So why Film Noir?
There's a few general reasons as to why artists choose to create parodies specifically of Film Noir. Nandia Vlachou writes that "because of its wide appeal as popular culture (both as a literary and cinematic genre) and of the tendency to codify characters and plot points, the noir lent itself easily to parody from early on." Wide appeal in pop culture and easy codification are certainly elements that make Film Noir ripe for parody, and benefit from a further explanation. Additionally, I would argue that along with Noir's easily codified formulaic elements, and the persistent love many people have for Noir created via wide appeal, Noir also lends itself a ripe source of parody due to its traditionally serious, existential, and fatal tone.
​
Formulaic Elements/Conventions
​
There's a lot of variance among Films Noir, but there's also a lot of elements that can constitute a rough formula as well. These conventional elements can be aesthetic, such as the well known noir trench coat or the city streets draped in smoke and shadow.
Humphrey Bogart sporting a signature
Noir trenchcoat
.jpeg)
The Third Man (1949)
These images are immediately identifiable as a part of the Noir aesthetic because they show up over and over in noir film. To name a few films featuring protagonists in a trench coat, the main characters in Kiss Me Deadly, This Gun for Hire, Out of the Past, The Big Sleep, and Murder, My Sweet all sport the signature Noir look. The urban setting and use of lighting are also extremely iconic identifiers of Films Noir. However, this isn't the only way Films Noir operate within a set of conventions and formulae as noir plots are also similar, defining themselves in variation from a set of themes and plot points.
​
Noir had a few main themes such as existential hopelessness, fatal women, corruption and the city, identity in question, etc. These themes manifested in plot points that could be easily recognized and codified. One example of an iconic plot point is that a detective is often approached by a distressed, rich woman in his office. That point exists in The Maltese Falcon, and is parodied in My Favorite Brunette.
​
So this scene from The Maltese Falcon...
This serious introduction between Sam and Brigid becomes...
...becomes this scene in My Favorite Brunette
...a comedic and campy introduction between Carlotta and Ronnie.
Iconic moments like the entrance of the Femme Fatale make for an easy parodic opportunity. The same holds true in other genres, such as horror. An example comes from the threatening note in
I Know What You Did Last Summer that is later parodied in Scary Movie.
The threatening note that Julie and Helen discuss seriously becomes...
...the silly pair of notes Cindy opens. While aggressive in tone, the scene is explicitly meant to be comedic.
Popularity and Love
It's hard to say what exactly gave Film Noir its popularity. Many scholars have cited postwar disillusionment and malaise as the cause for Film Noir's popularity in the 40's and 50's, but Richard Matlby argues that this is applying a generalizing historical distortion in the name of genre identification (57). Specific cause then, is difficult to define. However, even if specific cause has been hard to specify, the fact remains that Film Noir has been a cultural mainstay since its inception. With the rise of Neo-Noir, Film Noir has remained influence within America's cultural imagination. Its influence continues to persist in large budget productions like Detective Pikachu as well as in conventions and film festivals like Noir City. Popularity and a continually loving fanbase are often create the grounds for a wealth of parodies as parodies both critique and appreciate their subject--two things long time fans are wont to do.