African American Film Noir and Philosophy

Racing Shadow and Light

How have feelings, presumptions, and preconceptions concerning racialized Blackness intersected with film noir? Dan Flory relies on recent advances in philosophy of film, philosophy of emotion, cognitive film theory, and critical philosophy of race to guide his analyses of this well-known film genre.

Making sense of techniques, themes, and characterizations filmmakers have used in order to structure movies into films noirs, Flory focuses on those viewer responses that are not consciously registered by higher-level forms of cognition. He argues that embodied, affective, and implicit reactions are key to understanding how film noir typically conveys ideas, feelings, and perspectives concerning race.

Flory examines how recent noir films and TV series by African American and other artists have substantially raised awareness of such responses which renders their analysis more straightforward. In some cases, these artists have created works that aim, both explicitly and implicitly, to generate serious philosophical reflection.

By using advances in theoretical subfields in conjunction with developments in mainstream, African American, and other kinds of filmmaking, Flory elucidates many underanalyzed dimensions of noir films and their intersection with racial Blackness. His approach represents a needed opportunity to both diagnose and seek ways to overcome this vexing sociopolitical problem.

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