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Unit 1
Interactive Assignment 1: Reading Discussion

Definitions are as difficult as they are necessary. In the case of "film noir" we always begin with the question: What is it? But this is perhaps the wrong question. Perhaps we should ask a deeper question: Is it? In other words, is the word empty of meaning, that is, so general that in practice it is useless? Let us begin, then, not with what it is or even if it is, but trace its use. In the essay you have just read, you have discovered that the term was invented by French film critics to explain something they saw in American films after WW II. Whether Americans saw what the French saw-and they didn't-is an important cultural point. French thinkers have a long history of attempting to understand America, beginning with Alexis de Tocqueville, whose visit to the US in the early 19th century served as the basis of his interpretations of the American national spirit. His work is no less controversial than the French film critics......

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Approximate Word Count: 2265
Approximate Pages: 10 (250 words per double-spaced page)

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