Current Forum: Session 10: Film Noir and Sexuality	Read 9 times 	
Date: 26-Mar-2001 19:23:34	
Author: SIMMONS, JOHN A. <jas7625@garnet.acns.fsu.edu>	
Subject: Meaningless, or maybe not? 	
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       John Belton, quoting Robert Porfirio, suggests that film noir deals with “existential issues such as the futility of individual action; the alienation, loneliness, and isolation of the individual within industrialized, mass society; the problematic choice between being and nothingness; the absurdity, meaninglessness, and purposelessness of life; and the arbitrariness of social justice, which results in individual despair, leading to chaos, violence, and paranoia” (201-202). If read as an example of film noir, L. A. Confidential forces the viewer to wrestle with unexpected narrative twists, unforeseen ethical corruption and existential notions of meaningless life. However, the film problemitizes Belton’s claim because it glorifies various “non-existential” ideas such as love, duty, honesty, and integrity. I will suggest that the conclusion of L. A. Confidential presents not a hopeless world of nothingness, but rather an optimistic vision of hope for the future because of the elimination of those people who would jeopardize it.
       The narrative of L. A. Confidential is a classic example of the complex film noir narrative structure. The cool laid-back cop, Jack, ends up dead; the weasel tattletale Ed becomes a hero; the chief of police is the criminal mastermind; the rough and tough Bud proves to be intellectually astute; and the beautiful whore Lynn, becomes the prize possession of the victorious Bud. These twists, or as Belton calls them, “affective phenomenon,” produce as Belton goes on to write, a “disturbance or disorientation that . . . give[s] the audience an unsettling twist or distressing jolt” (201). The spectator is set on edge and tension is produced because of the unexpected narrative unfolding. 
       The disintegration of ethical standards also adds to the existential “noir” affect on the audience. The world of L. A. Confidential is described by Sid Hudgeons as being a “paradise.” However, as he goes on to attest, “there is trouble in paradise.” That “trouble” could best be described as the complete evaporation of “normal” standards for ethical behavior by both the law and those supposedly under it. Examples of such distorted ethics include: the pay-offs to Jack in exchange for stories and photos, cutting women to look like movie stars for increased prices on sexual favors, bribery of the D.A., murder of Jack and several others in cold blood, the 
rape and torture of a young woman, burying a man under the basement of one’s girlfriend, spousal abuse, racial profiling and hatred, extortion by physical violence at the Victory Motel, and the list goes on. All of these examples demonstrate the disregard for any standard of ethical behavior within the Los Angeles world of the film. 
       Such notions lead to what Belton describes as “meaningless, and purposeless . . . life” (202). The individuals within the film are faced with a choice of submitting to the authority of 
whoever happens to have the most guns or be killed by them. The deaths of Sid and Jack are two prominent examples of the predominant message of apathy towards existence that the film 
conveys. In traditional cinema the main characters are almost guaranteed survival. Even if the world collapses around them, the heroes of film will make it through, and because of narcissistic identification and projection on the part of the viewer, all is understood as o.k. But now two of the main characters are killed in cold blood, i.e., Sid and Jack. In fact, Sid is even the first voice the viewer hears in the film, it would only make sense for his voice to be bookends for the film and conclude it as well, however, within the “noir” world of L. A. what “makes sense” is nothing but a rule that is thrown out the window with the laws and “normal” plot structure. Life is now a roll of the dice, nothing is solid and stable, and all that is guaranteed is that you are not the one in charge. Hopelessness is the logical result of such a worldview and that is exactly what the majority of the characters display in their apathetic response to the absurd existence that is their daily life.
       It has been shown that for the most part, the film stays true to form as outlined by Belton. However, the last scene will contradict such a conclusion. The final scene of the film presents Ed hugging Lynn goodbye and her saying “some men get the world, and some get an ex-hooker and a trip to Arizona.” Then Ed shakes Bud’s hand and Bud and Lynn drive off into the sunset. This final scene champions the love between Bud and Lynn and the integrity and unwillingness to compromise of Ed as stronger than all the “existential” issues found throughout the film. In the end love and valor conquer all and the viewer although tired from wrestling with difficult conceptions of reality throughout the film is now set at ease because all is well, i.e., the hero gets the girl and his helper gets an award. The evil has been dispelled and the men who would not be bought are now celebrated. This conclusion does not yield a reading of existential awareness and meaningless existence, but rather illuminates the film as functioning as an ISA supporting the system where good does triumph over evil, or at least so we continue to believe.