Detective are good to analyse in the terms of gender in film noir as they all show an aspect of male personality which is jaded and darker, they're the unwilling heroes of film. Typically Detectives are males with destructive quirks or habits, such as smoking and drinking. An emphasis is usually put on how their self destructive quirk affects their work, for example Jack Vincennes from LA confidential is a recovering alcoholic and drug addict, who's addiction caused him to shot 2 innocent people. Similar to this example detectives usually have a dark past which haunts them. Whether its from working too long and seeing the worst in humanity or from simply living a hard life, all detectives are usually represented as world weary.
In original early 1920's to 40's film noir male detectives where always shown as being male chauvinistic and patronizing towards women, referring to them as pet names such as 'sweetheart' and 'darling'. Although modern day detectives are not shown to be sexist to this extend they are sometimes shown to be more dominating towards female's, especially if the character is supposed to be an 'old school' detective. In the early films the patronizing language wouldn't have been considered sexist like it is today as that type of language was socially acceptable as women were less socially equal to men, therefore objectifying language wasn't seen as negative.
Detectives are also shown to be more willing to be amoral as long as they don't do anything to bad they are willing to do more to get their final results. They're sly, and willing to deal with shady characters. They appear to be one step ahead of the villains. They may have questionable morals but they usually always choose to to the right thing in the end, for example Sam spade from Maltese falcon.
Although the detective is shown to be worldly and have an air or having done everything once they are usually quite naive when it comes to love, they always fall for the femme fatal. Giving them a vulnerability which the audience can usually relate to. IT also adds to their dark personality and inner turmoil when in the end the femme fatales true nature is revealed.
In my thriller, neo-noir opening sequence i'm using a modern day detective, who suffers from PTSD and as a result drinks and abuses prescription drugs. This is subtly revealed in the opening sequence and gives the audience an idea of a troubled past. It challenges the physical ability aspect of the detective role as PTSD is a serious disorder, and a challenge for anybody to live with. The substance abuse fits to the detective conventions, and gives the detective a self destructive darker personality. The detective Greg Grey is a war veteran who retired from the army and suffers from PTSD as a result of his years of service. He works under his female boss Captain Reid, who's authority he doesn't respect. He uses substance abuse to try and drown his demons. He is a gifted detective often able to put himself into the villains mindset, leading him to become well known within the police force as a serial killer hunter. This aspect of his personality has left him isolated at work as he is considered too good at thinking like a killer, building to his self inflicted loneliness. He is often dismissed because of his younger age, having joined the police force after 4 years service at 18. This adds to his jaded personality, making him defensive. His younger age also goes against classical conventions as detectives are usually middle aged, not young. However by using a younger detective who may not have lived as long but who has lived through more it shows that its not always the length of the characters life but the life one leads that make them world weary.
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