Shadow Of The Neon Lights

Ever since Hitchcock’s Rope,there has been a subtle connection between neon and film noir.After the release of Scorsese’s Taxi Driver,a new theme started to develop in neo-noir,both visually and narratively.In the new century,film noir has achieved another round of transformation,developing into “neon-noir”,a style that is more relevant to the 21 st century.In recent years,with the participation of Gaspar Noé,Nicolas Winding Refn,Harmony Korine,and Safdie brothers,neon-noir gradually becomes a global aesthetic wave,spreading over world cinema and further to the entire field of visual images.In Chinese-Language Cinema,there are also works under profound influence emerging,such as The Wild Goose Lake and Nina Wu.This paper conducts a theoretical systematization and an academic study on this striking new wave in the world of film noir and contemporary cinema,followed by a decoding of the social context behind it.The goal of this paper is to examine the phenomenon,history,formation,and characteristics of neon-noir,to gain an insight on the connection between neon-noir aesthetics and contemporary society,and to offer a new perspective on the study of film noir and contemporary cinema,as well as the study of visual culture.Starts from the phenomenon of emerging contemporary neon-noir films,this paper summarizes the definition,the origin and the characteristics of neon-noir.Moreover,it looks back at the development of neon-noir through film history.Lastly,it conducts an in-depth analysis of its formation from the perspectives of the technology revolution and Socio-cultural context,examining the relations between the textual theme and kernel of neon-noir,the colored-light-centralized visual aesthetics of neon-noir and the social movements in the western world over the decades,such as the counter-culture movement in the 1960 s,the wave of consumerism in the 1980 s,and the development of internet since the 1990 s.Using audiovisual language analysis and text analysis methods,the study starts from the ontology of neon-noir,analyzing it’s textual and stylistic characteristics.On this basis,the study uses critical theories of cultural studies,ideology,and visual culture,which enables it to have an insight on the socio-cultural roots of neon-noir,as well as the cultural significance of the aesthetics of neon-noir to today’s society.Through the research,this paper concludes that neon-noir is a paradigm shift in film noir throughout the long process of the development of film technology,society,and culture.Its formation and development are highly related to the individualistic and consumerist culture of Western society,as well as the evolving technology and internet culture.On this basis,this paper analyzes the hyperactive,flat and decentralized aesthetics of contemporary neon-noir films,considering it as the response of the visual aspects to the deep conflicts and crises in Western societies of today.As a visual style,neon-noir is,in fact,a form of mourning,over the three failed attempts to bring liberation for humanity by individualism,consumerism and technological centrism.However,it wasn’t long before this aesthetic response with a critical spirit was taken away and exploited by the capitalist mode of production,used as a tool to pull marginalized groups into its system.