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The Long Goodbye (1973)

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DZ-124: Making the Despicable Compelling

How does Film Noir show us terrible people doing terrible things without endorsing it?

AI✦Examines how**The Long Goodbye* *uses moral ambiguity and the unreliable narrator to keep audiences invested in a protagonist engaged in morally questionable behaviour, drawing out the craft mechanics that sustain sympathy for antiheroes.✦

⏱ 1h 10m

Character · Theme · Structure | 30 JAN 2026

Listen if you need audiences to root for characters who do terrible things

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Mel and Chas continue to explore what Noir (the genre) can teach writers of all other genres. In particular:… →

Films: Devil in a Blue Dress (1995) , Woman of the Hour (2024) , Double Indemnity (1944) , The Long Goodbye (1973)

Character: Character Motivation , Moral Ambiguity , Character Arcs , Antiheroes , Character Agency , Unreliable Narrator

Theme: Worldview , Representation and Endorsement

Structure: Dramatic Questions

"What can we learn from noir?. In particular: How can we make characters doing despicable things… compelling?"

— chas | DZ-124: Making the Despicable Compelling

DZ-123: Flawed Characters in Noir

What can Film Noir teach us about character arcs and audience engagement?

AI✦Examines how The Long Goodbye sustains audience investment in an unlikeable protagonist through sheer narrative persistence, positioning moral compromise as the price of survival in a 1970s power structure where money and intellect—not law enforcement—hold true authority.✦

⏱ 1h 22m

Character · Theme · Scenes | 31 DEC 2025

Listen if you want to write morally compromised characters without endorsing their choices.

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In this two part series, Mel and Chas use Noir (the genre) as a lens to interrogate flawed characters. How can characters doing reprehensible things still engage audiences? How can you ensure representation isn’t endorsement? And whether these characters undergo transformative arcs, or simply reveal their true natures… →

Films: Double Indemnity (1944) , The Long Goodbye (1973)

Character: Audience Complicity , Moral Ambiguity , Character Motivation , Character Arcs , Moral Complexity , Antiheroes

Theme: Worldview , Representation and Endorsement

Scenes: Dramatic Irony

"The end of noir is often incredibly narratively unsatisfying. It’s untidy. It’s not a happy ending. Everybody loses. Everybody loses. If you get out alive, you have won. That is, I think, one of the things that differentiates a lot of noir and gangster film or whatever."

— mel | DZ-123: Flawed Characters in Noir