Menendez
Member
I don't think this is the finish version....I haven't read through it. But I was half mark shy of full marks....if this helps anyone, have a read.
While a set of conventions is at the heart of modern crime fictions, composers are judged by how effectively they move on from these to create brilliant variations, or to subvert the genre. The film 'The Big Sleep', directed by Howard Hawkes in 1944, maintains the genre of crime fiction with its use of the crime fiction conventions, like personal danger, mean streets, and isolated hero. Filmic techniques, like film noir, diogetic sound, and mise-en-scene help to convey these set of conventions and create a classic crime fiction story. The Hayes Code of the era, however, limits and at times subverts the genre by limitating the the conventions on screen.
Violence as a convention of crime fiction is essential to create a brilliant variation of the genre. Marlowe's repetitive comment on taking guns from gangsters in the film creates humour. 'Everyone's always giving me guns,' and 'so many guns in this town, and so few brains.' In the two scenes in which Marlowe is beaten by Mars' men, he is often held by one, while the other punches him. This indicates to an audience that it takes more than one man to take Marlowe down. This links directly with sleuth hero. As a convention, the sleuth hero is one of the most important conventions for a brilliant variation. He sees underneath facades and tricks laid out by Vivien and Mars, seen when Vivien tries to make Marlowe lay off the case, and when Mars tries to makes Marlowe believe Carmen shot Geiger. 'Then how come you didn't recognise her before then?' Marlowe's use of disguise in Geiger's shop is indicative of a sleuth hero, and also links to personal danger, without further protection from a partner or another officer. Hawkes uses the convention of personal danger to create a brilliant variation, through the use of various camera techniques and sound effects. The introduction of Eddie Mars into the film highlights Marlowe's personal danger. The long take in this scene shows Marlowe sitting casually before Eddie Mars, smoking a cigarette, a universal filmic symbol for cool collectiveness. There are several close shots of Marlowe taking a gun from a speicalised holster in his car, another sign of personal danger. The use of the external diogetic sound of thunder also portrays a sense of personal danger, further creating a brilliant variation of the crime fiction genre. The isolated and alienated hero is shown by Hawkes through various dialogue and camera techniques. Marlowe's dry one-liners distance himself from others through use of cynicism. 'You wouldn't like it, the pay's too low.' It is evident that Marlowe considers himself morally higher than others, even those in the law enforcement. 'I was fired for insubordination.' The use of shadows across Marlowe creates a mood of secretive isolation around him. It is only in the denoument do we see this barrier of alienation break down, as he begins to rely on Viven's help to bring down Eddie Mars. 'I'm scared angel.' Marlowe repeatedly calls Vivien 'angel', which is a contrast to his weary cynicism towards the other women in the film, and creates a core of vulnerability in his character.
The collection of evidence is a signature crime fiction convention, one that Hawkes manipulates to create a brilliant variation. A close shot focuses on the camera that comes out of the sculpture in Geiger's house. This points it out to be an important piece of evidence within the plot. The extreme close-up of Marlowe thmbing through Geiger's coded notebook, as he pauses at the page marked 'Sternwoods' creates further intrigue and accretion of evidence.
Marlowe's rationality for his actions are shown through mood music, which creates a sense of deep thinking. Marlowe also uses symbolic body language, like pulling on his ear when he tries to figure something out. In the scene of Geiger's murder, he sniffs Carmen's glass, and shows the audience through his actions that Carmen has been drugged. A universal symbol for rationality is the hero pacing up and down. Hawkes employs conspicuous gestures to highlight the convention of rationality.
The crime is portrayed through the use of soundtrack and film techniques. The melodramatic music score as Geiger is shot instantly sets the mood and creates tension in the audience. Hawkes uses silence as Marlowe enters Geiger's house to create and atmosphere of discovery. The setting of the crime is symbolic for the illicit pornography trade. There are many shots of a buddha sculpture, with the camera uses hidden within. In the denoument, Marlowe shoots the sculpture, the broken head symbolic of the breaking of the pornography trade. The Hayes Code limited how much the audience could see, so Hawkes uses symbolism and connotations of the exotic to portray the illegal and immoral, the unchristian. In the novel, Carmen is depicted being naked in the scene of Geiger's murder. In the film, however, she is wearing a chinese dress, a symbol of the exotic. The omitted photos of Carmen are also not shown; this makes it difficult for the audience to understand the pornography connotations in the film, the social convention of the Hayes Code. Settings like the mean streets of Los Angeles are also a convention of crime fiction in their own, the plot carried out during the night, symbolic of the evil. One of the only daylight scenes, when Marlowe first encounters Geiger's bookstore, is quickly dampened by thunder and rain, another symbol for the crime to come. The setting of the Sternwood mansion links wealth as a contributing factor. THe greenhouse becomes a microcosm of the world-General Sternwood is the corruption of wealth that the crimes of the film stem from, and Marlowe is the moral opposer of crime. The flowers in the greenhouse symbolise the players withing the crimes. Sternwood's dialogue 'their [orchids] are like the flesh of men...corrupt' exemplifies this. It is evident that Marlowe, although an alienated hero with unscrupulously high moral standards, is awed by the wealth of the Sternwoods, shown through his formal dress. He also sweats alot, a subconscious symbol of nerviousness, and although it is due to the heat of the greenhouse, it is evident that General Sternwood does not sweat. The extreme close-up on Marlowe looking at several cheques signed by Carmen for exorbitant sums for blackmail pay-off highlight this sense of wealth. Sternwood says of his daughters: 'they have the same corrupt blood.' This factor of corruption and organized crime turns what seems a seemingly simple case for Marlowe into a full blown crime fiction story, full of twists and false leads. The scene of the false hold-up between Vivien and Mars' man indicates organized crime and corruption. 'They set that up just so I wouldn't think they were connected.'
The crime conventions of setting, sleuth hero, crime, violence, denoument, personal danger, rationality, collection of evidence, wealth, organized crime, and isloated hero are used by Hawkes to create a brilliant variation of the crime fiction genre through the use of camera angles, techniques dialogue, and symbolism.
While a set of conventions is at the heart of modern crime fictions, composers are judged by how effectively they move on from these to create brilliant variations, or to subvert the genre. The film 'The Big Sleep', directed by Howard Hawkes in 1944, maintains the genre of crime fiction with its use of the crime fiction conventions, like personal danger, mean streets, and isolated hero. Filmic techniques, like film noir, diogetic sound, and mise-en-scene help to convey these set of conventions and create a classic crime fiction story. The Hayes Code of the era, however, limits and at times subverts the genre by limitating the the conventions on screen.
Violence as a convention of crime fiction is essential to create a brilliant variation of the genre. Marlowe's repetitive comment on taking guns from gangsters in the film creates humour. 'Everyone's always giving me guns,' and 'so many guns in this town, and so few brains.' In the two scenes in which Marlowe is beaten by Mars' men, he is often held by one, while the other punches him. This indicates to an audience that it takes more than one man to take Marlowe down. This links directly with sleuth hero. As a convention, the sleuth hero is one of the most important conventions for a brilliant variation. He sees underneath facades and tricks laid out by Vivien and Mars, seen when Vivien tries to make Marlowe lay off the case, and when Mars tries to makes Marlowe believe Carmen shot Geiger. 'Then how come you didn't recognise her before then?' Marlowe's use of disguise in Geiger's shop is indicative of a sleuth hero, and also links to personal danger, without further protection from a partner or another officer. Hawkes uses the convention of personal danger to create a brilliant variation, through the use of various camera techniques and sound effects. The introduction of Eddie Mars into the film highlights Marlowe's personal danger. The long take in this scene shows Marlowe sitting casually before Eddie Mars, smoking a cigarette, a universal filmic symbol for cool collectiveness. There are several close shots of Marlowe taking a gun from a speicalised holster in his car, another sign of personal danger. The use of the external diogetic sound of thunder also portrays a sense of personal danger, further creating a brilliant variation of the crime fiction genre. The isolated and alienated hero is shown by Hawkes through various dialogue and camera techniques. Marlowe's dry one-liners distance himself from others through use of cynicism. 'You wouldn't like it, the pay's too low.' It is evident that Marlowe considers himself morally higher than others, even those in the law enforcement. 'I was fired for insubordination.' The use of shadows across Marlowe creates a mood of secretive isolation around him. It is only in the denoument do we see this barrier of alienation break down, as he begins to rely on Viven's help to bring down Eddie Mars. 'I'm scared angel.' Marlowe repeatedly calls Vivien 'angel', which is a contrast to his weary cynicism towards the other women in the film, and creates a core of vulnerability in his character.
The collection of evidence is a signature crime fiction convention, one that Hawkes manipulates to create a brilliant variation. A close shot focuses on the camera that comes out of the sculpture in Geiger's house. This points it out to be an important piece of evidence within the plot. The extreme close-up of Marlowe thmbing through Geiger's coded notebook, as he pauses at the page marked 'Sternwoods' creates further intrigue and accretion of evidence.
Marlowe's rationality for his actions are shown through mood music, which creates a sense of deep thinking. Marlowe also uses symbolic body language, like pulling on his ear when he tries to figure something out. In the scene of Geiger's murder, he sniffs Carmen's glass, and shows the audience through his actions that Carmen has been drugged. A universal symbol for rationality is the hero pacing up and down. Hawkes employs conspicuous gestures to highlight the convention of rationality.
The crime is portrayed through the use of soundtrack and film techniques. The melodramatic music score as Geiger is shot instantly sets the mood and creates tension in the audience. Hawkes uses silence as Marlowe enters Geiger's house to create and atmosphere of discovery. The setting of the crime is symbolic for the illicit pornography trade. There are many shots of a buddha sculpture, with the camera uses hidden within. In the denoument, Marlowe shoots the sculpture, the broken head symbolic of the breaking of the pornography trade. The Hayes Code limited how much the audience could see, so Hawkes uses symbolism and connotations of the exotic to portray the illegal and immoral, the unchristian. In the novel, Carmen is depicted being naked in the scene of Geiger's murder. In the film, however, she is wearing a chinese dress, a symbol of the exotic. The omitted photos of Carmen are also not shown; this makes it difficult for the audience to understand the pornography connotations in the film, the social convention of the Hayes Code. Settings like the mean streets of Los Angeles are also a convention of crime fiction in their own, the plot carried out during the night, symbolic of the evil. One of the only daylight scenes, when Marlowe first encounters Geiger's bookstore, is quickly dampened by thunder and rain, another symbol for the crime to come. The setting of the Sternwood mansion links wealth as a contributing factor. THe greenhouse becomes a microcosm of the world-General Sternwood is the corruption of wealth that the crimes of the film stem from, and Marlowe is the moral opposer of crime. The flowers in the greenhouse symbolise the players withing the crimes. Sternwood's dialogue 'their [orchids] are like the flesh of men...corrupt' exemplifies this. It is evident that Marlowe, although an alienated hero with unscrupulously high moral standards, is awed by the wealth of the Sternwoods, shown through his formal dress. He also sweats alot, a subconscious symbol of nerviousness, and although it is due to the heat of the greenhouse, it is evident that General Sternwood does not sweat. The extreme close-up on Marlowe looking at several cheques signed by Carmen for exorbitant sums for blackmail pay-off highlight this sense of wealth. Sternwood says of his daughters: 'they have the same corrupt blood.' This factor of corruption and organized crime turns what seems a seemingly simple case for Marlowe into a full blown crime fiction story, full of twists and false leads. The scene of the false hold-up between Vivien and Mars' man indicates organized crime and corruption. 'They set that up just so I wouldn't think they were connected.'
The crime conventions of setting, sleuth hero, crime, violence, denoument, personal danger, rationality, collection of evidence, wealth, organized crime, and isloated hero are used by Hawkes to create a brilliant variation of the crime fiction genre through the use of camera angles, techniques dialogue, and symbolism.
