Not Yet Fully Consumed: The Effects of Consumerism in Neo-Noir

For many, the question of what exactly comprises neo-noir is met with a thundering silence. Most people are completely unaware of the fact they have most probably already viewed multiple neo-noirs over the course of the last twenty years. Although the sketchy origins of this ambiguous genre of movie are still under debate, the notion of how something so widely accessible and unfathomably popular could be so unrecognizable is simply baffling. Yet, if one takes a step back and examines the paralleling timelines of American cinema and history, one can see how film noir re-emerged in the 1970’s due to the fact there was once again an uncertainty concerning the future. Once the boundaries of what was considered proper and decent became scrutinized in the 1970’s, the gritty, morose and eerie presence of film was once again needed as a funnel. Film noir, now neo-noir made a triumphant return to the silver screen in the 1970’s yet instead of fighting the evils of foreign political institutions and the greed of corrupt individuals due to money as film noir had, neo-noir focuses on the evils of American consumerism and the corruption of the individual due to dependency. As seen through American Psycho, Requiem for a Dream and Fight Club, consumerism and dependency are the catalysts for the underlying theme in a vast majority of neo-noirs: the question of sanity.

To commence, critics have come to a general consensus regarding the appropriate years designated for film noir. Beginning in the early 1940’s with The Maltese Falcon and ending with Touch of Evil in 1958, film noir is characterized largely as pre and post World War II cinema (Silver 331). The paranoia, betrayal and ambivalence of the World War II generation are a heavy influence on the themes found in almost all film noirs (lecture). With the continual bombardment of the Nazi and Communist threat looming over the heads of Americans in the 1940’s, retreating to a movie theatre to watch retribution and justice catch up with a villain was ultimately reassuring. With the ambiguity and ambivalence of the fate of Europe on the minds of every person in the world, escapism was desperately needed (lecture). Once the post Depression and War paranoia of the 1950’s had diminished, society settled back into its regular routine of normalcy and peace.

However, once this classic period of cinema and history is retired, a new category is needed to define the following cinematic events. This can be seen in Andrew Spicer definition of neo-noir as, “a new type of film noir, one which effectively incorporates and projects the narrative and stylistic conventions of its progenitor onto a contemporary canvas. Neo-noir is quite simply a contemporary rendering of the film noir sensibility” (130). Beginning in 1967, neo-noir became a means to resurrect the Hollywood Renaissance (Spicer 130). Yet, many critics believe Lawrence Kasdan’s 1981 film Body Heat, is the true beginning of neo-noir (Spicer 130). Much like the mid-century noir, neo-noir incorporates the hard, drab, and morose; the ironic, scepticism and dark existentialism that made noir so popular (Spicer 131). Though, as mentioned above, consumerism and dependency become the decaying evils, the new generation of noir is forced to deal with.

Consumerism is one of the most prevalent themes of neo-noir. Whether it is dependency, deviance or addiction, consumerism has managed to continually emerge as the foundation of a fraudulent future in a vast majority of neo-noirs. Dependency, the long and harrowing road of misery, is witnessed in a variety of incarnations in neo-noirs: drug use, sexual liberty and consumer culture. Requiem for a Dream, the 2000 narrative of the darker side of drug dependency, embodies the ever-present fear of the effects of drug use as well as the depiction of the “different forms of addiction leading to imprisonment in a dream world, which is overtaken and devastated by reality” (Wikipedia). Unlike most noirs, where the settings are bathed in shadows, Requiem for a Dream always maintains an affinity for high, glossy color. There is always a light, sign or lamp that illuminates the characters, yet even through all the brightness the lingering shadows are continually present; as the adage goes, the brighter the light, the darker the shadows. As seen in Requiem for a Dream, the hauntingly beautiful music, mixed with the “low-key lighting and off-centre framing… to suggest a corrupt and unbalanced world in which abrupt cutting creates jarring shifts in vision” is most definitely noir in every sense of the word (Spicer 142).

Additionally, heavy drug use became popularized after World War II and followed through with the heroine dependencies returning Vietnam veterans faced once on an opium free soil. Yet, since the 1970’s, drug use has become one of the most popular and widely accessible undergrounds. With this knowledge, the plot depicts the individual stories of Tyrone and Harry, two small time hustlers, become drug dealers in an attempt to gain money so they can live the American Dream, Sara, a television fanatic, becomes addicted to diet pills and Prozac so she can wear a red dress for her grand television debut and Marion, an overly sexualized teenager, becomes a heroine addict. As their story evolves the descent into addiction and need for more money, drugs and power become blinding. Soon, Marion is forced to prostitute her body to feed her addition to heroine; Harry loses his arm to blood poisoning as a result of track mark infections, Tyrone is imprisoned for drug possession and Sara is reduced to a brain dead vegetable to quell her paranoia and delusions. The slippery line between sanity and insanity become blurred as each character wages an internal war over their respective reliance.

Furthermore, American Psycho is another example of a movie that portrays the negative side of an unstable executive who is obsessed with vanity, sex, drugs, murder and popular culture. Patrick Bateman works for Wall Street, a corner stone of American power, wealth and consumerism. He is a successful banker with a seemingly perfect life. Bateman, almost immediately after the audience is introduced to him, begins to list the cost of all his hygiene products, his gels and his creams and his tailored suits. The overbearing vanity Bateman exudes is a crucial motivator as to how the remainder of the film will enfold, for underneath Bateman’s overly moisturized skin and perfectly tailored and maintained surface boils an unfathomable darkness. It is his vanity that first propels him to kill and it is his all-consuming drive for more that keeps him killing. Addiction is the staple characteristic of this man. Yet, it is only when all of Bateman’s addictions begin to overlap and merge into one, does the real noir of the movie commence. Although Bateman follow a religious workout regime and is near obsessive in his resolve to stay healthy, there are many scenes in which he is engaging in excessive drinking and cocaine use. Although he has a fiancé, he engages in random sexual encounters with prostitutes, friends, models and escorts. Bateman possesses an extensive knowledge and love of popular culture and is continually dictating random pop music trivia to his victims, feeling the need to articulate an in-depth analysis of careers of performers such as Whitney Huston and Genesis before either engaging in sex or murder. It seems that only when he actually begins to kill that all his addictions begin to overwhelm him. Before long, the audience is witnessing Bateman ruthlessly and joyfully butcher models, the homeless, animals, prostitutes, homosexuals and coworkers.

As the movie progresses, the viewer begins to notice how Bateman’s addictions become more and more frequent. Soon, Bateman begins to exhibit classic junkie traits, continually needing more stimuli to feel. As readers have commented, “The sadistic pleasure Bateman takes in murder, and the homicidal rage that motivates them, is the only form of emotion Bateman is capable of. By the end of the novel, even killing can't arouse any feeling in him; he is left completely hollow” (Wikipedia). It is only at the very end of the film, when Bateman is confronted by his lawyer and is forcibly snapped out of his frenzy that the audience grasps every savage killing is only a figment of Bateman’s imagination. Though, what makes American Psycho particularly terrifying is the notion that all constraints and limitations are only established in the mind; that every human has the potential to become, in essence, an American psycho.

Yet, of all the movies that discuss consumerism, none have left a mark like that of Fight Club. Fight Club is a tale that revolves around a man who becomes more and more uncertain with his place in consumer culture. As the movie opens, the audience meets the narrator who is going through an existential crisis over the fact he believe he is defined by the material objects he owns, rather than who he is as a person. This crisis leads to sever insomnia and the narrator discovers he is unable to function. Dependency worms its way into the narrative when the narrator finds himself at a support group for men suffering from testicular cancer. Once the narrator experiences the overwhelming grief the men at the meeting feel, he becomes addicted to support groups and finds himself at a different one every night. The narrator’s initial dependencies on support groups are what inevitably lead to the morbid and dank creation of the fight club. Nonetheless, it is in meeting Tyler that the narrator’s craving and sanity intermix. Tyler is notoriously anti-consumerist and claims that the only way in which humanity will achieve freedom is to “hit rock bottom” (Fight Club). Through a series of illegal boxing clubs and support from the average, working class man does Tyler apply his master plan: the destruction of all major credit companies since he has a strong belief that civilization can undergo a rebirth from the ashes of an erased credit history. But what makes Fight Club spectacular is the awe-inspiring support Tyler gains for his Project Mayhem scheme. Every worker stuck in a public service job backs his plan for destruction and chaos. They are, to quote the movie, “people you rely on” (Fight Club). With the army of ex-consumers backing Tyler’s plan, the distaste and evident desire for revolution and eventual abandonment of consumerist habits are emphasized greatly, proving just how catastrophic dependency can be. Though, what Fight Club will forever be remembered by is the twist ending where the narrator, the assumed voice of reason to Tyler’s voice of bedlam, turns out to in fact be Tyler. The relationship between the narrator and Tyler that is exhibited is that of classic co-dependency; one literally and figuratively not being able to live without the other. Unknowingly, the narrator is forever trying to measure up to the fictitious version of himself, acting in a manner that would please Tyler. Despite the fact that Tyler’s personality is the aggressor of the two, he is continually influencing and moulding the narrator into the penultimate version of who he believes Tyler Durden should be (Wikipedia). For instance, throughout the film, the narrator is continually remarking how “Tyler’s words [are] coming out of my mouth” (Fight Club). The narrator depends on Tyler to lead him, to teach him and to listen to him, even while the narrator stays completely separate from Tyler, personality wise.

It is only when the narrator’s dependency for support groups is surpassed by his addiction to the fight club and Tyler, does the movie seriously delve into the frightening possibility of a separate personality gaining corporeal form. Such is the case where the narrator finally realizes he and Tyler are one in the same. As Spicer notes, this is “a memorable image of the schizophrenic solipsist, waging war on himself” (Spicer 146). As the narrator discovers, Tyler is unstoppable, having already amassed enough people to carry on his perverted legacy. Sadly, Tyler is now so much a part of him, that he is unable to fully rid himself of Tyler. Tyler controls his thoughts and actions and like a true addiction, controls him when he is at his weakest (during ‘sleep’). As the narrator resolves, the only way to remove Tyler from corporeal form is to simply kill himself and by association Tyler.

Indeed, consumerism and sanity are a driving force in neo-noir, just as much as political corruptness and greed was for noir. Requiem for a Dream, American Psycho and Fight Club are classic examples of how societies can place so much emphasis on consumerism that the people eventually become addicted and mentally unbalanced; defined not by their character but by their wealth.





Works Cited

Silver, Alain. Film Noir Reader. New York : Limelight Editions, 1996.

Spicer, Andrew. Film Noir. Harlow, England ; New York : Longman, 2002.

Wikipedia. American Psycho. November 9, 2005. Online Available: November 9, 2005.

Wikipedia. Fight Club. November 9, 2005. Online Available: November 9, 2005.

Wikipedia. Requiem for a Dream. November 9, 2005. Online Available: November 9, 2005.