New vs. Old

Classic film noir and neo-noir films have many of the same characteristics; you can say they follow a specific set of guidelines. They all have a protagonist, femme fatal, and there is always the detective; someone who is not bound by law but by his own conduct. They both give off the illusion of bleak and distorted sceneries, giving off the feeling of a very dark and menacing world.  Classic noir and neo-noir films were and are directed at a specific audience in time. Even though classic film noir and neo-noir have many of the same characteristics, the neo-noir films ‘integrate new ideas and influences from contemporary film styles to provide a news spin on the loneliness and uncertainty that is felt by many of the young and disenfranchised of today’ (Robson). In neo-noir we see the femme fatal is an independent woman with almost man-like qualities that seem to be accepted by that society, in contrast with classic noir, that kind of independence is gained through moral degradation. In classic noir crime doesn’t seem to ‘pay’ for woman but in neo-noir we see the women get off scot free. Women are portrayed as smarter than men and in the end seem to manipulate the situation to their advantage gaining them freedom at the expense of the protagonist. One of the greatest differences between the two would have to be the skin color of the characters involved, in classic noir almost all of the characters involved are white and in neo-noir there is a diversity of races that can be seen portraying the protagonist, femme fatal, or the detective.