We like to think that today’s society is suffering from a new pathology: alienation from the analog world. While this is unequivocally true, it is not by any means a novel phenomenon. The separation we feel from one another has been exacerbated by the digital revolution, which demands that we shun encounters in the physical realm. But alienation is a constant of the human condition—in fact it was quite pronounced in America following the end of World War II.
American cinema, especially film noir, expressed this collective alienation in a unique way. It deliberately embraced the darkness and uncertainty that defined the post-war period. Male heroes became anti-heroes—men who were neither here nor there, haunted by the perpetual shadow of the war, grasping at the meaning of who they were and how they could once again fit into American society.
Read Full Article »