I'm sorry , but the novel's conclusion did not satisfy me at all. Maybe because I misread a few lines at first, that had me jumping into crazy conclusions [until I reread it and understood] & that might have increased my expectations, but still, it was no where near what I had expected....and that is not a good thing. What sucks even more, is how I was really enjoying this story; it kept getting more interesting as I continued and I was really looking forward to the end and couldn't stop wondering what was going to happen. But to see both of them unharmed, untouched, with no punishment at all .. Now that had me speechless.
I had a different ending in mind. There was a section that I had misread on page 113 because of the non-labelled dialog. "'Your man Keyes--he's quite a matchmaker.'" At first, I thought this was said by Walter implying that Keyes was Phyllis' man. It had me jump straight into thinking that Keyes was her real partner and that he came up with the whole plan of the murder, the shooting, and conning Walter into it. It made so much sense to me because how the hell did he figure out the murder so well and so quickly, it's like he had done it before! I thought that everything was an act, especially the story he told Walter about Sachetti. Maybe that's what he meant when he had that funny look on his face and said "You've got no reason to thank me."
But no, that wasn't how it ended and it was no where near. I thought it was nice enough for Keyes to let Walter go but to have Phyllis there with him?
If she's really that dangerous, why not put an end to her?
But, that's just my opinion.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Sunday, February 20, 2011
3: The Devil-ish Angel
Out of the three types of noir women, Phyllis Nirdlinger fits well under the description of a femme fatale. From the very beginning her looks are brought up and automatically leaves an effect on the protagonist, Walter. Even without doing much, she pretty much had him under her control; he wanted to leave, he knew he should have left but his feelings for her kept him from ignoring her and by the second and third visits they had a full connection and partnership to murder her own husband.
At first it sets the impression that the protagonist had come up with the idea of murder, but within the passage, his talk with Phyllis’ step daughter Lola, implied that this plan for murder was definitely her idea, even the fact that Phyllis mentions the idea that she just loves death, proves it.
According to John Blaser in his article “No Place for a Woman,” a femme fatale refuses to play the role of a devoted wife and loving mother that mainstream society prescribes for women. And instead, she finds marriage to be confining, loveless, sexless, and dull, and she uses all of her cunning and sexual attractiveness to gain her independence.
In a way, this is true for Phyllis but the way she talks to Walter has you question if she is really manipulating him or is actually in love with him.
You could never be too sure because she had probably murdered the first Mrs. Nirdlinger and ended up murdering her husband as well. She might be after the same thing with Walter.
But overall, Phyllis covers the description “frustrated and deviant, half predator, half prey, detached yet ensnared, she falls victims into her own traps”
At first it sets the impression that the protagonist had come up with the idea of murder, but within the passage, his talk with Phyllis’ step daughter Lola, implied that this plan for murder was definitely her idea, even the fact that Phyllis mentions the idea that she just loves death, proves it.
According to John Blaser in his article “No Place for a Woman,” a femme fatale refuses to play the role of a devoted wife and loving mother that mainstream society prescribes for women. And instead, she finds marriage to be confining, loveless, sexless, and dull, and she uses all of her cunning and sexual attractiveness to gain her independence.
In a way, this is true for Phyllis but the way she talks to Walter has you question if she is really manipulating him or is actually in love with him.
You could never be too sure because she had probably murdered the first Mrs. Nirdlinger and ended up murdering her husband as well. She might be after the same thing with Walter.
But overall, Phyllis covers the description “frustrated and deviant, half predator, half prey, detached yet ensnared, she falls victims into her own traps”
Sunday, February 13, 2011
1: Black&White > Color
In the article, "The Neo-Noir 90s", Ansen and Tara tell us how after World War II "the French critics coined the term, film noir, to describe the crime-infested, shadow-draped, black-and-white movies."
When I think film noir, I think dark, dangerous, and mysterious. I picture city nights with tall buildings and pure black shadows in alleys with cats in trashcans and thieves lurking around.
Film noir ironically had its start during an age of peace and prosperity. Storytellers found a way to look around our overwhelmed nation and came up with a new world where “the lines between good and evil get crossed”; a world where you wouldn’t always be able to tell the difference between a super hero and a villain.
Many noir “vision” inspirations were from novelists like Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett and Cain and when it came to “visual style” most of it was imported from Europe by people who has experiences with different worlds to add history.
The classical period of film noir came to an end around the 50s and began to evolve into a more variations psychologically.
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