Kentucky Noir is an editorial article by Gary Hoppenstand that is directed to crime drama series’ fanatics. The audience for this article is portrayed by the subject matter of the article and the use of subject-specific concepts such as “Appalachian hooligan”, and “Neo-Nazi racists” (Hoppenstand, 2011).
The article is about one of the current crime drama series on TV called Justified. The writer starts by labeling the show as the best crime drama series on TV today, ahead of CSI (Crime Scene Investigation) and NCIS (Naval Criminal Investigative Service). He conceives the show as a combination of the traditional Western and the hard-boiled detective story (Hoppenstand, 2011).
He compares the show to motion pictures such as “El Dorado” and “Rio Bravo” both starring John Wayne. He relates the events in the first episode of the show to those at the end of the motion picture, “High Noon”. He talks of how the series successfully replaces the villainous stereotype of urban gangster hit men with an equally engaging villainous stereotype of the Appalachian hooligan (Hoppenstand, 2011).
In summing up, Hoppenstand points out the action in Justified to be addictive; its dialogue crisp; and the characters believable and problematic (Hoppenstand, 2011). The plots are usually spontaneous and rational hence making the show enjoyable and interesting. The main character of the show is borrowed from a novella by Elmore Leonard titled, “Fire in the Hole”. The same title was used for the first episode of the show.
The article has a free flow, with the author presenting his ideas in an informal manner. The main aim and ideas of the article can be clearly grasped. The simple language used in expressing the main points and absence of hard vocabularies facilitate the easy and effective deliverance of the message to the targeted audience. The key idea that I took from the article is that a good story is normally created when several narrative formulas come into play; not just one.
References
Hoppenstand, G. (2011). Editorial: Kentucky noir. The journal of popular culture, 4(2), 193-194.
Good analysis of this article. I found this article to be be very interesting. I am a big fan of the mentioned show, Justified. I agree with the author about the action in the show being addicting. I never miss this show. Good job!
ReplyDeleteVery good job analyzing your article! I enjoy watching crime drama series but I am not familiar with Justified. I love NCIS and Bones currently. When it was on, I enjoyed NYPD Blue. The nerd in me loved, and still loves, Murder, She Wrote! I guess this popular culture genre appeals to me because, not only do the good guys catch the bad, but I usually learn something from the shows.
ReplyDelete