Hardboiled Heroes, Deadly Dames

The hardboiled hero and his adversary, the femme fatale, arecentral tropes in the classic Hollywood films noirs produced in the1940s. Existing studies of these iconic figures often see them asarticulations of a specifically mid-twentieth century mood ofanxiety. This book develops a more diachronic and multidisciplinaryapproach, offering a socio-historical contextualisation reachingback to the advent of modernity in the nineteenth century. Byexploring several modernist discourses, this study genealogicallyconnects noir's hero to the flâneur, a figure emerging a centuryearlier as a critical metaphor for the modern subject. Similarly,the deadly dame of noir is revealed to be the cinematic renditionpar excellence of the artificial yet highly desirable new woman ofthe fin-de-siècle. Close analysis of Billy Wilder's 1944masterpiece Double Indemnity forms the foundation of this study,with other 1940s films noirs also discussed. This book provides afresh, innovative way to approach the noir canon, and to betterunderstand the historical forces that govern it. Moreover, itproposes a template for those wishing to analyse other film stylesusing the broadermatrix of modernity.

Autorentext
Dr Petra Nolan is a Research Manager in the School ofLetters, Art&Media at the University of Sydney. Dr Nolanholds a PhD in Film Studies (University of Melbourne), a Bachelorof Arts (Honours) from the University of New South Wales and aBachelor of Arts in Communications from the University ofTechnology, Sydney.

Klappentext
The hardboiled hero and his adversary, the femme fatale, are central tropes in the classic Hollywood films noirs produced in the 1940s. Existing studies of these iconic figures often see them as articulations of a specifically mid-twentieth century mood of anxiety. This book develops a more diachronic and multidisciplinary approach, offering a socio-historical contextualisation reaching back to the advent of modernity in the nineteenth century. By exploring several modernist discourses, this study genealogically connects noir's hero to the flâneur, a figure emerging a century earlier as a critical metaphor for the modern subject. Similarly, the deadly dame of noir is revealed to be the cinematic rendition par excellence of the artificial yet highly desirable new woman of the fin-de-siècle. Close analysis of Billy Wilder's 1944 masterpiece Double Indemnity forms the foundation of this study, with other 1940s films noirs also discussed. This book provides a fresh, innovative way to approach the noir canon, and to better understand the historical forces that govern it. Moreover, it proposes a template for those wishing to analyse other film styles using the broader matrix of modernity.