The still unexamined tension at the heart of film noir is that between senile capitalism and democracy. Film noir, not necessarily in the mode of full self-consciousness, anticipated the attack by capitalism on democracy that has just begun, producing the homeless as its first casualties. The problem between democracy and capitalism seems to have its origins in an aggressive, pragmatic drive on the part of capitalism to make democracy do its bidding, or to clear it out of the way. After defeating its external enemies, fascism and communism, capitalism entered its 'twilight years'; increasingly it began to turn its fading powers against its own partner, democracy, for harbouring and promoting a historically antiquated, inefficient ideological surplus. From the perspective of mature capitalism, the historical purpose of its partnership with democracy was ( 1 ) to break the privilege of aristocratic classes, making way for new entrepreneurial elites, and (2) to win the hearts and minds of socialists and others still tied to noncapitalist modes of production by offering them freedom of speech, choice, etcetera. Once traditional privilege is destroyed, and everyone is involved in the same system of global economic relations, there is no further need for democracy. In fact, in the current historical moment, any openness or broad base of decision-making, any balancing of different interests, any voicing of interests other than those of economic self-interest, is seen as intolerably opposed to the continued development of freemarket economies. Only a 'sold out' democracy is acceptable, that is, one that goes through the motions of giving a voice to the people while actually supporting a narrowing of social and economic interests.