Words evolve through usage. While a case can be made that
in
"traditional" (e.g. James Caan) noir the protagonist is
doomed. However, I challenge anyone to take any of the recent
noir anthologies , the Akashic ones, the Plots With Guns, the
many books called by publishers and reviewers "noir" and
prove that a majority of these stories fit this definition.
The term was changed, its meaning, rightly or wrongly,
widened. Today "noir" simply means a "dark" story. It is a
view of the world as a dark place that all these stories
share.
I would refer you also to David Corbett's piece on
existentialism in the current "Reflections of a Private Eye."
In the existentialist view the world is chaotic, lacking in
any meaning other than the meaning a person creates for
himself through his actions. That's noir. The protagonist in
such stories is no more doomed than we all are. If you excuse
the sexist language, "Man's Fate."
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