The Obvious & The Code

Last year I took a Communications class that specifically focused on film noir. Throughout the duration of the course, we examined the ways in which the Production Code forced directors to imply certain notions as obviously as they could, without explicitly showing the action. However, my association with the production code and its defining affect on classical Hollywood cinema is what confused me when trying to understand Bellour’s reference to the code. I think that Bellour was focusing on the code as a way of using shot symmetry and dissymmetry to create meaning through segment. He elaborates on this idea by referencing to the conversation between Marlowe and Vivian in the car. He points out that each time Marlowe speaks, there is a shot of Vivian, and each time Vivian speaks, there is a shot of Marlowe. However, by using a shot of both of them together in moments of silence, the audience is able to understand “narrative elements ebbing and flowing throughout the segment” (74). It was interesting to see how Bellour used this minute scene in the film to demonstrate his point, because I think it is often an exchange that goes unnoticed (at least I never thought anything of it). That being said, I can’t really place a finger on what statement Bellour is trying to make, besides the fact that the visual composition of the shots make obvious what the dialogue does not.