[2-minute read]
Humor in the midst of trouble.
This comes to mind first when I sit down to schmanylize* what I mean by ‘Rabbit Noir’. Humor is the base.
In “Murkey’s, A Rabbit Noir,” the world surrounding Murkey’s Diner is not bright and cheery. The weather is bad, the fog terrible. Everything in the city is for sale to the new money pouring in. The lovely funk and depth of the city’s history is being sold off, wiped out by this money flood. But the Guys — Bunz and his best pal Webbs, the intellectual spider, fight back, with grit and humor.
Their hangout, Murkey’s Diner, has been an old-school diner for decades. That is exactly why it is still the best place in town for pie and coffee (and donuts!). “Murkey’s, A Rabbit Noir” evokes the feel of a city that, in spite of all the relentless changes, retains some funky pockets of its past.
The day I came up with that tag, I laughed out loud. I love my main character, the rabbit Bunz, and noir and humor. In the process of writing what became “Murkey’s, A Rabbit Noir,” all of it came together. In a dark, dark world, humor keeps us going.
While noir is not usually matched with humor, there are cases. If you haven’t watched these movies at least a few times, I can recommend: The Big Sleep, To Have and Have Not, and a personal favorite, Cry Danger.
- *Schmanylize: to come up with an on-the-spot theory about something without spending time on further research; to smoosh together the fuzzy analytics immediately to hand; to devise theories before spending time studying any numbers or doing actual analysis;
Note: sometimes no more facts are available and ‘schmanylizing’ is the best you can do.
