Is Film Noir a Genre?

Genre is the French word for type, and can be used to categorise most media texts. A genre is established when a number of films all share clear codes and conventions, creating a new style. The advantage of this is that different audiences will have different favourite genres, so each group can be targeted (for example women will stereotypically watch romantic comedies). If the codes and conventions are followed then the director can confidently create a piece that they know the audience will enjoy. The audience is satisfied because when a certain genre is promoted to them, they know what they are buying into and are assured they will enjoy it. 

There is much debate among film students as to whether film noir is a genre or a style.

Brick Analysis

Brick (2005 Film) Analysis from jessfareymedia

The song "Emily's Theme" mentioned in slide 13 can be found on Youtube if you click here.

Gone Girl Analysis

Although most film critics catergorise Gone Girl (2014) as a crime film or psychological thriller, when I recently watched it myself I actually identified some of the key conventions of a film noir within it, which I have outlined below. For these reasons I believe Gone Girl could be considered a neo-noir.