Juxtaposition In The Big Sleep

‘The Big Sleep’ - Hayden Munro

The 1940’s film ‘The Big Sleep’ effectively uses time and place to shape the viewer's understanding of corruption as well as gender roles. Masculinity ,femininity and corruption are demonstrated throughout the film providing an insight into this era of the American underworld setting.

Corruption is a central theme in ‘The Big Sleep’ which provides viewers an insight into how the 1940’s American setting affects the viewers understanding. Pathetic fallacy is utilized during the scene where Geiger is seen getting into a car with Carol while it is raining. The rain creates a dark feel linking negative connotations of the underworld and corruption. When Marlowe enters Geiger's bookshop and asks for Gieger Agnes replies with the verbal irony “ He's not in right now” when later it is seen he was in the back room. The covering for Geiger demonstrates how people are connected to the corruption of the

After first meeting Carmen, Marlowe says “you better wean her, she is old enough”. This metaphor highlights the childish like nature of her shown by her earlier actions in the lobby. Marlowe uses juxtaposition in “ She’s not the kind of wife you would want to lose” when talking to about Eddie Mars’ wife showing how beauty is a central quality in a wife highlighting that it is women's only feature. Marlowe later talks about Carmen describing her metaphorically as “she is the girl who likes to pull the wings of flies” suggesting Carmen's annoyingness as well as expressing her childish nature , stereotypical of young women in the 1940’s. The diction of “ You looked good…. I didn't know they still made them like that” furthers the view that women are mainly for their looks as well as suggesting that women are a possession. The treatment of women in the 1940’s American society shows the audience how women are treated differently becoming an item of the men's