The Rise of 'Bright Noir'. Redemption and Moral Optimism in American Contemporary TV Noir

Abstract

This article explores how some recent American TV crime dramas that can be specifically labelled as noir address the issue of hope and redemption by undermining one of the main thematic and ideological features that both spectators and critics tend to assign to noir narratives: the logic of hopelessness, of no way out. In what I have coined as “bright noir”, several recent, influential and popular TV noir series (such as 'Justified' or 'Fargo') offer stories in which brave protagonists achieve a positive outcome and defeat evil while fulfilling a higher purpose or attaining an honorable end.