First
Assignment: Option one
Jim and Nick are the protagonists on the neo noir short
stories “The Kidnapper Bell” and “The City of Commerce”. Both men possess the
quality of a troubled man and they found themselves in a distorted situation.
Jim got involve on a kidnapping, see two dead people and save a girl who escape
from him and all because of a girl, on the other hand Nick find himself in the
arms of Russian gangs who wants their money back and the trouble is all because
of his gambling problems. Both characters are very aware of the situation and
they have the chance to run away from it as soon as the trouble started but
they didn’t, instead they keep moving forward and getting along with the flow
of the dark world they already in,. They create their own problems, and they
allow themselves to be drag in the criminal behavior. Just like Jim who can
just call 911 about the dead body he found under the bridge and Nick who can
turn around and go home after his first win at the casino. These two protagonists
are also driven by a woman, Jim’s date is consider as a femme fatale and Karen
I would say is the good girl one. If only Jim didn’t listen to her and Nick did
the opposite, it would be a whole different story, but once again it’s another
example of protagonists who let other character manipulate them.
Second
Assignment:
I will choose “The Girl Who Kissed Barnaby Jones” as the best
example of Noir. The story has the two main characters of Noir, which are the
protagonist and femme fatale. Tate is
the protagonist who falls under the spell of the gorgeous woman name
Cherrie-the femme fatale. Tate think that he would hit the third base with
Cherrie but little did he knows she wants his help to cover up a crime , in the
end Cherrie is trying to kill him for insisting to be her accomplice. I really
like reading this story. I picture everything in my head, the Burberry shop
they work at, Tate, Gary’s mansion, the sexuality and the actions. I was
smiling the whole time especially at the part where Cherrie is holding a gun
and trying to control the situation, a man who thought he reach the heaven
(sex) is now in hell and all helpless. Cherrie’s character possess a strong
quality of a femme fatale, one who uses her sexuality to seduce her pray is
exactly what she does with Tate and all other people around her. She’s also a
psycho in the head and she reminds of Phyllis when she pulls that trigger in
attempt to kill Tate. All in all it was a good read, there’s the element of
crime, the sense of danger, sexuality, the setting and the characters of noir.
The one that would be hard to
classify as Noir is “Kinship” I like the main idea of the story, it revolves
around family, not mentioning that I am very familiar of the places and how it
is over there on the said country. There is gangs involve and the idea of
revenge but I kind of thought that it is a little more of a drama, I feel
bad/sad towards Emerson and the part where Tomas describe his relationship with
Emerson is a bit dramatic for a Noir. How he used to be a gang banger and now
he serve the church and help troubled kids overcome life’s hardship. I also
thought that it was the first time that a religion is involve or the
protagonist is a religious person and talks about God so much. Usually whenever
I read or watch noir story I automatically feel the sense of danger or the
thrill but not on this story, I sympathize more on Emerson and his situation. There’s
a lot of emotions involve and it has the same response coming from me as a
reader, I got emotional and thought how great it would be to have an uncle like
Tomas. There some parts where I feel it is noir, the scene where he’s looking
for his ice peak and the ending where he finally stuck him, other than that it
is an action but more of a drama kind of story.
