Behind the Cigarette Smoke. Hidden Truth and Transmediality in Noir and Neo-noir Creations
Mikolaj Marks
Master's Thesis from the year 2019 in the subject American Studies - Miscellaneous, grade: 5, University of Gdansk (English and American Studies), language: English, abstract: This dissertation concerns the subject of hidden truth in noir fiction and how the genre forms a complex, connected puzzle using transmediality. The first chapter is an introduction to the three key terms: truth, transmediality and noir. The second chapter offers an analysis of a noir movie "Out of the Past" from 1947, directed by Jacques Tourneur. The subchapter to this part is a look at the movie Pulp Fiction" and Batman graphic novels. The third chapter is a close reading of James Ellroy’s "The Black Dahlia" from 1987. The next subchapter then focuses on Curtis Hanson’s movie "L.A Confidential" from 1997 and David Fincher’s movie "Seven" from 1995. The fourth chapter concerns the Coen brothers film from 2001 titled "The Man Who Wasn’t There." This part is completed with an insight into Ridley Scott’s movie "Black Rain" from 1989. The final chapter deals with the video game "BioShock Infinite: Burial at Sea" from 2013, the chapter is closed with a look at the VR game "L.A Noire: The VR Case Files" from 2017. In a last part of this dissertation, the findings are summed up and linked back to the topic of hidden truth in noir-creations in the transmedial puzzle.
