Film Noir: An American Style?

Film noir is unique in that it is genre/style of film (whichever you prefer) that is almost wholly unique to American cinema. Other genres like action, romance, suspense, and even comedy, span every country and every culture in the world because they are, by their very nature, universal and understood by virtually everyone. Film noir lacks this universality because it is a distinctly American style born of distinctly American roots and causes.

What really gave birth to the film noir genre was the fear and uncertainty surrounding America in the late 1930s. Fear of the war that everyone could see was brewing in Europe and uncertainty over the lingering effects of the Great Depression, combined with the lingering memories of the gangster era and the corruption it exposed gave rise to a blend of filmmaking techniques and plotline that were virtually exclusive to Hollywood during the late 30s to the early 50s.

The dark, shadowy urban settings, the reluctant, burned-out, sometimes drunk anti-heroes, the questionable moralities of all the central characters in film noir were previously unheard of anywhere in cinema, buthe their dark, ambiguous nature perfectly represented the pessemistic confusion that was permeating through the nation at that time. Because this confusion was not as prevalent eslwhere in the world - if existant at all - the resultant films were utterly unique to America.

While elements of film noir have slowly made their way into other countries cinemas, and even into other genres, the core of film noir remains firmly rooted in America due to the unique conditions and circumstances surrounding its origin.