A Walk on the Dark Side

As I am working on this screenplay and trying to educate myself about the “language”, so to speak, of noir I am noticing something rather interesting --- noir has a lot in common with goth. I’ve always been attracted to the gothic genre. I like its darkness and the faint edge of madness and hysteria that is integral to the gothic tradition. When I was writing The Old Mermaid’s Tale I was aware that, while it does not qualify as gothic in the traditional sense, it has elements of that world. No crumbling castles and crazy relatives locked in the basement or attic (actually, there is one scene in a crumbling castle) but there is the darkness of the Canal Street world and the Old Mermaid Inn that is at the core of the story. And there are no shortage of dark, mysterious and marginally insane characters. I love that world and I was particularly pleased when I came across an interview on NPR between the undisputed queen of contemporary goth, Anne Rice, and Donna Tartt, author of one of my favorite books, The Secret History. Their discussion convinced me that there is a new genre of gothic that doesn’t require the presence of supernatural beings as long as the natural beings are sufficient dark and there is that unmistakable pall of other-worldliness.

When I started work on Each Angel Burns, I carried those ideas along with me and, especially toward the end of the book, there is enough darkness, and departure from the natural world as we know it to satisfy any lover of the Brontës or Hawthorne. Not that I can compare my talent to theirs but I learned my lessons from masters.

Now I am bumbling my way through the world of noir as I work on the screenplay for My Last Romance. I have been watching lots of noir movies (I just saw Sunset Boulevard --- wow!) and have been garnering some good advice from writers I respect. Gregory Gibson, who just published a fairly dark book Hubert's Freaks (seedy 1950s Times Square, freak shows, and Diane Arbus --- what's not to like!) , tells me to read James M. Cain. And Peter Anastas just suggested I get a copy of the screenplay to Chinatown. Good suggestions both.

But as I delve deeper and deeper into this noir world I am seeing some delicious similarities to the world of the gothic --- darkness, issues of redemption, the black side of human nature, and always the atmosphere. In movies it is different. You can utilize light and shadows and lots of cigarette smoke. In novels you have to paint the world with your words. I find both prospects intriguing and wonderful.

I’ve written a lot about my annoyance with the contemporary genre of sad, depressing memoirs of childhood abuse and misery --- MCM --- Miserable Childhood Memoirs. I cannot understand the appeal they hold for so many people. There is an element of voyeurism in them that revolts me and a sort of twisted glee in wallowing in horrible details. However, the noir and gothic genres tantalize me and I think I am beginning to understand it a little better. In the MCM books we are removed from the darkness and the ugliness --- we are viewing it from an adult perspective where we can wallow in what Eric Berne referred to “Ain’t-It-Awful-ness”. In noir and gothic the darkness and the ugliness is there but it is not about a child someone once was, it is about us. It is about the part of ourselves that still lurk beneath the surface waiting for that one right trigger. It is a confrontation with self. We are not standing on the outside looking sympathetically and compassionately on, we are trapped on the inside and forced to question our own morality and vulnerability. Not a thing everyone can be comfortable with.

So, I am working away at the script and hoping I’ll get something good out of it but one thing I know for sure. I have already gotten some very good things out of this process.

Thanks for reading.