http://www.slashfilm.com/star-wars-tv-show/
Let's talk about the cancelled Star Wars TV show, Star Wars: Underworld. From the article:
"More talky" and filled with "personal dramas" are two ways to describe a Noir, but they do not define the genre. I feel they are only pieces of the puzzle. I could call Game of Thrones or The Walking Dead as "more talky" and filled with "personal dramas" as well and be spot on.
Mind you, Star Wars: Underworld has the Noir look from the Star Wars 1313 concept art linked to in the article, but it feels a lot like Blade Runner art, sort of a yes "retro future" look with large, dark thematic elements. You could put Alien in there as well and be right at home, but for some reason I don't feel Noir in sci-fi would look that big. Big and dehumanizing yes, but not really in a "big and cool looking" sort of vibe that I am getting here. I am getting a distinct Moebius feeling from this art, and not really Noir, as it just looks too cool, too designed, and too darkly slick in a way.
I suppose the major element of the halo of light hanging above the city, some sort of large access tube I think, reflects too much hope. Yes, the city is down here, and the rest of the world is up there, but that circle of light artistically represents a god in my eyes, some sort of divine presence over the dark future sci-fi city. It looks almost like religious iconography, which can be present in Noir, but the message it sends to me is one of hope and escape by the constant presence of a heaven-type place above. Yes, this is supposed to be a hell-ish place, and I get that, but to have a god-like halo floating above feels wrong to me, at least from a Noir perspective, because this powerful presence detracts and absorbs all attention.
To me, Noir style art would emphasize the inevitability of death, the soul-crushing machine-like and uncaring world, and focus attention in on the characters and not a higher presence above. A looming paranoid environment, with people trapped in a cage, and no way out. Sort of like the seemingly innocent hotel in Key Largo with the hurricane outside, what was once a normal and happy place, now turned in on itself by the presence of power and hatred.
"Trapped like rats in a cage," comes to mind.
As a side note, remember Hitchcock's use of shadow and light? How he could turn a seemingly normal, happy, and inviting place into something sinister just by the careful projection of light and shadow? How unsettling it feels to have a normal scene transformed into a scene of tension and horror just by the lighting? This is another hallmark of Noir, what was once a normal place is now something stifling, threatening, and terrifying just with a simple change. You saw this again in Citizen Kane with the before and after images of Xanadu, what was once an incredible palace is now a hellish nightmare, just because of the lighting telling us a huge part of the story.
We are not safe anywhere.
But back to the ideas of Noir being "more talky" and "personal dramas" for a while. True, and true. But the phrase "personal dramas" bugs me. Star Wars to me feels too hopeful and idealistic to be Noir, as the roots of the Star Wars universe are in the adventure serials of the 1930's. I don't know if inserting Noir into the period between episodes III and IV would work, since my whole feeling on a series like that would be "wait a while and things will get back to normal soon." The next movie in this series is "the escape hatch" for tone and feeling, and in Noir, there is no escape hatch, no caring and ever-present light above, no hope, and no way out.
None. We are doomed by our past and held to our fate.
But, "personal dramas?"
Yes, there are personal dramas in Noir, but again, it is much more than soap opera stuff. I am probably reading too much into this simple statement at this point, but it is an interesting discussion because the entire concept of Film Noir is something so loosely defined and understood, with many critics disagreeing on what it is and what it means, and even down to what films are Noir and not (or what parts of them are).
Film Noir is an influence, really, and more than just a genre. Understanding what people say about the genre, and what it means to them is of interest. We only know the past by what is recorded and what is passed down, and this is always influenced by how we see the past today.
Those words "more talky" and "personal dramas" are a key to how Film Noir is seen today, and thus important to understand as creators in this genre. They aren't everything, and they certainly don't define Film Noir, but they are a part of today's perception of the genre.
Expectations are flavored by the times we live in.
When you come across mentions of Film Noir, it is always interesting to pull apart how and why Noir influenced them, and what parts feel Noir and in what ways. This projects feels like a huge mix of influences, and it looks like a jumble of concepts and pieces of which Noir is only a part. Noir may be holding together the forms and shapes with its blackness, and who knows how much influence Noir may have had on the unreleased stories of this project. We will likely never know, but analyzing how people talk about it and looking at the artworks associated with this project can give us a better understanding about how Noir is influencing today's creators, and what today's audiences are being trained to expect when a project is said to be like "Film Noir."
Let's talk about the cancelled Star Wars TV show, Star Wars: Underworld. From the article:
Lucas compared the series to Episode IV, saying that it would be “funny and there’s action.” But instead of being based on the action-adventure films of the 1930s, it would be based more on the film noir films from the 1940s and in a sense be more talky and be filled with more “personal dramas.”The show has never been produced and it is really only vaporous at best, but the article does have some very interesting concept art and sketches of the Star Wars 1313 canon from the associated cancelled video-game project. What I am interested in here is another view of Film Noir and what it means to this creator.
"More talky" and filled with "personal dramas" are two ways to describe a Noir, but they do not define the genre. I feel they are only pieces of the puzzle. I could call Game of Thrones or The Walking Dead as "more talky" and filled with "personal dramas" as well and be spot on.
Mind you, Star Wars: Underworld has the Noir look from the Star Wars 1313 concept art linked to in the article, but it feels a lot like Blade Runner art, sort of a yes "retro future" look with large, dark thematic elements. You could put Alien in there as well and be right at home, but for some reason I don't feel Noir in sci-fi would look that big. Big and dehumanizing yes, but not really in a "big and cool looking" sort of vibe that I am getting here. I am getting a distinct Moebius feeling from this art, and not really Noir, as it just looks too cool, too designed, and too darkly slick in a way.
I suppose the major element of the halo of light hanging above the city, some sort of large access tube I think, reflects too much hope. Yes, the city is down here, and the rest of the world is up there, but that circle of light artistically represents a god in my eyes, some sort of divine presence over the dark future sci-fi city. It looks almost like religious iconography, which can be present in Noir, but the message it sends to me is one of hope and escape by the constant presence of a heaven-type place above. Yes, this is supposed to be a hell-ish place, and I get that, but to have a god-like halo floating above feels wrong to me, at least from a Noir perspective, because this powerful presence detracts and absorbs all attention.
To me, Noir style art would emphasize the inevitability of death, the soul-crushing machine-like and uncaring world, and focus attention in on the characters and not a higher presence above. A looming paranoid environment, with people trapped in a cage, and no way out. Sort of like the seemingly innocent hotel in Key Largo with the hurricane outside, what was once a normal and happy place, now turned in on itself by the presence of power and hatred.
"Trapped like rats in a cage," comes to mind.
As a side note, remember Hitchcock's use of shadow and light? How he could turn a seemingly normal, happy, and inviting place into something sinister just by the careful projection of light and shadow? How unsettling it feels to have a normal scene transformed into a scene of tension and horror just by the lighting? This is another hallmark of Noir, what was once a normal place is now something stifling, threatening, and terrifying just with a simple change. You saw this again in Citizen Kane with the before and after images of Xanadu, what was once an incredible palace is now a hellish nightmare, just because of the lighting telling us a huge part of the story.
We are not safe anywhere.
But back to the ideas of Noir being "more talky" and "personal dramas" for a while. True, and true. But the phrase "personal dramas" bugs me. Star Wars to me feels too hopeful and idealistic to be Noir, as the roots of the Star Wars universe are in the adventure serials of the 1930's. I don't know if inserting Noir into the period between episodes III and IV would work, since my whole feeling on a series like that would be "wait a while and things will get back to normal soon." The next movie in this series is "the escape hatch" for tone and feeling, and in Noir, there is no escape hatch, no caring and ever-present light above, no hope, and no way out.
None. We are doomed by our past and held to our fate.
But, "personal dramas?"
Yes, there are personal dramas in Noir, but again, it is much more than soap opera stuff. I am probably reading too much into this simple statement at this point, but it is an interesting discussion because the entire concept of Film Noir is something so loosely defined and understood, with many critics disagreeing on what it is and what it means, and even down to what films are Noir and not (or what parts of them are).
Film Noir is an influence, really, and more than just a genre. Understanding what people say about the genre, and what it means to them is of interest. We only know the past by what is recorded and what is passed down, and this is always influenced by how we see the past today.
Those words "more talky" and "personal dramas" are a key to how Film Noir is seen today, and thus important to understand as creators in this genre. They aren't everything, and they certainly don't define Film Noir, but they are a part of today's perception of the genre.
Expectations are flavored by the times we live in.
When you come across mentions of Film Noir, it is always interesting to pull apart how and why Noir influenced them, and what parts feel Noir and in what ways. This projects feels like a huge mix of influences, and it looks like a jumble of concepts and pieces of which Noir is only a part. Noir may be holding together the forms and shapes with its blackness, and who knows how much influence Noir may have had on the unreleased stories of this project. We will likely never know, but analyzing how people talk about it and looking at the artworks associated with this project can give us a better understanding about how Noir is influencing today's creators, and what today's audiences are being trained to expect when a project is said to be like "Film Noir."
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