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So, I'm taking a class this month about film noir, primarily those movies that came out the forties and fifties in America, but we'll be touching on neo noir and some foreign films as well with the same overarching themes.  Today, though, we watched Christmas in Connecticut, which, if you've ever seen it, you should know it's definitely not a noir film.  Ironically, it came out a yearish after Double Indemnity (which we watched in class yesterday), which is generally considered to be one of the archetypal noir films, and Barbara Stanwyk played the leading lady in both movies.

In both movies, Stanwyk played a woman who was weaving a web of deceit around her in order to better her own situation: either to be alone and rich and comfortable, or to have a mink coat and a job.  The parallels aren't perfect, but they are there, and it's kind of unsettling to think about them.

Because were it not for the bright lighting, happy music, all the stylistic differences, and the last ten or so minutes of the movie, Christmas in Connecticut could be a noir film.  Terrible things are going on, a flimsy lie is falling apart all over the place, people's livelihoods hang in the balance, and no one is in control, least of all the people who think they are.

Isn't that interesting?  A classical hollywood film so close to tripping over the line of the dark, painful hollywood tragedy, the noir.  But that's all classical film ever does...the conventions of the happy ending, the comical spin on ridiculous events, the tricks of light and sound...that's all that's keeping Meet the Parents from turning into a murder suicide.

In one style, people are considered to be generally good on the inside.  In the other style, they are considered totally depraved.  That's the fundamental difference: the way we look at the people, the way we're made to think about them and their lives and their motivations.  Are they good natured or cruel at heart?

My question to you, my dear readers, is does this apply to real life, too?  In what ways are the arguments between optimism and pessimism the same as the arguments between classical film and noir?  In what ways are they different?

<3 spadeALLcross