Growing out of a fascination with pulp fiction and the prolific 'B' films produced during the pre-war period in America, the Film Noir cycle is a unique example of a truly indigenous American cultural form. From the 1940s, Film Noir provided the 'black slate' on which Hollywood inscribed American social paranoia of the unknown. Fascinated by the formal qualities of these films, the young French cineastes and critics centred around the Cahiers du Cinema, formulated a series of critical strategies to reform the nature of conventional cinema. This unit examines a number of selected feature films from the American Film Noir cycle as a foundation on which the various strategies of the early... -- Course Website
Instructor: Associate Professor Peter Mudie
Prerequisites: VISA1000 Great Moments in Art or VISA1001 Art, Technology and Society