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The book presents an interpretation of neo-noir filmmaking through the lens of economics, based on readings of central neo-noir works from the noir revival of the early 1970s to recent films. Analyzing key themes and figures of neo-noir – desire and betrayal, corruption and alienation, the private detective and the femme fatale – the project reads neo-noir filmmaking as a privileged site for the expression of anxieties around work, money, trust, and exchange. Neo-noir filmmaking embodies a profound reflection on the hollowing-out of economic and social life, the collapse of trust, the erosion of institutions, and fears regarding legacy and identity, developments that have undermined the promise of American life in the long twilight of the American dream since the end of postwar prosperity.
Aimed at the many scholars and faculty who study and teach film noir and neo-noir at levels from high school to post-graduate. It will appeal as well to the extensive community of cinephiles enthusiastic about noir, those who attend “Noirvember” screenings at repertory movie houses, who read the websites of the Film Noir Foundation or Eddie Muller (the self-styled “Czar of Noir”), and participate in discussions of noir and neo-noir filmmaking on online forums.
Dark Film, Blood Money is an original and significant contribution to the fields of film studies, American culture studies, and studies of film noir. Readers will find valuable insights throughout the work. Dark Film, Blood Money will be an important resource for those teaching film noir, American film history, and American Studies. Written in an accessible, jargon-free style, the book toggles splendidly between close reading of individual films and an overarching account of what neo-noir reveals about American society.
— Julie Grossman, professor of literature and film and television studies, Le Moyne College, NY, USA.
Vernon Shetley teaches literature and film at Wellesley College, MA, USA. He is the author of After the Death of Poetry: Poet and Audience in Contemporary America and essays on a range of film-related subjects, including Blade Runner, Saving Private Ryan, the Olsen Twins, and Scarlett Johansson’s science fiction films, which have appeared in both edited collections and peer-reviewed journals.
List of Figures
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Nightcrawler Nation
1. Incest and Capital in Neo-Noir
2. Incest and Modernity: Mean Streets and After
3. The Private Eye as Professional: Charisma and Ambivalence
4. Femme Fatales and Other Marginalized Workers
5. Feminism, the Femme Fatale, and the Problem of Trust
6. Lesbian Noir as Solution to the Problem of Trust
7. Legacies of Race in Neo-Noir
8. Anxieties of Influence in Neo-Noir
Conclusion: Waking Nightmares
References
Index