Homework: Vice Noir

LawDog assigns homework this week

"Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And when you look long into an abyss, the abyss also looks into you.”
~Friedrich Nietzsche, in his book “Beyond Good and Evil”

Ok, folks. This one is going to stretch your writer legs a bit. Of course, as you can tell by the name, this could probably start and end with the Miami Vice series. Particularly the early seasons.

The protagonist I am looking for in Vice Noir is a little different than the standard noir central character. Your standard noir detective knows the abyss, and has armoured himself against it. He fights monsters, because someone has to, and his moral code demands that someone stand in the breach. His moral code is more externally-focused: “Someone has to do it.”

The Vice Noir protagonist, on the other hand, has looked into the abyss … and the abyss winked. He lives in the bright sunshine, among pretty people — because the night, the alleys, and the adrenaline are way too attractive, too addictive, too comfortable … and he knows it. He is Sonny Crockett, living on a yacht with a gator named Elvis; he is Fiddler, in his beach cottage, with his lime tree, and his koi; both of them trying to build up the antibodies before the abyss whispers, and they leap headlong. Again.

Where the standard noir protag defends the innocent because that is what his moral code demands of him; the Vice Noir protag defends the innocent because the adrenaline drives him to do something, and defending the innocent and Righting Wrongs allows him to dance with the devil in a manner that is acceptable to society. His moral code is more internally-focused — it’s there to keep him from becoming the monster that goes to prison, or worse.

Where the traditional noir detective puts on that rusty armour, his soul is his, alone, and he will not bend. The vice noir trouble-shooter knows exactly who he is when the teeth come out, that’s when he feels most alive, and his soul is a little scared of the allure.

When the innocent people in your story gather around the watering holes on the Serengeti of crime, the evil people gather — with the vice protagonist comfortable drifting amongst both the innocent and the evil, where the noir detective stands against the wall in his scruffy honor, and glares at the bad guys.

As far as the criminals, in Vice Noir go big: bring out the crime cartels. foreign government agencies, terrorist cells, rogue mercenary groups.

Of course, there’s always The Lady. Go wild.

Start with Michael Mann’s movies Thief, Collateral, and Manhunter. To Live and Die In L.A is also good, as is Black Rain.

In television, consider Burn Notice starring Jeffery Donavan, Gabrielle Anwar, and Bruce Campbell.

For comics — Jon Sable, Freelance is the classic.

In the written realm, the best example I can think of is the Fiddler and Fiora series by A.E. Maxwell, with the Travis McGee series by John D. MacDonald touching on the concept.

Have fun!

LawDog

Vice Noir
Edited by LawDog

Noir in the 1980s. Glitz, glamour, neon, synthpop, and blood slowly leaking over the pulsing lighted tiles of the nightclubs. Miami’s vices, viewed through noir-colored glasses.

Opens: 04/12/25
Closes: 06/01/25
Contracts: 06/14/25
Publication: 07/11/25

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