I decided to do option 2 for this blog. Option 2 is:
How does having a female as both protagonist and first-person
narrator affect these narratives? Would
you still consider these stories as noir? Why or why not?
In the first story that we
had to read was “The Method”. We had Holly who was the female protagonist, and
the first person narrator. I would still consider this story as noir, because
it still had the same qualities. She met someone named Richard, and within minutes they were talking about committing a
murder, but Holly had a different plan in her own head, which we found out at
the end of the book. Richard was very deceiving and manipulative in this book,
just like Phyllis was in “Double Indemnity”. He wanted to get back at Mariah
(who was very famous back in the day) who fired him because he turned into a
psycho when they were lovers. So he manipulated Holly into thinking that she
was going to return Mariah’s lost dog back to her and collect a reward since
she was rich. But Holly soon found out what Richard really wanted her to do,
which was kill Mariah but Richard had another thing coming when Holly put the
pieces together.
In the second story that we had to read was “Morocco
Junction 90210”. We had Minerva who was also our female protagonist, and our
female narrator. We found out about Eloise Davis’s death. We also found out the
truth behind her death as the story went on. Also we found out about the burglaries
that happened in Beverley Hills.
I don’t think that the story
would be any different if there was a female narrator, or if there was a male
narrator. I think all that would matter if it has the qualities of noir or not.
And both of these stories have the qualities of noir.
Debra,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your perspective. You don't think having the female changed it all? Reading about the sex alone i thought changed it. But that could just be me haha. But I agree with you that both had qualities of noir, but I felt like it was less so in Morocco Junction. I could see how it was with the narrator playing the detective like role. But overall, it just didn’t seem as dark. Again, that could be just me. I could see how it was crime infested, but you never really saw the criminals.
Enjoyed the read, thanks!