Research Question: For my video essay I plan to take a deeper dive into country noir and in particular why the noir narrative style lends itself so well to the country setting. In doing this I will have to take a closer look at defining characteristics of 50’s noir and how they are shared with contemporary country noir, as well as the real-world social context of rural America.
Topics/subjects: Firstly I will have to establish the concept of the city in classic noir, and furthermore the effects it has on the characters. In doing this it might help me to reference real-world economic hardships in rural areas as they play a large role in many country noirs. In addition, I will also have to look at how themes of existentialism can be seen in both examples of noir. Some questions and things needing more research might be; What are the real-world social contexts that lead to contemporary country noir? How are some major character tropes carried over from classic noir? Did the western genre influence Country noir in any way?
Course readings:
Christopher – Into the labryinth
This will help me frame the city in classic noir and provide the base of what characteristics carry over into the settings of country-noir
Porfiro – No Way Out
Here I will reference this reading for examples of existentialism as well as some ways these themes extend to the real-world events of contemporary life.
Dickos – Neo Noir
To understand the overarching umbrella that country noir falls into being neo-noir
Films
- Blow the man down
- winters bone
- no country for old men
- pulp fiction – neo noir
- badlands
- child of god
- goldstone
It seems that you have a good grasp on where you are going with your video essay, with multiple sources of media to support your thesis. I like how you told us exactly how the readings pertain to your argument. I recommend watching some early western films to get that much needed perspective.
It would be interesting to see an elaboration on what we talked about in class on Tuesday in regard to the “raw” and “roughness” we attribute to country/western noir. You also seem to have a good list of films to reference for this exploration. I think it would be good to also have some external readings about country/western noir.
I think this topic is pretty interesting as we have just kind of got into talking about this sort of “country noir” thing. Rural American and noir combined is pretty interesting in itself as it offers some different attributes that your typical noir film may not touch on.
The readings definitely seem to be appropriate as the ones mentioned give us a look at themes and traits seen within noir films. and It will help with the comparison aspect of typical noir and country noir films. Some of the films selected are films that I don’t know too much about, but for the ones I do know; I feel like they fit well for this topic and similar to the readings will offer comparison and contrast throughout the process of the project
For your proposal, This selected topic is interesting and something I’ve wondered myself. This gradual allowance of more and more violence in these films.
Your selection for topic/subject is also well thought out and pairs well with your proposal. You are specific in how you’re going to establish the style of noir in a country setting.
Your helpful readings are all selected with purpose and reason. You have a great arrangement of readings to utilize for your topic.
For your films selected, you have a ton, which is amazing. Way better than my proposal, you have a lot to work with from the get-go.
What a cool topic! This would be engaging to me because we often learn more about city noir rather than country noir, and so this would be different, informative, unique. I actually think blogs from writers with different backgrounds would add onto your argument. It’d help with including opinions about maybe which take is more popular. I think you should add Kiss Me Deadly to your list because that is a great example of a man, a confident one, at that, in the city, which is a character portrayal we most often see, and contrast this to a main character in country noir.
Your topic and mine are actually pretty closely related, albeit with some differences. I watched The Devil All the Time for class, and while I’m not planning on using it for my topic, I think it fits really nicely into yours. It has the classic flashbacks, the narration, and certainly the violence. It might be worth looking into, although you already do have quite a few films on your list, so it’s totally understandable if you don’t have time. I think the themes of existentialism in rural-noir will be really unique, and I’m excited to see your essay!
This is interesting. I can definitely see how you would make connections to noir films and contemporary country films, especially when it comes to violence. Country films are rather “old” in nature anyway so it works. I think the films and readings you’ve chosen should help with your research.