Throughout the film noir genre we have explored the role of the femme fatale characters who use their womanly charms as weapons to manipulate men and achieve some higher goal. There acting skills to appear vulnerable and helpless, along with her manipulative nature creates a cold hearted master over men, disguised as a damsel in distress, which our heroes cannot resist. This femme fatale character is portrayed perfectly by Norma Desmond in Billy Wilder’s film Sunset Boulevard but is also challenged by the strong, yet kind, character of Laura Hunt in the novel Laura by Vera Caspary. The feminist view of Laura shines a great light on how women can be empowered and independent and seeking to gain status or monetary gain, but from their own hard …show more content…
However Laura is not a femme fatale in the classic stereotype in the way that Norma or other characters are, she is not a threat to the man himself and his life seeking to manipulate and eliminate, instead she is a threat to the patriarchy and the social sphere dominated by men. In the book written by Julie Grossman titled Rethinking the Femme Fatale in Film Noir, she redefines the stereotypical idea of the femme fatale in a more feminist view to be, “ the dangerous women in film noir are lawless agents female desire, rebelling against the patriarchal regulation of women to the domestic sphere where they are deemed passive and valued only in relation to their maternal and wifely vocation,” showing evidence as to how Laura is not simply a woman out to manipulate and eliminate men, but instead as a crusader towards a more equal view of the sexes and not just a subject of the male gaze. (Grossman 4). Laura in the novel is first seen through the lens and perspective of each male characters in which she is involved with. Our hero of the story McPherson cannot help but fall in love with the woman in the painting and finds her irresistible when she is quite and feminine as well as
As demonstrated within Deadwood Dick the Prince of the Road by Edward L. Wheeler, the critique of the manhood is presented with Calamity Jane, who exerts her femininity in the form of a rugged masculine persona. Jane, whose reputation for dressing like a man and being able to shoot like a cowboy, often makes her audience question her sexuality, but not in terms of merely preference, but as a role within the Western society. Ultimately, in Wheeler’s novel, Deadwood remains unmarried and without an inherited fortune--automatically denouncing his success
Warping the conventions of the hard-boiled detective genre facilitates the ability of the audience to distinctively explore ideas and attitudes present within Marele Day’s prose fiction, ‘The Life and Crimes of Harry Lavender’. The representation of the protagonist, Claudia Valentine, subverts both gender stereotypes associated with the hard-boiled genre as well as the conventions of the genre, which serves to provoke a renewed perception of the novel. In addition, Day uniquely personifies a city to embody the role of the femme fatale to cleverly challenge the audience to uncover the true nature behind a facade. Moreover, Day confronts societal values towards criminals by portraying the antagonist as a victim of his own upbringing. Day subverts
Likewise, Sally takes on the femme fatale trope, “One of her powerful fathers would get her off, have a few words to the right people,” she keeps information crucial to the case in to her father’s reputation and wealth rather than pursuing justice showing the value for power over justice in
Even by you” (89). Although McDowell claims that women writers lash out against the stereotype of the hypersexualized female by deliberately desexualizing their characters, this is not exactly the case. Like Helga says, women’s sexuality cannot be bought or sold, only manipulated by those in power. The intersection of these three portrayals speaks to the volume of types of sexuality women possess. Rather than lash out against this stereotype, as McDowell claims, by deliberately desexualizing woman characters, these novels prove that by eliminating the dichotomy of innocence and sensuality through varied portrayals of women, you strike the stereotype at the root, blocking the male influence from contaminating the sexuality any
It’s a classic comparison. Ancient vs modern. Misogyny vs liberation through love. The Taming of The Shrew vs 10 Things I Hate About You. Are these films love stories about men liberating women, or are they exercises in misogyny?
Despite the movie’s dramatic rendition of real-life events and ideas in regards to women in crime, it gets the point across by using Roxie and Velma’s femininity win the “innocent” verdict. Although it only displayed a one-sided and underdeveloped prohibitionist argument, it was still factual in its portrayal, and the prohibition movement is vital to her case. The final topic, women empowerment, had the most authentic yet subtle portrayal from the symbolism of the puppet in “They Both Reached For the Gun” to the setting if Chicago. Each of the topics can be considered, to some extent, history. Although they’re understated, the themes are still there and contribute a historical side to the film that is important to the plot and
A book editor for mass-market books and a female magazine writer, Danuta Kean (2012) found a startling trend of women writers producing more horrific violence novels that some men authors have. Confronted with the question about the trend, some women writers argued that they simply wrote about the fear that only women feel, like the fear of being raped that men do not understand. Unlike the current trend and the freedom that many women writer enjoy, Cherry character in the The Outsiders novel represents the transition of a woman’s writer views on their own roles and expectations in the
This analysis will focus on questions of gender and notions of femininity existing during the Great Depression in US Culture, which are reproduced through the film itself. To support my thesis, I will analyze the most important key scenes
They use their sexuality to control and manipulate the man into doing her bidding, often these tasks are immoral acts that will benefit her, however, it would bring eventual destruction for the man. The femme fatales is often brought to justice and punished by the protagonist, ultimately she gets destroyed. Beckman adds that “the dangerous woman is almost always punished for her threat to masculinity and male power. The strong, independent, and sexually provocative femme fatale is typically subdued toward the end of the film noir, through her death, her abandonment, or her "rescue" from moral decline by a man. If it is correct that a certain Hollywood realism tends to confirm a patriarchal status quo through coordinating the gradual unmasking of the sexual power of the woman with the "epistemological drive of the narrative," then this tradition of narrative continuity itself must be of interest” (p 26-27).
The domination of men over women is often characterized by physical and psychological victimization of women and enhancement of their misery. This male domination is not limited to any particular region or particular period but it is globalised problem of all the times. Many women writers enter the literary scene to motivate women and fight against male domination. Walker is one among these sort of writers. Alice walker in her novels portrays the world view of women and their worthy roles, as mother, sister, daughter, wife and beloved.
(p. 34)” Set It Off, showed that gangsters didn’t have to be the “man of the city”. Women were also criminals and bosses of their own. Just like all criminals, these women were tense during their first robbery, but that changes quickly when they remembered the reasons why they were in that situation. In one sense, in the movie, they all sat around a conference table and acted as if they were mobsters in the movie “The Godfather”. This shows how these women felt about who they were becoming.
The major connection that can be assembled in this story is that this undermined, dependent, and fragile woman is the only person that can stand up against the most feared criminal in the region. Allende’s feminism breaks through this story to prove that women are
In the film ‘The Shining’, Shelly Duvall plays the character ‘Wendy’ the stereotypical ‘woman in distress’ and a rather quite sexist outlook on women. In the beginning of the film, the way Jack behaved towards wendy already showed that he had some sort of resentment towards Wendy, some sort of grudge he was holding against her, “As long as I live, she’ll never let me forget what happened.” Wendy’s character plays the nurturing mother, a ‘good’ wife that fixes things around the hotel like a typical housewife would. This whole ‘typical’ female role as a wife and mother is considered ‘ideological’ and it is semiotic to the male dominated society nowadays.
It tends to upset the traditional power balance between the sexes and construct women as powerful and men as weak and threatened. The femme fatale was; a woman who seduces, exploits, and destroys her partners. O’Shaughnessy was deceitful and homicidal but also smart and ambitious. Their independence and power can be seen as a positive step in the representation of women. These women did not conform to the traditional role of the wife and mother.
The role of women in literature crosses many broad spectrums in works of the past and present. Women are often portrayed as weak and feeble individuals that submit to the situations around them, but in many cases women are shown to be strong, independent individuals. This is a common theme that has appeared many times in literature. Across all literature, there is a common element that causes the suffering and pain of women. This catalyst, the thing that initiates the suffering of women, is essentially always in the form of a man.