What is the Meaning of Noir?

At the time, the Hollywood directors of the 1940's and early 50's were unaware they were producing film noir, nor did they come to the realization that such films were " existential" - a term attached by more modern critics to the films' (almost always male) protagonists. As a philosophical belief preoccupied with free will, Existentialism stresses the individual's  responsibility for his own actions. This responsibility, for the existentialist regarded making choices within a bereft universe, that would also engender feelings of imminence and awareness of mortality.

On the road to nothing. 1945's Detour -  a prime example of
existentialism with it's dark tones and suggestion of purposeless
life.







Although Existentialism emerged as a school of thought in wartime France, there have been theories that it previously existed as part of the zeitgeist, influencing film noir via it's presence in hard-boiled crime fiction and through the general foreboding sense that permeated the years before and during World War II


In many films noir, the protagonist is also a  pariah, trapped in an urban landscape , the signature use of crepuscular settings, gently add to the mood of alienation and anxiety. There would be no trust in traditional institutional supports - such as the law - which often is inferred as being corrupt and violent in itself













Instead, the individual must be indomitable and survive by their own wits, and plots often hinge on a critical decision that determines the invariably bleak outcome of the film.