Description

Book Synopsis

Explores the figure of the detective as a pursuer of knowledge in four noir films.

Reluctant Sleuths, True Detectives examines the detective figure in four noir and neo-noir films: Out of the Past (1947), Notorious (1946), Vertigo (1958), and Chinatown (1974). Exploring the way that these characters each move from an initial state of reluctant passivity to one of passionate engagement with the world around them, it questions the cinematic forces required to motivate and move them. In its close examinations of each film, the book meditates on the detectives'' hunts and how they interact with the cinematic apparatus that captures and presents them to an audience, and it tracks the receptive experience of these films in relation to these questions of motivation and movement.

Reluctant Sleuths True Detectives

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    A Paperback by Jason Jacobs

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      Publisher: State University of New York Press
      Publication Date: Publication Date: 8/2/2023 12:00:00 AM
      ISBN13: 9781438492247, 978-1438492247
      ISBN10: 1438492243

      Description

      Book Synopsis

      Explores the figure of the detective as a pursuer of knowledge in four noir films.

      Reluctant Sleuths, True Detectives examines the detective figure in four noir and neo-noir films: Out of the Past (1947), Notorious (1946), Vertigo (1958), and Chinatown (1974). Exploring the way that these characters each move from an initial state of reluctant passivity to one of passionate engagement with the world around them, it questions the cinematic forces required to motivate and move them. In its close examinations of each film, the book meditates on the detectives'' hunts and how they interact with the cinematic apparatus that captures and presents them to an audience, and it tracks the receptive experience of these films in relation to these questions of motivation and movement.

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