Veronica Mars: Noir Hidden in Teen Angst
Monday, November 28, 2016 at 8:00PM by Jorge Molina
The thing about noir is that, at its purest, most classic, most Maltese-Falcon-iest form, it’s a fairly recognizable genre. The character tropes are clear, the themes are evident, and the stylistic elements jump off the screen. For the most part, you know a noir film when you see one.
However, the more interesting members of the genre are those that won’t have a smoky detective office telling you that what you’re about to watch. They either subvert the learned expectations, or they hide them in original packaging...
Veronica Mars, Rob Thomas’ cult TV series about teen detective Kristen Bell, falls on the second category. Thomas and company found in three seasons (and a movie) that the most perfect backdrop for a noir is not a metropolis tainted by corruption, but the hallways of an All-American high school.
Sure, it has a lot of the classic plot and formal elements the genre: there’s a detective agency run by Veronica’s father that she partakes in, there’s dark and oppressive lighting and oblique camera angles (especially during flashback sequences), and the characters talk in long, quick-witted, poetic dialogue that is way beyond their years.
But what is brilliant about the show (and why many credit it with embodying a completely new genre: the teen noir) is that Thomas saw and exploited the many parallels between classic noir themes and the high school experience.
What place encapsulates moral ambiguity and its repercussions better than a building full of pre-adults testing their ethical limits with every decision, whether it is school work, friendships, or dating?
Where is the damsel in distress/ femme fatale dichotomy better exemplified than within a culture that labels women’s reputations with a simple “good girl,” “slut” or “tough chick,”, sealing their status quo fate forever? (I don’t know if we can ever find clearerr examples of the trope than Amanda Seyfried’s Lily versus Kristen Bell’s Veronica.)
And, especially, what is a better catalyzer for the restless bleak view of humanity that’s so essential in noirs than pure teen angst? These characters (all of us really, if we remember hard enough) are living with these themes of despair, injustice, and emotional overload on a daily basis. Under a teen’s eye, all institutions are corrupt, friends and villains are practically interchangeable, and desire and instinct play a part in every decision they make. Why not throw some murders, jagged camera lines, and high contrast lights to really bring it home?
Theirs is a lot to say about Veronica Mars. More than this article will let me. It has, after all, more than 60 hours of content. It goes into so many complex plot points, and character explorations, and quick-witted tangents.
But its most important, long-lasting and, let’s be honest, convenient one for this article’s purpose, is marrying two concepts that feel so foreign at first sight, and yet fit so perfectly with one another. The dread and fatality of noir and the dread and angst of adolescence. Credit where credit’s due.
previously on Noirvember...
Reader Comments (3)
I was late to the party. On a lark, I saw the recent VERONICA MARS movie when it arrived on DVD. It was enjoyable enough that I watched the entire series on the cable channel Pivot, which would air them chronologically in 5-episode mini-marathons.
Each subsequent season brings diminishing returns, but all 3 seasons were worth watching once. I'm a casual fan.
P.S. Jessica Chastain completists will want to see her guest appearance, one of her earliest credits.
Reading this post makes me want to watch the entire series and movie all over again. This is one of my favourite shows of all time and one of the best shows of all time.
I can definitely credit VERONICA MARS for introducing me to the magical world of brilliant, scripted TV dramas.
Kristen Bell should have 3 Emmys by now in my opinion, one for each season of the show. She did magnificent, groundbreaking work and deserved all the accolades she could've received.
Another VM fan here. One of my favorite shows too and, yes, Kristen Bell was great in it.