Chaos and Order

TV Noir

CLOSING SCENES

Chaos and Order

The scene in Double Indemnity (1944) of Mr. Dietrichson splayed across the train tracks, discarded like a broken umbrella, is one of the seminal images in classical film noir. having enacted the “perfect murder,” the conspirators scramble away under cover of darkness: there are alibis to secure, some insurance papers to fill out. The noir night is the time of chaos. it’s the period of instigation, crimes committed, corpses produced. Which isn’t to say that such disruptions are unfamiliar to the day, but that the chaos of such behavior is best kept in the shadows. “night in Gotham city. Only the faintest rays of moonlight break through the steamy darkness,” reads the writer’s bible for Batman: The Animated Series (1992–1994). “shadows are black, twisted, and frightening. The thick night air carries many sounds: breaking glass, sputter- ing neon, harsh, bitter voices, and police sirens. Always police sirens. Most of Gotham’s daytime inhabitants have long since fled to the suburbs or into security- gated apartments. This is not a safe place after dark.” As the creators of this and many other works of noir see it, night, city, and chaos go together in an un- holy trinity. The savior, typically, is a figure representative of or associated with, the law—sometimes in a cape, mostly not. The noir story thrives on an uneasy equilibrium between chaos and order.

Double Indemnity (1944 .