Why are poets attracted to film noir?
Suzanne Lummis:
Well, out this way there aren’t as many poets who double as film noir buffs as one would expect, but, for some, my YouTube series produced by poetry.la, They Write by Night, has been their introduction to film noir and the poem noir, or my UCLA Extension Writers’ Program workshop, “Poetry Goes to the Movies.” In Los Angeles, the poet Cece Peri has struck black gold with her poems noir, which get published and re-published.
The poem noir, when it works, can be remarkably appealing, and not necessarily as grim as one might think—so many different values, tones and approaches can come into play. Some of these poems conjure a kind of dark laughter in the face of the inevitable. That’s certainly an element of noir’s appeal for me, in film or on the page.
One thing for sure, these days more women poets than men seem drawn to these movies, and they’re bringing unexpected perspectives. The poet Marsha de la O did something extraordinary—right after my own heart—with Janet Leigh’s appearance as the preyed upon Susie in Touch of Evil followed by her role as slashed-to-death Marion Crane in Psycho. “Janet Leigh is Afraid of Jazz” reads as one long hysterical plunge from damage to death, and—without being heavy-handed about it—speaks to the specific vulnerability of women in a violent world.
David Lehman:
Many of us are attracted to the shadows, the stuff beneath the surface of human relationships, the things we do or fantasize doing when no one is looking. In noir, sex is the ultimate prize, but also the consummate killer. We love forbidden fruit. Of all the mammals, only humans have sex for reasons other than to perpetuate the species. The intensity of desire creates the motive for murder, whether acted on or not, and makes guilt and paranoia inevitable. The tensions between man and woman animate this genre, are palpable, feel real. “Can’t live with them, can’t live without them”: the fundamental things apply as time goes by. The genre recognizes that we are fallible people, sinners, gamblers, drinkers, addicts, dreamers, losers. We occupy the night as night-club singers, piano players, thieves, detectives, kept women, greedy men with criminal minds almost as infinite as our lust for sex first and money second.
In a curious sense the poet’s identity in our society has more in common than meets the eye with a hard-boiled detective or noir loser.
Also, the genre has a certain charm. I can never get over the fact that gangsters and hit men wear double-breasted suits in these movies, the women are as stylish as they are dangerous, and many of the background songs (“Tangerine,” “How Little We Know,” “Laura,”” Too Marvelous for Words”) have lyrics by Johnny Mercer.
Finally, this column appears on September 1, 2019, exactly eighty years to the day that Germany invaded Poland, World War II began, and W. H. Auden wrote "September 1, 1939." That poem more than any other explains we love noir.
This is the ninth in a series of exchanges about noir. Pictured: Janet Leigh on set and in Orson Welles's Touch of Evil. For previous posts, click here
Great series! Love the combo of film noir with poetry--
Posted by: Millicent Borges Accardi | September 02, 2019 at 02:02 AM
Painting with noir reflects the broad strokes of humanity. It's hard to believe that in 20 years we'll be reaching the 100 year anniversary of WWII. I don't know where the world is headed but we are living these shadows still. Thanks for these thoughtful reflections.
Posted by: Lois P. Jones | September 02, 2019 at 12:01 PM
Thanks, Millicent -- so glad to hear you're following along. It is a unique exchange, isn't it? I've always felt a connection between poetry and the movies.
Posted by: Suzanne Lummis | September 03, 2019 at 08:03 PM
Lois, yes, exactly. I've never understood those who associate film noir with some sense of cornball nostalgia, and disparage it. I think, 'Oh? So violence, criminality, fatal attractions, devious or complex motives, a sense of over-riding dread, and the presence of Shadow with all its metaphorical implications, have Nothing to do with us today and our times. Really?"
Posted by: Suzanne Lummis | September 03, 2019 at 08:11 PM