tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990365479009764.post7988003504766342486..comments2024-03-14T18:09:09.667-05:00Comments on Do Some Damage: Upbeat Noir?Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990365479009764.post-31646963090543706062010-11-10T14:56:01.606-05:002010-11-10T14:56:01.606-05:00Paul, you'e right, the humour is very importan...Paul, you'e right, the humour is very important. And I don't think many people see the ending of <i>The Graduate</i> as a downer - he gets the girl, doesn't he? But you make a good point about the look on their faces.<br /><br />I agree Bryon, the niche markets have a lot to do with it.<br /><br />Yeah, Steve, there are certainly a lot of sanitized shows - especially crime shows - that never really question the status quo.<br /><br />Patti, I agree, we have far too many victims. I saw a recent episode of <i>Law & Order SVU</i> and I was shocked at how cruelly they treated a guy who had come out of prison (where he had been for a bloodless theft and allowed to be repeatedly raped) in order to catch a rapist/murderer (who had also raped the guy in prison). I kept waiting for someone to remark about how they were treating this guy, threatening him, brutalizing him, never once considering he was also a victim of multiple violent sexual assaults but it never happened.<br /><br />The phony self-rightousness these characters wrap themselves in seems to know no bounds.John McFetridgehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09442198820998606682noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990365479009764.post-1329048806207753732010-11-10T14:40:00.594-05:002010-11-10T14:40:00.594-05:00Seems there's still a good deal of "sanit...Seems there's still a good deal of "sanitized" crime stories on TV. When I was a kid we had ADAM-12 and now they have CSI. We had HAWAII FIVE-0. They have, THE MENTALIST. (Ha. You thought I was going to say BIG BANG THEORY?)<br /><br />I think the push to having series on the movie channels is the biggest difference. I still remember what a big deal it was on MOONLIGHTING when David called Maddie the b-word.Steve Weddlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03876211586767139613noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990365479009764.post-23493251642481491882010-11-10T14:08:17.503-05:002010-11-10T14:08:17.503-05:00I think a story can be very dark if it has one or ...I think a story can be very dark if it has one or two things going for it: it has a character you root for, if you have learned some essential truth from it, if the end offers some hope, if it has humor to balance the dread. Now WINTER"S BONE had an almost Jesus-like protagonist who never wavered, so is that noir? <br />I know the definition of noir is that things start out badly and only get worse, but frankly I am tired of reading stories with extreme violence for the sake of it. I am tired of stories that never look at the victims of such violence--that never really bother to develop anything but violence. I yearn for a return things implied but not shown.pattinase (abbott)https://www.blogger.com/profile/02916037185235335846noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990365479009764.post-18085303542126483732010-11-10T08:36:24.726-05:002010-11-10T08:36:24.726-05:00I agree with Paul that all of the shows you mentio...I agree with Paul that all of the shows you mention have had moments of great humor. But I think the biggest thing going is that with audiences splintering so much on TV and in the movies, if you can't have huge commercial success you've got to go for critical success and everyone knows the easiest way to critical success is to be dark and serious.<br /><br />You've seen this is the rise of noir short fiction. Crime writers seeking literary cred or literary writers seeking a larger audience settled in the middle with dark crime fiction. <br /><br />If you read through any edition of the Best American Mystery Stories you'll see the bulk of the stories are dark, especially the ones pulled from the literary journals.Bryon Quertermoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18142740189973184854noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7119990365479009764.post-51757873345290111122010-11-10T05:24:24.355-05:002010-11-10T05:24:24.355-05:00From the TV shows that you mention, the ones that ...From the TV shows that you mention, the ones that I've seen are really funny, though. Deadwood is very, very funny! <br /><br />Maybe we just find it easier to accept life's (sucker) punchline these days. There is nowhere to hide!<br /><br />My fave downer ending in a film is in The Graduate, the 'now what?' look on the stars faces! Doh!Paul D Brazillhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12881642426845398389noreply@blogger.com