Basic Instinct
The film noir, or black film, is known as a popular phenomenon in American film-making. The era of the film noir began during, and following the war, becoming a common part of the American movie culture in the 1940’s and 1950’s. Later in the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s, the conventions of film noir grew popular once again in what is considered the post-noir, or neo-noir era. The film noir encourages realism, and depicts dark images and a fatalistic perspective of the world. Notorious for it’s American crime and detective films, film noir displays evil, ambiguity, pessimism and paranoia. The plot includes scenes of crime, corruption, murder and predominantly a mysterious femme fatale. Basic Instinct, can be categorized as a neo-noir film, as it includes these conventions of the film noir genre, primarily the daring and devious femme fatale, Catherine Tramell. From a technical viewpoint, Basic Instinct uses the common techniques in noir films. One of the most popular techniques of the film noir genre, that is evident within Basic Instinct, is the use of low-key lighting and shadows. In the scene where Catherine is brought to police headquarters for investigation, she is questioned in a dark room, where the spotlight is on her.
The purpose of this type of lighting is to highlight the character and differentiate her from the background. The use of this lighting is effective, as the audience’s attention is drawn directly to Catherine Tramell, and encourages us to deeply analyze her character. Likewise, Catherine uses sexual attraction as a means of manipulating men. When she speaks to Nick, she speaks close to his face, as if she is going to kiss him. She speaks in a slow and seductive tone of voice. Her movements are slow and graceful and when she walks, there is sexuality in her sway. He is drawn to her sexually and she is fully aware of this. As a result, she plays with this tension and attraction, and eventually he falls victim to her trap. Knowing very well that she is a definite threat, he chooses to pursue her, though his fate lies in her hands. Although Nick’s original intention is to prove Catherine guilty of murder, Catherine actually changes his mind throughout the course of the plot, with her attempts seeming almost effortless. In the end, Nick tries to prove Catherine’s innocence in the murder case, and thus displays the power and manipulation of the femme fatale. One of the most infamous elements of the fil
Some topics in this essay:
Catherine Tramell,
Basic Instinct,
Likewise Catherine,
,
film noir,
femme fatale,
catherine tramell,
basic instinct,
noir genre,
film noir genre,
conventions film,
conventions film noir,
basic instinct categorized,
falls victim,
era film,
categorized neo-noir,
resolution movie,
instinct categorized neo-noir,
era film noir,
Join now to see the rest of the essay!
Approximate Word count = 819
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
More Essays on Basic Instinct Professional Papers: |
CUSTOMER SERVICES
|
|
Saved Papers
You haven't saved any papers.
|