What is Film Noir?

Film Noir is a type of film that appeared around the 1930s. It originated from American and is a dark and mysterious film. Noir brought the standard 'gender specific' roles to TV and film. These included the Everyman, Femme fatale, henchmen and the villain. Film Noir became popular during and after the war, this was because everyone from the war had become to used to death that people decided to make films playing around with death. And this was ok because the war was a depressing period for everyone watching.

MAIN CHARACTERS

Everyman

The Everyman is our main protagonist/narrator. He is as his name explains, an every-man, he has a normal job with a normal life. He was designed this way to be relatable to anyone watching the film/show. He is usually at the wrong end of the stick when it comes to being betrayed and ending up being killed at the end. This is in most conventional Noir, but sometimes he survives or just get sent to prison. Although sometimes the Everyman survives, otherwise all the 'real everymen' would dislike the fact that the character they relate to, always dies

Femme Fatale

The Femme Fatale, this is always the woman to seduce the Everyman, normally she is asking him to do a favour for her and uses her seductive ways to convince him. The Femme Fatale was created, because during the war women had started to help in the factories. With this they gained authority and so Noir was made to give the Everyman authority, and the woman to just be seducative and causing all the problems.

The Villain/Big Boss

The Boss is a character, normally presented as the Femme Fatale's husband or employer.  He is the general  bad guy, he has lots of wealth and dangerous henchmen to do his bidding. This character of Noir normally end up being killed or sent to Jail. This was for everyone watching to get a sense of justice, rather than the villain prevailing. Although in some Noirs we see out of the Boss' perspective and feel empathy for hi, rather than the Everyman



OTHER CHARACTER (could be included)

Henchman

The Henchman are usually employed by the villain, this could be to keep the identity of villain secret. They usually come in a group of two or more, otherwise they tend to be assassins rather than a Henchmen






The Girl Next Door

The girl next door tends to be a false attraction from the Femme Fatale. When the Everyman has been broken, due to the Femme Fatale causing the problems, he goes to the Girl Next Door and she helps him

Examples of Film Noir