Intro to Detective Fiction: Hard-Boiled Detectives
Summary
TLDRThis video script delves into the world of hard-boiled detective fiction, characterized by tough, cynical protagonists often struggling with personal demons. It contrasts this noir style with the lighter, golden age detective stories, highlighting the dark, grim settings and morally ambiguous characters. The script explores tropes like the loner detective, the femme fatale, and the lack of a sidekick, using examples from classic radio shows and novels. It also touches on the social context that led to the genre's popularity during times of hardship.
Takeaways
- đ”ïžââïž A hard-boiled detective is characterized by depression, smoking, alcoholism, shabby dress, and a rough demeanor.
- đŁïž These detectives often have strong accents and are frequently depicted with concussions that don't seem to affect them, reflecting a historical lack of awareness about the severity of such injuries.
- đ Noir style fiction, including hard-boiled detective stories, is typically dark and grim, contrasting with the brighter and more optimistic Golden Age fiction.
- đ» Hard-boiled detectives were especially popular on radio shows, with characters like Sam Spade, Philip Marlowe, and Richard Diamond being iconic figures of the genre.
- đïž The setting of hard-boiled detective fiction is usually a dingy city in the slums, far from the idyllic English countryside.
- đŒ The detectives in these stories are often financially struggling, barely making ends meet, yet always able to afford alcohol and cigarettes.
- đ The genre emerged as a response to the social changes and hardships following the Great Depression and World War II, offering a more relatable form of escapism for the struggling populace.
- đ€ Hard-boiled detective stories lack a 'Watson' character, often told in first or third person, leaving the detective's motivations and misery unexplained.
- đ« Women in these stories are typically portrayed in three stereotypes: the damsel in distress, the femme fatale, or as mentally ill or addicted individuals, often sexualized and used for plot advancement.
- đ« Characters in hard-boiled detective fiction are often trigger-happy with little morality, and the stories rarely end with a restoration of order or societal balance.
- đž The hard-boiled detective trope has persisted over time, influencing modern characters like Batman, and can be found in various forms of media, including comedic radio shows for a lighter take on the genre.
Q & A
What defines a hard-boiled detective in fiction?
-A hard-boiled detective is typically depicted as depressed, smoking, possibly alcoholic, shabbily dressed, and slouching. They often operate in a grim and gritty world, dealing with rough situations and displaying a hardened demeanor.
How does hard-boiled detective fiction differ from Golden Age detective fiction?
-Golden Age detective fiction is characterized by bright settings and good people, often restoring order to society. In contrast, hard-boiled detective fiction is dark and gritty, set in dingy cities, with detectives who are morally ambiguous and unable to restore order completely.
Who is considered the first hard-boiled detective?
-Race Williams, a private investigator introduced by Carroll John Daly in 1922, is generally considered the first hard-boiled detective.
What role do women typically play in hard-boiled detective fiction?
-Women in hard-boiled detective fiction usually fall into three categories: the damsel in distress, the femme fatale, and the drunken or mentally ill woman. These roles often portray women as either needing rescue, being manipulative and dangerous, or being used for their vulnerabilities.
Why did hard-boiled detective fiction become popular during and after the Great Depression?
-During and after the Great Depression, people felt disconnected from the idealized world of Golden Age fiction. They resonated more with the gritty, realistic struggles of hard-boiled detectives, which reflected their own hardships and the pervasive criminal activity of the time.
What is a notable difference in storytelling between hard-boiled detective fiction and other detective genres?
-Hard-boiled detective fiction often lacks a 'Watson' character. The story is usually told from the detective's perspective or a detached third-person view, without a companion to help explain the detective's actions or emotions.
How are hard-boiled detectives typically portrayed in terms of their personal lives and relationships?
-Hard-boiled detectives are often portrayed as loners with troubled personal lives. They usually have strained or distrustful relationships with women and display few, if any, close personal connections.
What are some common characteristics of the settings in hard-boiled detective fiction?
-The settings are usually dark and gritty, often urban environments filled with crime and corruption. The detective's world is bleak, and they operate in the seedy underbelly of society.
What impact did historical events like the Great Depression and World War II have on the themes of hard-boiled detective fiction?
-These events contributed to the dark and cynical themes of hard-boiled detective fiction. The widespread poverty, crime, and disillusionment of the time influenced the genre's focus on gritty realism and moral ambiguity.
Can you give an example of a hard-boiled detective and a summary of a story they appear in?
-Philip Marlowe, created by Raymond Chandler, is a classic hard-boiled detective. In 'The Big Sleep,' Marlowe investigates a blackmail case involving a young woman named Carmen, who is being harassed by a bookstore owner. The story features typical hard-boiled elements such as morally ambiguous characters, crime, and a gritty urban setting.
Outlines
đ”ïžââïž The Essence of Hard-Boiled Detectives
This paragraph introduces the concept of hard-boiled detectives in fiction, characterized by their depressive tendencies, substance abuse, shabby appearance, and rough demeanor. It contrasts these detectives with the bright and optimistic tone of golden age fiction, highlighting the dark and gritty nature of noir style. The paragraph also references 'Calvin and Hobbes' to illustrate the trope of the 'mopey detective' and mentions iconic hard-boiled characters from radio shows like Sam Spade, Philip Marlowe, and Richard Diamond. The setting for these detectives is typically a dingy city, and they are often depicted as barely making ends meet, indulging in drinking and smoking as their only luxuries.
đ€ The Loner and His Women
This section delves into the characteristics of hard-boiled detectives as loners and the role of women in their stories. It discusses the absence of a 'Watson' figure to provide insight into the detective's psyche. Women in these narratives are categorized into three types: the damsel in distress, the femme fatale, and the mentally ill or addicted individuals. The paragraph critiques the portrayal of women as either sexualized or hysterical, and it touches on the theme of the world being a dark and miserable place, as seen through the lens of hard-boiled detective fiction. The narrative often ends with the detective alone, unable to restore order to society due to the overwhelming presence of criminal activity.
đ Societal Reflections in Detective Fiction
This paragraph examines the societal context that shaped hard-boiled detective fiction, including the impact of the Spanish flu and the great depression. It describes the detectives as strong individuals in a harsh world, where everyone is manipulative or abusive. The narrative often concludes with the detective's love interest being convicted or murdered, reflecting the genre's pessimistic outlook. The paragraph also mentions Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe as an embodiment of the hard-boiled detective trope and discusses the portrayal of women in 'The Big Sleep' as typical of the genre, emphasizing their attractiveness and hidden desires or secrets.
đ» Radio Shows and the Evolution of Detective Fiction
The final paragraph discusses the evolution of detective fiction and its adaptation into radio shows. It contrasts the grim nature of hard-boiled detective stories with the comedic elements found in some radio dramas, such as 'Richard Diamond.' The paragraph suggests that while hard-boiled detective fiction has remained popular in some form, it has also diversified to include more light-hearted approaches. It provides a method to identify a hard-boiled detective by asking three questions related to the nature of the world, the resolution of the story, and the likability of the detective. The paragraph concludes with recommendations for further exploration of detective fiction through courses and podcasts.
Mindmap
Keywords
đĄHard-boiled detective
đĄNoir
đĄRace Williams
đĄGolden Age fiction
đĄFemme fatale
đĄDamsel in distress
đĄPhilip Marlowe
đĄMisogynistic
đĄLoner
đĄRadio shows
đĄTrope
Highlights
Definition of a hard-boiled detective: a character who is typically depressed, smoking, with an alcohol problem, and dressed shabbily.
Hard-boiled detectives often have rough accents and suffer concussions without apparent long-term effects.
The hard-boiled detective genre is characterized by dark, noir-style storytelling, contrasting with the lighter tone of golden age fiction.
Calvin and Hobbes' 'Tracer Bullet' character is an example of the hard-boiled detective trope.
Hard-boiled detective fiction often lacks a 'Watson' character, leaving the detective's motivations and actions unexplained.
The genre's shift from golden age fiction reflects societal changes post-Great Depression and World War II.
Sam Spade, Philip Marlowe, and Richard Diamond are iconic hard-boiled detectives from radio shows.
Hard-boiled detectives are depicted as loners, with minimal personal connections and a focus on their work.
Women in hard-boiled detective stories are often portrayed as damsels in distress, femme fatales, or troubled individuals.
The portrayal of women in these stories can be problematic, reflecting misogynistic views of the time.
Hard-boiled detectives are unable to restore order to society due to the overwhelming presence of criminal activity.
The hard-boiled detective genre resonated with audiences during times of social and economic hardship.
Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe is a quintessential hard-boiled detective with a troubled personal life.
The Big Sleep novel by Chandler features complex female characters embodying typical hard-boiled detective fiction tropes.
Hard-boiled detective stories often end with the protagonist alone, reflecting the genre's dark and hopeless worldview.
The hard-boiled detective genre has persisted in modern adaptations, such as Batman, with a gothic twist.
Comedic hard-boiled detective shows like 'Richard Diamond' provide a lighter take on the genre.
A three-question test helps identify whether a detective character is hard-boiled, golden age, or classical era.
The speaker suggests using 'The Great Courses Plus' for a more in-depth study of detective fiction.
A podcast called 'Radio Detectives' offers old radio shows in podcast form for easy listening.
Transcripts
hello
today we're going to be talking about
hard-boiled detectives
in fiction now you might be wondering
what is a hardball detective well if
your detective
is depressed smoking
probably has an alcohol problem is
rather shabbily dressed
and slouches like a scumbag you got
yourself a hardball detective
usually they also have some rough
accents and they get a concussion about
twice a day
which apparently never really affects
them but that's because they didn't know
that concussions were a bad thing back
then
so if you have any of these you probably
have a very bad case of hardball
detective
so to save our livers and our lungs we
will not be drinking and we will not be
smoking here
even if that would help us get into the
mood think of the hard-boiled detectives
as the scum of the earth amongst the
scum of the earth
much like any other noir style of
fiction
whether that be film or books
it's meant to be dark not quite grim
dark
but quite dark if any of you have ever
read calvin and hobbes
you will know what i mean when i say the
mopey detective who lives in the shadows
who occasionally has a sexy assistant
who walks in and
offers him a cigarette or something
because kelvin occasionally does pretend
to be a 1940s detective
and it is very tropey it is extremely
tropey but he is foul-mouthed
he is angry he is depressed and he is
always smoking or always drinking not
great for a six-year-old but
i guess bill waterson wasn't six when he
drew that so
whatever point is that tracer bullet
his alternate identity is the epitome
of every single trope about hard-boiled
detectives that you'll come across
in essentially any form of the
literature hardball detectives are
especially popular
on radio shows people such as sam spade
philip marlow and richard diamond
are characters that many younger people
are unfamiliar with because the genre
has essentially gone out of style
but that if you've ever listened to any
radio from that
era you will definitely know those names
to start harbor detective fiction is the
exact opposite of golden age fiction
when the golden age was full of bright
colors and good people
heartball detective fiction is black
white probably with a lot of red
and absolutely miserable for everyone
involved
the setting is never the english
countryside and if it is it is really
sketchy
it is usually a very dingy
city down in the slums where the
detective has to get his arms and hands
dirty and covered with grime whether
that be literal or metaphorical
the detective is often barely making
enough to pay for his office space
but he always has enough to drink and
some cigarettes which are apparently the
only thing he ever consumes
can't imagine that that would be very
helpful for your liver
don't do that kids earlier in the
century agave christie's work was
extremely popular
but after the great depression and
during the second world war
people seem to have grown to be
completely disconnected
from the golden age detective fiction
they didn't see the point in glorifying
something
like that when they themselves were
struggling so much they wanted to read
about real people about
themselves or perhaps
some people wanted to read about a world
that was so dark so miserable
that their lives seemed optimistic by
comparison
the first heartbelt detective is
generally considered to be a private
investigator named race williams
in 1922 carol john daly published a
story about
race williams in the black mask pulp
magazine and it is generally considered
to be the first example of
this grim dark detective something that
is very notable about this type of
fiction
is the sheer lack of watsons there is
basically almost never
a watson the story tends to be told
either in first person or
third person and there is no one
to help us understand why the detective
is so
miserable why he drinks so much it is
all filtered through the detective or
through
a third-person perspective who never
really gets into it
sam spade who is a very famous detective
is one of those who starts off with a
sidekick
who's named archer but archer dies and
sam spade never really shows any emotion
about that
he simply just removes the name from the
door and moves on with his life he
doesn't
care while holmes would be devastated by
the loss of his
watson spade doesn't care he's a loner
and
he is always meant to be a loner
sometimes in these stories women take
the role of watsons
such as sam spade's secretary who
occasionally shows
her more feminine side by being
emotional or having emotional reactions
where sam spade is just
hard-boiled essentially rock hard like
absolutely
dead inside she occasionally
says something that strikes sam as a
good idea or occasionally
just bemoans the state of humanity
however
she doesn't go on cases with him because
sam spade
is a loner she stays in the office and
does her secretarial work and he goes
out and does all the dangerous stuff
women in these stories tend to fall into
three categories obviously the damsel in
distress being number one
number two the femme fatale or number
three the drunken mess
and or crazy person which
falls into a whole backwater
of a history of women being portrayed as
hysterical especially in western
literature so take that with a grain of
salt remember that this is where this is
coming from
women being drunk and or crazy is simply
just an expansion of that sort of
misogynistic world view
the damsel in distress is always a
beautiful young woman
who seeks out the private investigator
because the police won't believe her or
because she needs things to be kept
quiet because of her social status
or for a variety of other reasons the
femme fatale
is also beautiful but she is sexual
where
the damsel in distress is virginal
the sexy dark
mysterious femme fatale is out
to get you she often catches the eye of
the detective but her loyalties are
unknown and or
questionable obviously the third
category lumps together the mentally ill
women like
carmen and raymond chandler's the big
sleep
alongside those with other addictions
usually to
alcohol although occasionally it does
venture into
opioids and a lot of sleeping pills
and eating disorders those women who
again are either mentally ill
or struggling with addictions are
usually used in the story to
show that they're corrupt that
they are in such a poor state that the
detective
can bribe them into doing anything the
detective often uses them to gather
clues where they accidentally slip up
and let something out when they
shouldn't have or
whether simply just having a psychotic
break
and yell out exposition
that now the audience and the detective
know and they use it to solve the case
a problematic trope with this third
category of women is that they're often
sexualized
so you have the stereotyped alcoholic
woman who
is also either she's very beautiful and
very sexual or she is very ugly and very
sexual
it kind of doesn't have a gray space but
there's also the type of woman who is
mentally ill and is very
very desperately in need of help but
she's also sexualized
so you have characters like carmen in
chancellors the big sleep
but she instead of getting help because
again this is the 1940s
she instead is portrayed as this
beautiful
naked creature who tries to seduce
marlow and her body is
used as something sexual even though to
the reader it is quite clear that
she needs medication almost everyone in
these stories including the women are
quite trigger-happy and they have they
rarely have any
morality to speak of there's
occasionally the one
pure creature who the detective tries to
save but
those pure creatures those
unicorns are often sacrificed in order
to make the point that the world
is a very dark very miserable place as
america kind of felt the
full force of the great depression the
story seemed to resonate with people
more than golden age fiction
the hard-working detective who fights
his way to justice seemed
more accessible to people especially in
a time when criminal activity seemed to
be
everywhere and poverty was equally well
spread
these detectives had what they needed
and that was it
spade could afford a secretary marla
could afford to dress like a private eye
and
that was about it there were no emerald
type-ins from the queen
no country estates and no end of
criminal activity
they would always have a job whether or
not people would have money to pay for
them was a completely different story
unlike holmes and marple a hardball
detective could not restore the order to
society
because there's simply too much criminal
activity there is
no end to the darkness there's no light
at the end of the tunnel
the whole point is that the world is
miserable and there's nothing to be done
about it
except to try to make a buck out of it
the social changes
happening after the wars were very
difficult to adapt to
the spanish flu was an incredibly
devastating
influenza virus that killed many people
and
these sort of global situations were
what surrounded the people who grew up
during the golden age detective fiction
but who ended up as
writers for the hard-boiled detectives
any hardball detective worth his salt
is a strong man in a man's world he is a
lone wolf
women are almost always eaves they
always lie they always manipulate
and other men always abuse their power
there's no escape from it
everyone is abusive in one way or
another
if the detective finds a love interest
she's almost always convicted of
something by the end of the story
or murdered at some point raymond
chandler's
philip marlow is a great example of this
detective trope
he fulfills essentially every single one
and there's some very good movies so you
don't have to read if you don't like
reading
let's talk about marlow he is a
stereotypical
hardball detective he is an attractive
middle-aged man who smokes and drinks
too much
he doesn't have a secretary and
generally views women with suspicion
the 1939 novel the big sleep features
marlo investigating a blackmail case
a bookstore owner named arthur greiger
is harassing a rich young woman named
carmen
threatening to release her nudes i won't
spoil the ending
of the story but i will say that the
woman in the story are essentially the
embodiment of a typical
hardball detective fiction woman every
woman in the story is
remarkably attractive or has something
they want and something they want to
hide
they either they have wealth and they
want to hide their infidelity or they
have a happy married life but they want
wealth and they're hiding the fact that
they're so
desperately stealing stuff or whatever
it is that they're doing it's always
something
no matter what marlow does in the story
or
who he meets or who he falls in love
with he is going to end up
alone and he does he ends up drinking
alone at a bar
which i'm pretty sure is marvel's one
and only hobby marlow is the protagonist
but his actions addictions and
problems make him a morally great
character
he tends to be a bit more believable
than the all-knowing
good miss marple but at the same time
they are so incredibly troubled that
you sometimes wonder how they manage to
get out of bed in the morning and why
they don't just jump off the nearest
cliff
because again like i said this is a dark
storyline there's never
anything positive in their lives and
when it is it is
always taken away heartbroken detective
fiction has never quite
gone out of style batman is essentially
sherlock holmes in
the modern times with well at least
right now
a goth makeover but in the past with
a fun sidekick and a few crazy
antagonists
and that's fine it changes and these
things come in and out of fashion
of course not everyone wanted to hear
about grimdark detectives all the time
and there are some great comedic shows
from
again that same era the radio show
not the tv show the tv show is terrible
the radio show of richard diamond
is very very funny he is barely scraping
by in the detective business
but he always is making quips and has a
lot of fun on cases and the
radio dramas around diamond are
a lot of fun he is far from a good
character
he is often flirting with other people
even though he has a steady girlfriend
named helen
who is lovely by the way it's great to
see
one woman in these stories that isn't
either crazy or
evil but there are so many femme fatales
that diamond either seduces or tries to
seduce or get seduced by
regardless that again you end up
wondering why does helen stick with
diamond
of course if you want to go a bit more
traditional there are also sam spade
radio shows and
even some remade sherlock holmes ones
that tend to be a little bit darker than
usual which is a bit
difficult to get accustomed to however
they have their merits and they're quite
a lot of fun to listen to
if you want to know whether or not your
detective is a hard world detective you
just have to ask yourself these three
questions
number one is the general population in
this universe good
is the world out to get the detective
number two
does the solution to the problem restore
balance to the world
number three is the detective an easily
likable person
if the answer is no to all three then
you have yourself a traditional
hard-boiled detective
if the answer is yes then you most
likely have a golden age detective
if you answered 1 in 3 as yes then you
have a sherlock holmes type detective
from the classical era detective fiction
can be a lot of fun
and sometimes some people consider
looking at it
through this way as work or that we're
taking the joy out of it
but i personally find analyzing this
sort of literature to be very very
interesting you learn
so much and although you might not
necessarily agree with
all of my generalizations that i've made
in this series
they are generalizations i don't get
paid to make these videos i make them
for fun so
if you want a full lecture series i
don't think i'm qualified a
and b i need a lot more money than what
i have right now so
if you want to learn more about this i
can highly recommend
as the great courses plus which i'm not
sponsored by they have a few
series on detective fiction and they are
essentially university level courses
which i have taken my fair share of
detective fiction university level
courses
i did major in english literature after
all i mean
look at me duh what else would i have
majored in there is a podcast called
radio detectives which is out of boise
idaho it's wonderful
the man takes all the radio shows from
the oldie days and puts them in a
podcast form so you can listen to them
and
his catalog is enormous i'll see if i
can link it down below
anyways i hope you like this video
series leave a comment
down below like subscribe i can't
guarantee that i'll ever make more
videos but you know
not like i have much else going on so
we'll see
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