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I just saw The Dark Knight and it got me thinking about something I've been considering anyway, which is the form noir has been appearing lately. I'm not sure that enjoyed is the right word for how I felt after that movie, I think I've been provoked and seen a real work of art, but its not like Hellboy II, that's more about hitting the bad guys. Let me see if I can make sense, I'm still working my way through the movie and guests are visiting so I won't be on too much either.
To start at where my thoughts on Noir began, I recently read the new Simon R. Green book, The Man with the Golden Torc, which is a first person spy/investigative supernatural book. I've noticed that this style has become more common, Green and Jim Butcher are the two most well known though in my opinion Green does it better. For me, Green's world's are full and even side characters have a lot to them.
Butcher seems to write the lone wolf all on his own yet the adventures have the feel of a roleplaying campaign, what counts is what happens to your character, sometimes you're in a team but that rarely holds. Harry Dresden is a great character and is surrounded by some wonderful characters but in the narrative, they're less important to the overall story.
That's one reason that I'm not a big fan of the Dresden books versus the Nightside, Hawk and Fisher and now Edwin Drood, their worlds seem more real to me, the price you pay for things and the truth and the hurt is easier to touch. I think that something that a work that's striving for noir truly needs, the shadows have to be quite dark and black to make the light even finer though in time it all ends up in grey, the good and the bad.
My comic book knowledge isn't great but I think that Hellboy and Batman are two examples of this type of world working very well though their worlds are quite different. Batman is more built on the blacks and whites of humanity, while Hellboy discusses otherworldly creatures and how do they interact with humanity, who is Hellboy versus what do Gotham and Batman mean to each other.
I think I might need to see both movies again, because they both start two different but fascinating conversations. Who do you have to be to take down the monsters and those wishing to remake the world and what's the difference between the two? I'm curious to hear other people's thoughts since these are just my first and I feel like I'm still digesting The Dark Knight.
Now I'm off to make some peach cobbler and talk some more to my father's friend. Job stuff is going and I'm feeling hopeful, but I'm still doing the round of send stuff out, wait, not hear back, send out more stuff, hope.
To start at where my thoughts on Noir began, I recently read the new Simon R. Green book, The Man with the Golden Torc, which is a first person spy/investigative supernatural book. I've noticed that this style has become more common, Green and Jim Butcher are the two most well known though in my opinion Green does it better. For me, Green's world's are full and even side characters have a lot to them.
Butcher seems to write the lone wolf all on his own yet the adventures have the feel of a roleplaying campaign, what counts is what happens to your character, sometimes you're in a team but that rarely holds. Harry Dresden is a great character and is surrounded by some wonderful characters but in the narrative, they're less important to the overall story.
That's one reason that I'm not a big fan of the Dresden books versus the Nightside, Hawk and Fisher and now Edwin Drood, their worlds seem more real to me, the price you pay for things and the truth and the hurt is easier to touch. I think that something that a work that's striving for noir truly needs, the shadows have to be quite dark and black to make the light even finer though in time it all ends up in grey, the good and the bad.
My comic book knowledge isn't great but I think that Hellboy and Batman are two examples of this type of world working very well though their worlds are quite different. Batman is more built on the blacks and whites of humanity, while Hellboy discusses otherworldly creatures and how do they interact with humanity, who is Hellboy versus what do Gotham and Batman mean to each other.
I think I might need to see both movies again, because they both start two different but fascinating conversations. Who do you have to be to take down the monsters and those wishing to remake the world and what's the difference between the two? I'm curious to hear other people's thoughts since these are just my first and I feel like I'm still digesting The Dark Knight.
Now I'm off to make some peach cobbler and talk some more to my father's friend. Job stuff is going and I'm feeling hopeful, but I'm still doing the round of send stuff out, wait, not hear back, send out more stuff, hope.
