Social Condition In Hollywood's Noir Films

Noir injected a bleakness into American cinema, a desolate quality that distinguishes it from the optimistic Hollywood productions of the 1930s, with their flat lighting, tidy narratives, and satisfying conclusions. In Hollywood Genres, Thomas Schatz attributes this bleakness to social condition in World War II America: “This changing visual world . . . reflected the progressively darkening cultural attitudes during and after the war. Hollywood’s noir films documented the growing disillusionment with certain traditional American values in the face of complex and often contradictory social, political, scientific, and economic developments” (113). One of the characteristics of noir film that distinguishes it from earlier crime film is its highly stylized …show more content…
This situation also prepared the audience to accept the most challenging and daring films. From their previous stand society was ready to accept the depiction of sex and obscenity, a grave change that influenced and helped Hollywood productions. In the mid-1950s the U.S Supreme Court narrowed down the definition of obscenity. Playboy made its market entry in 1952. Americans wholeheartedly accepted the central tenets of Freudian theory, which led to new interpretations of criminality and a more liberal view of sex. Based on these social shifts and to tackle the new challenge from the television, the Production Code in 1956 was loosened particularly on taboo subjects like drug abuse and prostitution. Thus Hollywood geared its production to suit the adult audiences, a change was noticed in the rise of melodrama such as East of Eden (1954), All that Heaven Allows (1955), Giant (1956), Peyton Place (1957), and the sex comedies like Gentleman Prefer Blondes (1953), The Seven Year Itch (1955) and Some Like It Hot (1959). Crime films viewed these changes as shocking, highly psychological productions, replete/ filled with new kinds of killers, offenses, and motivations and a brasher display of