Why Noir? The Doomed Romance

A series on how film noir inspires my art- Entry #7

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A long time ago, a wise friend counseled me, saying “Romance is about NOT being fulfilled, it’s about longing.”

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The characters in film noir practice a lot of bad behavior. They smoke and drink, lie, cheat, extort and manipulate.

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I, on the other hand, have developed a preference for a life of minimal drama. Life is too damn short to spend it with worry and strife.

Yet, in much the same way someone may like a good war movie, yet has no desire to engage in combat, many of us achieve a certain catharsis by watching the sufferings of the glamorous figures in a film noir.

My art is charged with longing, drama, sexual tension, taboos, and covert couplings. Like a private eye, snapping a picture through a window, we espy people in places they are not supposed to be, or with someone they ought not to be with.

You could say I vicariously through my own art.

As Phyllis and Walter said in this famous exchange in Double Indemnity:

Phyllis: “We're both rotten.”

Walter: “Only you're a little more rotten.”

Double Indemnity

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Why Noir? is a series! Read 'em all.