Atheists & Agnostics

onager

(9,356 posts) Fri Jul 24, 2015, 09:51 PM Jul 2015

Any film noir fans here in A/A?

Just curious. I sure am! Been in Atheist Heaven all month. Turner Classic Movies is running "Summer of Darkness" every Friday, with noir classics and non-classics playing all day long.

One reason I like film noir is because of its world view, which is the same view we atheists are often accused of having: the universe is completely indifferent to us and we're all pretty much screwed. Not the way we'd like to be either. And if someone appearing to be the perfect mate shows up - keep one hand on your wallet and scan the groceries for suspiciously large purchases of insecticide.

Also because of what Jake Hinkson wrote in one of his essays on the genre:

Noir City might be one godless little town, a place of perpetual night…but underneath the tales of lust and larceny, there beats a moralistic heart. After all, most noir boils down to the preacher’s warning: you pay for your sins.

What makes this doubly interesting, however, is that noir rarely affords us a positive view of the clergy. The men of god we find in Noir City are of a piece with the town’s other denizens: they’re weak, wicked, or both. In noir, everybody’s a sinner, and everybody is going to hell. That includes god’s mouthpieces. In fact, they might be the biggest sinners of all.

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Any film noir fans here in A/A? (Original Post) onager Jul 2015 OP

Interesting, thanks. SusanCalvin Jul 2015 #1

My favorite genre...Touch of Evil, Gun Crazy, Kiss me Deadly,... masmdu Jul 2015 #2

In noir, everybody’s a sinner, and everybody is going to hell. AlbertCat Jul 2015 #3

Yes! marginlized Jul 2015 #4

It's the stuff dreams are made of. edhopper Jul 2015 #5

SusanCalvin

(6,592 posts)

1. Interesting, thanks.

Reply to onager (Original post)

Fri Jul 24, 2015, 10:02 PM

Jul 2015

I think I have to pay more than I'm willing to to get TCM, though. And I'm considering dumping cable completely since MSNBC thinks I can't tell the difference between Ed Schultz and Chuck Todd....