Film noir emerged out of the bleakness of World War II, at a time when the world was in a dark place, filled with disillusionment. The time was ripe for a harsh, cynical view of life with a bent towards the dark side of human nature. With it's moral ambiguity, harsh camera angles and lack of harmony in space, the films produced in this era expressed the psychological drama of war and post war America. Deeply flawed, brooding and angst ridden characters who usually met a bad end permeated the style of film and was characteristic of a changing society. Film noir is not a genre, but a style or mood of film that expresses a dark point in the history of America. With war raging in Europe, films in America began to reflect a dark and cynical view of the world. Writers wrote cynical and complex stories with many complicated plot twists. Stories often revolved around a crime but from the criminals point of view. There were extremes in emotion within the complicated stories. Audiences were ready for a more realistic and harsh view of society at this time. Women were now expected to work (and then not work after the war), which led to the need for more complicated female characters reflected in noir films. At a …show more content…
German expats are at least partly responsible for darkly lit scenes, even those taking place in daylight hours, that are a hallmark of the noir film. The faces of actors were often in shadow, making it hard to know what is really going on and creating intense emotion. Water featured heavily in noir films, whether it be in reflection of fresh rain on the dark streets or the story taking place near the water front. Scenes were framed more for tension and emotion than for physical actions. As budgets were not large for most of the films, even by the standards of the day, many of the elements of noir film were developed as cost saving