Why Film Noir?

LitHub's THE IRRESISTIBLE REBELLIOUS IRREVERENCE AT THE HEART OF NOIR gives several answers to that question, including this one:

And that even in an ultimately doomed to fail fight against a corrupt city hall, the courage to enter the ring anyway and to attempt to navigate the often seedy underbelly of America was still the free act of a free man and a noble and heroic kind of winning in and of itself.

And:

 In sum, noir was the artistic illustration of the rising power and confidence of the American middle class. It highlighted the potential and the appeal of the human spirit and imagination when it is unfettered by burdens of barbaric and unjust social traditions that kept the mass of peasants illiterate in the muck and only the manor-born aristocrats able to eat, drink, read, write, paint, dance, sing, and be merry.

My friend Joel dubbed my stories Indiana noir. Maybe they are.

sch

2/15/22