Breaking the Stereotypes - the Maltese Falcon

Breaking the Stereotypes - the Maltese Falcon

Breaking the Stereotypes

Contemporary Hollywood cinema gives us a vision about what and what not to be seen in a movie. This is why when you watch a film, you expect characters to act and events to develop in a particular way. However, film-noir is said to be extraordinary when compared to contemporary film styles. “The Maltese Falcon” is considered as the first film-noir movie. It is about a detective, Sam Spade, who gets involved to the quest of a precious statue, which people were murdered and lives were dedicated for. He is hired by Brigid O’Shaughnessy, who is also in this search of the falcon. Everything begins with the murder of Sam Spade’s partner. This all seems to be an ordinary action story, but the way the story was told and developed is different than what we expect. This film’s differantiation from Hollywood films is more clear at the last scene of “The Maltese Falcon”. “The Maltese Falcon” is an extraordinary combination of thriller and romance, in which Sam Spade is an anti-Hollywood hero with immoral behaviors and Brigid O’Shaugnessy is a bad woman.

A hero in a story is generally a moral, powerful, independent and humane helper that solves serious cases. This generally accepted meaning of a hero is so dominant that, when we watch a film, we expect to see our hero solving the issue. Nevertheless, the audience can not find this stereotyped hero in “The Maltese Falcon”. When we look at the movie as a whole, we see that even though Sam Spade has solved the case, he actually is not a typical hero. For example, the fact that he had a relationship with his partner’s wife, provides us a satisfactory proof. Furthermore, at the very last scene, we can see him doubting about giving up Brigid O’Shaughnessy. This is not an act that a typical hero would do. Because of moral and previously determined rules, a hero probably would not even start a relationship with a woman who is involved in the case. Although Sam Spade was rational enough for a...

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