dwelt
at any length on the significance of the rise of
a realist aesthetic in the formation of film
noir, nor examined in any depth noir?s debt to
Italian neo-realism. What is the nature of realism in film noir
10. The influence of other cultural forms
This essay will examine the wider cultural
context within which film noir emerged,
including the development of newsreel
photography and Weegee?s crime photography and
the influence of the ?ash can? school of
painting and Edward Hopper, but also ranging
more widely over other cultural forms.
C) American film noir and neo-noir
American film noir and neo-noir remains the
central preoccupation of noir studies and the
essays in this section will examine aspects of
its construction with a fresh eye. The
essays fall into two unequal sections: i) the
production and reception context; ii) subject
matter, themes and representation. Although
there are some significant differences between
noir and neo-noir, as reflected in the first
three essays on production and the specific
situation around HUAC, the other essays will
range across film noir and neo-noir.
Ci) Production and reception context
11. Studio production practices
This essay will explore particular studio
investments (especially those of RKO and
Monogram) in the production of film noir and
will examine significant differences between
the various studios. It will also explore the
central role of the producer and the emergence
of independent producers and production
companies from the late 1940s onwards. Because
existing accounts over- privilege the 1940s,
this essay will be particularly concerned to
examine the 1950s, looking at continuities and
differences and the reasons for changes in style, subject matter.
12. The politics of film noir: HUAC,
blacklisting, left-wing critique, noir diasporas: Dassin/Endfield/Losey
This aspect of film noir has also been
extensively discussed, but there is a clear need
for an authoritative overview, one that would
widen discussion into the careers of exiled blacklisted personnel.
13. Post-Studio production practices
This essay will examine the very different
conditions under which films noir and neo-noirs
were produced after the break-up of the ?studio
system?, examining the impact of ?New Hollywood?
and the rise of Independent Cinema through to
?post-cinema? of today in which DVD sales and
other forms of release dominate the marketplace.
14. The marketing of film noir and neo-noir
here have been very few studies of the general
processes (as opposed to ones that consider
individual celebrated films) through which
films noir and neo- noirs were actually
marketed and promoted and this essay will rectify that gap in knowledge.
15. Taste, audiences and popularity
The reception of film noir and neo-noir has not
been studied systematically or in any depth and
this essay will address that lack. In particular
there is a need to examine different taste
fractions and if/in what ways noir appealed and
still appeals more to men than women.
16. Visual style and cinematographers
17. Mise-en-scène and set design/set designers
18. Writing noir/noir narratives and screenwriters
19. Sound design
20 . Music
21 Actors and performance in film noir
The six essays in this cluster will examine
aspects of film noir that are often gestured
towards but rarely examined in any depth and
rigour. In particular, there are no studies of
set designers or set design, (or ones
of cinematographers and composers) in forging
the aesthetics of noir and neo- noir. The study
of stardom and performance is a developing area
for film scholarship, but has yet to have much
impact on discussions of film noir, hence the
need for a critical and wide-ranging essay.
C2) Subject matter, themes and representation
22. Noir and the city
23. Women in film noir
24. Masculinity and film noir
As these have always been important
preoccupations in the analysis of noir and
therefore given the extent of the existing
material, these essays will be more of a
critical review of conventional conceptions and
how these might be questioned and extended.
25. Ethnicity and film noir
This is an emerging area of interest and debate,
needing an overview that will focus centrally on
Afro-American noir but also on the
representations of other non-white groups and communities.
D) Noir in other media forms/global noir
The first three essays in this section will take
an overview of noir?s existence in a range of
media forms and within popular consciousness and
the essays will address the implications of
this pervasive presence of noir. The final three
will build on several studies of noir that have
challenged the conventional view that it is a
solely American phenomenon and have located its
important presence within a range of other
cinemas. These two essays will explore noir as a
transnational phenomenon, taking cognizance of
existing studies but, particularly in the final essay, extending their range.
26. Radio noir
Although noir was an important presence on radio
and was very popular, virtually nothing has
been written about the numerous adaptations of
hard- boiled authors and specially written tales
about private eyes and other
crime investigators. This essay will fill that yawning gap.
27. Television noir
Studies of the extensive production (from 1954)
of television noir have begun to emerge. The
essay will examine these accounts and broaden their range.
28 Comics/graphic novels
Despite widespread interest in this area there
have, as yet, been no scholarly studies and this
is a terrain where critical rigour is particularly necessary.
29 Global noir 1: Asian noir
This essay will explore the increasingly
important presence of film noirs in Asia,
notably Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea.
30 Global Noir 2: European noir
This essay will take an overview of the
disparate films noirs that have developed
in Europe, notably in France, Britain, Germany and Italy.
31. Unknown film noirs
This essay will explore film noirs in
countries (e.g. Latin America, India and
Australia) that have not yet been mapped and
critically analysed. In doing so, it will
return to the central issues of this study ? to
the problems of defining film noir and to the
politics of critical studies in creating
taxonomies, in labelling and naming particular phenomena.
Length
Each essay should be a maximum of 8,000 words; due date: 31 January 2011.
If you would like to be considered for inclusion
in the volume please send a short abstract (c.
300 words) on one of these suggested topics by 31 December 2009.
We are also open to alternative suggestions and
modifications of the topics as outlined.
Please send to:
Dr Andrew Spicer (University of the West of England): (Andrew2.Spicer /at/ uwe.ac.uk)
Dr Helen Hanson (University of Exeter):
<mailto:(H.M.Hanson /at/ exeter.ac.uk)>(H.M.Hanson /at/ exeter.ac.uk)
Andrew Spicer is the author of Film Noir
(Longmans/Pearson, 2002), the editor of European
Film Noir (Manchester University Press, 2007),
and author of the Historical Dictionary of Film
Noir (Scarecrow, in press, publication scheduled for March 2010).
Helen Hanson is the author of Hollywood
Heroines: Women in Film Noir and the Female
Gothic Film (I.B. Tauris, 2007) and the
co-editor of The Femme Fatale: Images,
Histories, Contexts (Palgrave, forthcoming,
publication scheduled for July 2010).
