Outline for the Presentation  (100 Points)

I.                    Introduce your film and provide the premise of the film in three sentences or fewer.

Easy Rawlins is an ex World War II vet, who loses his job and finds himself in need of money to pay his house note. An companion introduces Easy to a white man named Albright, who offers him a job that consists of finding a white woman hiding in the black community. He feels uneasy about the job but  he takes it anyway  because it’s easy money. By taking the job in search for the woman things unfolds and many secrets threatens his life and freedom.

II.            Characteristics and Conventions of the Film that Link it to Classic Film Noir

1.       The protagonist.

Easy is playing the protagonist and detective figure in this movie. He demonstrates his insecurities and Weakness by taking this job with no knowledge of what it is he’ll be doing. Like the protagonist in Double Indemnity Easy is a loner, he demonstrates this in the movie because he seems to have no ties with people. . In the book he shows he’s a loner when asked by Albright if he had a family. Easy says “No, just me”(47). He had no children, no wife, and few friends.

                2. Camera angles

a. Devil in a Blue Dress adopts the distinct camera angles from the noir films to emphasize the beauty of the femme fatale. The cameras angles around the both the femme fatale eyes give them a softer look. The angel of the camera also gives close-ups on Easy making his emotions stand out more.  Noir used colors of black and white which allowed the femme fatale to stand out in brighter tones. Which makes her seem more pure then she actually was, in the same way Devil in a Blue Dress uses their coloring pattern to allow the two femme fatales to stand out also; Coretta James in her strikingly red dress and Daphne Monet this her seemingly bright blue dress. The natural eye is drawn to the two women immediately when they are seen in the camera.

III.           Elements of the Film that Deviate from Classic Film Noir and Link it to Neo Noir

1.       Two protagonist

In classic noir the protagonist is often seen swaying back and forth between the good side and dark side within him. Devil in a Blue Dress up dates this characteristic of the protagonist by making two men in the film represent these sides within the classic noir protagonist. Easy represents the good side and Mouse the dark side. In the film after Frank and Easy’s fight, Easy sits Frank down and try’s to reason with him without resorting to violence. He communicates to frank that someone would pay money to whoever finds the women. But Mouse immediately jumps to violence by shooting Frank in the shoulder. This scene in the film perfectly illustrates how Easy demonstrates the good and Mouse the bad within the classic noir protagonist.

2.       Hip Language

a.       Devil in a blue dress is evolves the noir language adding a “hip” new language in to the neo- noir film. The dialogue of the film has much slang. When Easy is being intimate with Coretta in the film she tells him he is hitting her spot. Easy responds in his narration saying, “I went on hitting her spot until just before sun up”. “Hitting her spot” is a definite use of slang.  According to William Covey “In direct contradiction to classic noirs the African American neo-noir hero revels a hipness that derives from the urban neighborhood” in his article Black and White Photographs.  His quote supports the idea that the film uses the slang language from the urban society and evolves the noir style into a now neo-noir genre.

Quotes from Outside Sources (These may be inserted anywhere in the outline)

Source One:

Context:  Provide a signal phrase that includes the title of the source and the author:	Quote from the Source: Be sure to include the page number	Significance: How does this quote relate to the topic of your essay?
In the book he shows he’s a loner when asked by Albright if he had a family.	Easy says “No, just me”(47).	He had no children, no wife, and few friends.

Source Two:

Context: Provide a signal phrase that includes the title of the source and the author:	Quote from the Source: Be sure to include the page number	Significance: How does this quote relate to the topic of your essay?
According to William Covey in his article Black and White Photographs.	“In direct contradiction to classic noirs the African American neo-noir hero revels a hipness that derives from the urban neighborhood”	His quote supports the idea that the film uses the slang language from the urban society and evolves the noir style into a now neo-noir genre.