Shades of Meaning: Perspectives on the Visual Rhetoric of Film Noir

Author

• Jill Shepherd, Utah State University

Date of Award

5-4-1999

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Departmental Honors

Department

English

Abstract

Alone in the kitchen now, Frank watches the hamburger on the grill. Distracted by a faint clunk - something has fallen - he turns, his gaze falling to the floor where a small white tube of lipstick rolls across angular shadows cast by the windows. His eye follows the path of the lipstick back to a white, open-toed pump, and up a pair of shapely legs, past a pair of white shorts and a midriff-baring top to the insolent lovely face of Cora. He picks up the lipstick and holds it in the palm of his hand; she looks at him expectantly from the doorway, waiting for him to present it to her. But he doesn't; he merely watches her with impertinent amusement, until finally, in irritation, she steps across the room and takes the lipstick from him. Head high, eyes on a hand-held compact minor, she applies the lipstick, turns, and casts him a contemptuous glance as she saunters from the room. Frank watches her go, entranced, until his attention is diverted by the forgotten hamburger sizzling and smoking on the grill, a piece of meat burnt beyond usefulness, beyond recognition, on a scorching bed of heat.

Recommended Citation

Shepherd, Jill, "Shades of Meaning: Perspectives on the Visual Rhetoric of Film Noir" (1999). Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects. 1056.
https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/honors/1056