Presentation Outline: Brick

I.          Brick is a film that was created in 2005 by Rian Johnson. The Protagonist Brendan a lonely Teenage Boy. Who finds himself in the search for his ex-girlfriend Emily murder at a southern California high school.

II.        Characteristics and Conventions of the Film that Link it to Classic Film Noir

1.      Ambiguous Protagonist

A.    Brendan plays the Hard-Boiled detective role very seriously in trying to   unveil the murder of his ex-girlfriend.

B. Brain-  has elements of an detective just like the protagonist.

2.      Overwhelming Anxiety
A.     Brendan receives a frantic called from Emily the day before she was murder which shows that there was something suspicion going on.

3.      Crime and Violence
A.     Seems to follow Brendan, he is beaten up multiple times. All them was   part of The Pin associate.
B.     Flashbacks-First day when Emily called Brendan at the phone booth went back to the same phone booth to set up Pin and Tugger.

C. Camera Angles and Low Lighting- many times low lighting barely showing the faces of the Protagonist, also the off balances show who has the authority at the time showing the control over that person.

III.       Elements of the Film that Deviate from Classic Film Noir and Link it to Neo Noir

1.      Two Femme Fatales
A.    Kara and Laura both try many times to manipulative Brendan with lust and greed.

2.      Anxieties of times
A.     The high school is corrupt with drugs like the urban environment.

3.      Location
A.     Deviates from noir settings high school in southern California.

 Source one :

In the article “Brick a classic film noir the modern age”  by Mr. Witticism he explains how Laura is similar to Brigid O’ Shaughnessy in the 40’s film The Maltese Falcon sing the same actual line referring to Now  your dangerous (Witticism). It related to the topic because Brendan knew already that Laura was up to something and he wasn't fall into the trap rather than most protagonists who falls into the trap of the femme fatale. 

Source Two:

In the article “Movies for grown-ups: Brick"  Jean Godard explains how the world of Brick is a world where adults barley exist much less matter and when they do exist are mostly played for intentional laughs, such as the brilliant scene where the warring teens are force to play nicer while in the presence of the main heavy’s clueless mother( Godard) This quote was related to the topic because there are only two parts where we see adults and that will be the vice-principal and the Pins mother. And when they are around the only two adults they are playing are innocent as if they’re not involve of the world of drugs.

Blog # 7

The story i would recommend to my friend would be "The Method" i enjoyed reading this story a lot because it was different having the protagonist as a female, but it was exciting to hear it. i was so into this story because this time it was like the man that are  usually the protagonists was the femme fatale or should i say the man-tale. It was a big flip around having the man seducing the female because I'm always use to hearing about the female taking control and seducing the man. but it still turned out that the female end up wining in the situation. I like that the fact she was aware of what was going on. At the end of the story  she had reverse her self into a true femme fatale she made it seem that she didn't know what was going  on but was really setting him up in the trap that he had planed for her.
In "Morocco Junction" it was a good story to read but i just didn't connect to it like i did reading "The Method". The Method was more film noir to me just in a woman point of view,  even though most of the time it doesn't always turn out that one of them gets away but in this story she end up getting away and he didn't even know it was coming. I also notice that she didn't tell it like she was having  flashbacks it was more of straight forward, however i do consider it still to be noir because it doesn't matter that the fact that the female is the protagonist and first- person narrator either way it still turns out with a cruel murder.

Blog # 5

The article i found on film noir is by Scott Snyder University of Georgia he talks about the many personality of femme fatales in film noir. He explains that in the 1940s and 1950s theses femme fatales has several related personality characterized by histrionics, self-absorption, psychopathy and unpredictability. As in Double Indemnity Phyllis Dietrichson  played by Barbara Stanywyck was the first image and appearances of a femme fatale as the author describes Phyllis Dietrichson  at the top of the stairway landing looking down as if from pinnacle of power and desire, wearing only a bath towel as she walks down the stairs the camera is mainly focus on her legs showing how she begin seductively towards the insurances salesman Walter Neff played by Fred MacMurry. what i had insight from that little part was that   you can tell that the femme fatale role in most film noir movies or novels has composite of lust, power and greed. i also like how in Scott article he refers to the femme fatale as the the "Fatal Women" who lures men in to dangerous or compromising situation. My perspective hasn't change of what i think about film noir this article just gave me better view of why they created the cinematic method of the femme fatale in film noir.    

Blog # 4 (Questions 1&6)

1. Discuss the contrast between the ending of the novel and the film.Which ending seems more appropriate for the film noir? Why?

In the novel the ending wasn't too realistic to me it just seem so confusing.I didn't like the fact how  Walter and Phyllis was together on the boat i least thought she had killed him due to her begin the first to get revenge on Walter overall i think the novel ending wasn't such of a great ending. It has you thinking to yourself what just happen? Did i miss something?, However i did enjoy the film ending because it was more understanding and it went perfect. Walter and Phyllis both end up dying which i wanted one of them to die because of what they did  Mr.Nirdlinger. It turned out well because they both died. it really had my blood thrilling when i was watching the part when Walter was in Phyllis house in the living room and how it was all dark i knew from that moment Phyllis was going to kill Walter but turn out they killed each other. the film Ending was the more appropriate ending that made more sense.

6.Raymond Bore and Etienne Chaumeton in their work "towards a definition of Film Noir," describe the qualities of film noir as "nightmarish, weird  erotic, ambivalent, and cruel." Select one quality and discuss how it relates to the film version of Double Indemnity.

I will have to say film noir to be cruel because of all the violence that goes on and how most of the character in a film noir movies or novels  have no care or heart of feelings towards what they will do just for love or money. Cruel relates to film version of Double Indemnity because of the way Walter and Phyllis were towards each other and the people around them. it was like they had no  feeling of how it would affect someone else.

Blog # 3 Uncovering the Truth

As it is told most noir tales are involve with detectives that is able to solve the crime or to uncover the truth like in the novel Double Indemnity by James M. Cain i found Mr. Keyes  playing the role of the detective. Mr Keyes suited this role of a hard-boiled detective with his clever ways of figuring the case out without even having Phyllis and Mr. Huff snitch on each other. Even though Mr. Huff thought he knew the ropes behind the perfect murder Mr. keyes showed his dedication to being in the insurance company for so long, Mr. keyes knew when something wasn't right and he made sure to prove his point that it didn't  just seem right  "They had tired to insure  him, without him knowing, that would have looked funny" (58). As Mr. Keyes pointed out that Phyllis the wife had put accident insurances without her husband knowing gave many suspicious to why it was looking more like a murder rather than suicide. This made Mr. keyes get involve with the case even more he was going to get down to the point that Mr. Nirdlinger  was murder and it had to be someone close to him. " The beneficiary of such a policy, so far as im concerned is automatically under suspicion" (60). Even though Mr.huff try to get away what he thought was the perfect murder Mr.keyes prove he knew the policy and how many crooks couldn't fool the insurance company. Having Mr.Huff confess that he was the one to killed Mr.Nirdlinger showed that their was no way of fooling Mr. Keyes.

Blog 2: How Double Indemnity is Film Noir

As i read Double Indemnity by James M. Cain  i saw various of quotes and definitions that related this book to be film Noir. there were many clues that caught my attention on how Cain show the novel elements of film Noir  the protagonist seem to be a older man that is very mature he end up getting himself into trouble leading him to be between legal and criminal behavior "You are going to do it and i will help you." (17) in this quote the protagonist character Mr. Huff is going to help one of the females  which in film Noir there are two types as in this novel he is falling for the femme fatale she is gorgeous  , double- crossing, manipulative and most of all i think a predatory. Mrs. Nirdlinger knew how to get Mr. Huff into her trap and she did it well " I liked you the very first minute. i loved it, the soleman way you kept talking about your company and all this and that" (13).  she had to get him to know how she felt about him to make her seem like the trustworthy and loving women. the more i read about the novel i began to see that its was becoming erotic, cruel and ambivalent. just as in the definitions of Film Noir  it explained all this just by the way the mood and the conflict started in the novel. Mr Huff is justifying his perspective of life he feels like he knows all the ropes around to get a way with a murder. Even though in many film Noir the narrative tells many flashbacks  but not in this novel but James M Cain makes it very thrilling and i cant wait to contiune the novel to see how it turns out.
Also in this novel you can tell how he emphasizes about the crime begin brutal, shadowy and sadistic. Mr .Huff was very doomed in love with Mrs.Nirdlinger which bought his weakness out as always you sure can predict what will happen in the novel because of how it started it that's what is nice about film Noir because you can assume this will happen but it flips to a different conflict which excites me a lot. Double Indemnity is a great novel to be explain what film Noir is all about.

Viewing the World in Black and White

My first thought about film Noir i knew in my head it wasn't going to be the kind of cinematic that i'm use to watching or even reading about till i read the article Neo Noir 90's. After reading the article it had help me to get a better understanding on what film Noir is all  about. i think its interesting that film Noir is a stylish way to help us express our self more dealing with crime and i had found out by reading this article that many of great filmmakers some i know have director all kinds of film noir movies. im glad that i would be able to learning more about how film Noir will teach me about the new moods in the Hollywood movies. i know i will soon be exposed to written many papers on film Noir this will be a great experience to understand the various forms of World War ll.