Dark Film, Blood Money

A thought-provoking interpretation of neo-noir filmmaking, from the 1970s to the 2020s, through the lens of the economic, encompassing issues of trust, professionalism, race, artistic influence, and the relation between business and family. 14 b&w illus. Neo-noir films exert their fascination not only through their suspense, shadowy atmosphere, and moral ambiguity, but also through their registration of the experience of American life in the long twilight of the American Dream. With a sharp analytical eye and an elegant critical voice, Vernon Shetley interprets landmark works from the noir revival of the early 1970s to the present, showing how neo-noir reflects the darkening national mood as postwar prosperity gave way to economic stagnation and inequality, social alienation, and a deepening sense of crisis. From Chinatown to Mulholland Drive, from Night Moves to Nightmare Alley, neo-noir’s marginalized characters and extreme situations emerge in Shetley’s account as powerful representations of concerns central to economic and social life. Vernon Shetley teaches in the Department of English and Creative Writing and in the Cinema and Media Studies Program at Wellesley College, Massachusetts, United States. “Shetley makes a lot of sense; his choice of films is astute, and his discussion of them inspired. The result is a refreshing, valid and valuable addition to film studies.” Phillip Lopate, film critic and essayist, emeritus professor at Columbia University, NY, USA. “A brilliant interrogation of something only film can capture so powerfully, our experience of the new form of economic life that emerged in America after the end of the postwar boom. It is also a compelling account of the moral and psychological implications of the dissolution of solidarity, trust, empathy and simple humanity characteristic of this historical period, and a series of superb, detailed, and beautifully written readings of individual films.” Robert Pippin, professor of social thought and philosophy, The University of Chicago, USA. The book presents an interpretation of neo-noir filmmaking through the lens of economics, based on readings of central neo-noir works from the noir revival of the early 1970s to recent films. Analyzing key themes and figures of neo-noir – desire and betrayal, corruption and alienation, the private detective and the femme fatale – the project reads neo-noir filmmaking as a privileged site for the expression of anxieties around work, money, trust, and exchange. Neo-noir filmmaking embodies a profound reflection on the hollowing-out of economic and social life, the collapse of trust, the erosion of institutions, and fears regarding legacy and identity, developments that have undermined the promise of American life in the long twilight of the American dream since the end of postwar prosperity. Aimed at the many scholars and faculty who study and teach film noir and neo-noir at levels from high school to post-graduate. It will appeal as well to the extensive community of cinephiles enthusiastic about noir, those who attend “Noirvember” screenings at repertory movie houses, who read the websites of the Film Noir Foundation or Eddie Muller (the self-styled “Czar of Noir”), and participate in discussions of noir and neo-noir filmmaking on online forums.