Kiss Me Redly

It may be hard to find subcontext in many of the films noirs. The B films noirs are generally low-budget and superficial. Their plot is cheap, the acting subpar. Kiss Me Deadly is all of these things, but it does follow a path awry from the remainder of films in its genre and era. It hints at something deeper (in a rather awkward way). At first the film seems a common detective story. The plot endures in this manner for some time. Once the meaning is established, however, it can be quickly read as a political allegory for post-war America. The box ultimately contains a quasi-nuclear matter, and it consumes the curious. The plot, in hindsight, is convoluted and intangible. A viewer inevitably feels a certain unknown, something grander that is not revealed. This sentiment mirrors the unknown horrors of the nuclear age. The ending, then, proposes the final outcomes of those who choose to toy with this power.