Joaquim da Silva Fontes, Significação e Estabilidade do Género no ...

meaninglessness” (in Spicer 2002:18). In short, their subject manner and style might be
regarded as a parallel strategy to the approach of film noir.
All of the above productions were a critical and financial success. They created a
large pool of icons and motifs (to be further discussed later on in the analysis of individual
noir films, where I will also illustrate some specific examples of horror / film noir crossover
effects) that were carried across into noir productions. Most of these films of the
thirties and early forties influenced noir filmmakers of that period, and their noir movies
absorbed these visual influences. However, film noir does not rely on anything as blatant as
the monstrous or supernatural elements of horror with its easily recognised iconic figures
and shock effects. And consequently, this supports my view that film noir cannot be
considered a genre in its own right.
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