Film Genres
Double Indemnity (Billy Wilder, 1944)
Film Genres
- A film genre is a particular type of film.
- A genre is a set of conventions and formulas.
- There is no one rigorous way to classify films among genres.
- "I can't define it, but I know it when I see it."
- Various ways of classifying genres
- Subject matter or theme (e.g. Western)
- Formal elements (e.g. Musical)
- Emotional tone (e.g. Melodrama)
- Plot structure (e.g. Detective Film)
- Style and period made (e.g. Film Noir)
Genre Conventions
- Plot elements (e.g. revenge in the Western)
- Themes (e.g. loyalty in HK martial arts films)
- Techniques (e.g. somber lighting in horror)
- Iconography (e.g. rugged desert landscapes -- like Monument Valley in Stagecoach -- in the Western)
- Familiarity and innovation
- The genre film needs to maintain certain recognizable elements...
- ...but also to offer some novelty, by twisting, varying, or even violating those elements in some way.
Genre: some complications
- Hybrid genres: when a film fuses elements of different genres (e.g. Blade Runner combines science fiction with film noir)
- Subgenres (e.g. film noir as subset of crime film)
- Historical patterns (the rise and fall of various genres)
- Cycles: a hit inspires multiple imitations
- Example: Horror cycles
- Nightmare on Elm Street in early 1980s
- Scream in late 1990s
- Hostel, Saw, etc., today
- But also: Blue Velvet in late 1980s/early 1990s; Pulp Fiction in late 1990s
- Genre parodies (e.g. Scream films)
- Self-conscious genre recycling (e.g. Quentin Tarantino)
Major Hollywood Genres (1)
- Comedy
- Designed to make audiences laugh (rather than to be plausible or realistic)
- Characters defined by noteworthy physical features
- Emphasis on individual episodes more than on overall plot
- Acting involves physical interaction with surroundings
- Subgenres: slapstick (physical comedy); screwball comedy; romantic comedy
- Melodrama
- Characters involved in desperate struggles
- Exaggerated emotional highs and lows
- Narratives build towards emotional climaxes
- Visual style emphasizes interiors and close-ups
Major Hollywood Genres (2)
- Musical
- Characters express their feelings through song and dance
- Plots interrupted by musical production numbers
- Frequent theme of 'putting on a show'
- Spectacular sets and settings
- Horror
- Characters with physical, psychological, or spiritual deformities
- Narratives built on suspense, surprise, and shock
- Monstrosity interrupting everyday life
- The fear of what you don't see, and the horror of what you do see
Major Hollywood Genres (3)
The Western
- Characters whose physical and mental toughness separates them from the everyday world
- Narratives of quest in rugged natural surroundings
- Stylistic emphasis on open, natural spaces and settings
- Theme of the American frontier
- Subgenres
- Epic Westerns (1940s and after)
- Existential Westerns (1950s and after)
- Political Westerns (1960s-70s and after)
- Revisionism in the Western
Major Hollywood Genres (4)
The Crime Film
- Characters who are involved in violence and the underworld (either as criminals or as crime fighters)
- Plots involve mystery, ambiguity, moral transgression
- Urban, often dark and shadowy, settings
- Subgenres
- Gangster films (rise and fall of a gangster)
- Detective films (focus on the detective or police officer)
- Police procedural
- Hard-boiled detective (private eye)
- Avenger (e.g. Clint Eastwood's Dirty Harry)
- Mysteries vs. films in which we already know whodunit
- Film Noir
- Revisionist crime films
Film Noir
- Films made from early 1940s (Double Indemnity) through late 1950s (Touch of Evil)
- Only identified as a distinctive (sub)genre after the fact
- Generally shot in black and white, on low budgets
- Moods: anxiety, alienation, cynicism, paranoia
- Themes: corruption, moral ambiguity
- Focus on individuals, but also suggestion of social ills
- Characters: the amoral tough guy, the femme fatale
- Visual influence of German Expressionism
- Nocturnal urban settings: dark and murky streets in the rain, dimly-lit apartments and hotel rooms
- Swirling cigarette smoke; light through Venetian blinds; flashing neon lights
- Oblique camera angles; low-key, chiaroscuro lighting; prominent play of light and shadow
Double Indemnity (Billy Wilder, 1944)
- Based on a hard-boiled crime novel by James M. Cain
- Screenplay written by Billy Wilder together with Raymond Chandler (who was also a famous hard-boiled crime writer)
- Career of Billy Wilder (1906-2002)
- Barbara Stanwyck (Phyllis Dietrichson) was best known at the time for comedic and melodramatic roles
- Fred MacMurray (Walter Neff) was mostly known (both before and after) for comedy
- Edward G. Robinson (Burton Keyes) made his name mostly in gangster roles
Double Indemnity: Fatality and Suspense
- Film told in flashback: everything has already happened
- Walter Neff
- Character and motivation (cynicism? sexual drive?)
- Villain or dupe? Coincidence or fate?
- Figure of the salesman
- Tough guy?
- Ambiguous actions at the end
- Why does Walter help Zachetti?
- Why does Walter confess on the dictaphone tape?
- Barton Keyes
- His "little man"
- Father-and-son relationship with Walter? ("I love you too")
- Importance of gestures
- Walter always providing the match for Keyes' cigar
- Reversal at the end, when Keyes lights Walter's cigarette
Double Indemnity: Sex and Death
Phyllis Dietrichson (Barbara Stanwyck) as femme fatale
- First meeting of Phyllis and Walter (staircase)
- Double-entendre dialogue between them
- The chemistry between them (given the restrictions of the censorship code)
- Phyllis' motivations and background
- "The scent of honeysuckle": seduction and murder
- Multiple betrayals
- The final confrontation between Walter and Phyllis
- The relationship between Walter and Lola (Jean Heather)
Double Indemnity: Visual Style
- Built around a series of contrasts
- Indoors vs. Outdoors
- Day vs. Night
- Sun vs. Rain and Sun vs. Shadow
- Importance of locations
- The insurance office
- Walter's apartment
- The outside of the Dietrichson house
- The inside of the Dietrichson house: stairway and living room
- Cars and train
- Chiaroscuro lighting
- Sunlight through slanted blinds
- The city at night
- Moonglow through the blinds, with the lights out
Double Indemnity as Film Noir
- This is one of the first noirs; it established many of the typical features of the genre
- The look and the lighting
- Themes of guilt, corruption, and betrayal
- Themes of twisted desire and dangerous sexuality
- The femme fatale
- The man corrupted and entrapped by the dangerous woman
- In contrast, the naively innocent woman (Lola)
- Negative view of suburban family life (Mr. Dietrichson at home)
- Paranoia (fear of getting caught)
- Cynicism (Phyllis is just using Walter)