Fatal Attraction Sultry, sexual, seductive, lethal—all of these are elements that make up the femme fatale character, a female character type found in many modern films. Defined as a ruthless siren who utilizes her sexuality to lure her unsuspecting male victim into a world of sinful desire for her own benefit, the femme fatale character has become increasingly popular since the film noir movement in the 1940s (Walker-Morrison 25). These temptresses rely on their sexuality and their cunning abilities to achieve their ultimate goals, paying little attention to the heartache and destruction they cause in the process. Perhaps the two finest examples of these sexy but dangerous characters are the sultry Phyllis Dietrichson in the 1944 film noir …show more content…
Because both Phyllis and Mrs. Robinson are similar in their characterization, the two women are shot in similar ways that depict their power as femme fatale characters in their respective films. Deborah Walker-Morrison writes in her article, “Sex Ratio, Socio-Sexuality, and the Emergence of the Femme Fatale in Classic French and American Film Noir” that the femme fatale’s “ruthless agency and narrative power are often signaled by her visual dominance within the frame” (25). Billy Wilder, director of Double Indemnity, puts this into practice. For example, when Walter Neff, played by Fred MacMurray, meets Phyllis Dietrichson, played by Barbara Stanwyck, for the first time in her home, the low-angle shot features Walter standing at the foot of a grand staircase looking up at Phyllis, who stands at the top of the stairs. The low-angle shot, coupled with Phyllis’s dominance in the frame as she looks down on Walter, suggests her power over him as a seductress. Although Walter may be unaware of the events to come, the shot alludes to the idea that Phyllis will act as his superior, influencing him with her sexuality and …show more content…
Robinson as femme fatale characters, the directors also rely on characterization in the form of costuming and marital situations to depict these women as lethal temptresses. During Walter and Phyllis’s initial meeting in Double Indemnity, Phyllis wears only a towel as a costume before excusing herself for a moment to change into a skirt and blouse. As Phyllis descends the stairs to formally greet him, Walter notices an anklet around the bottom of her bare leg, an accessory that becomes a part of Phyllis’s wardrobe throughout the remainder of the film. In her article, “Femme Fatale: Negotiations of Tragic Desire,” author Elisabeth Bronfen writes that the anklet serves as a bridge between these two scenes because the anklet serves as “an image of this body part [the leg] as a transition between the glance at her almost naked upper body and the fully dressed woman Walter can visually enjoy” (108). Drawing attention to her bare legs, Phyllis takes advantage of the anklet as a tool to attract Walter because he associates the anklet with her bare upper body he sees in the prior scene. As a result, Walter is excited by the anklet because he is able to visually imagine a fully naked Phyllis. At the same time, Phyllis benefits from the anklet as a part of her costume because she exploits the fact that Walter is physically attracted to her. She knows he has a weakness for her and a strong desire to obtain her for
The power of women is different than that of men. Women display a subtle and indirect kind of power, but can be resilient enough to impact the outside world. In Trifles, Susan Glaspell delivers the idea that gender and authority are chauvinistic issues that confirm male characters as the power holders, while the female characters are less significant and often weak. This insignificance and weakness indicated in the play by the fact that the women had the evidence to solve a murder, but the men just ignored the women as if they had no value to the case at all. This weakness and inability of the female to contest the man’s view are apparent. According to Ben-Zvi, “Women who kill evoke fear because they challenge societal constructs of femininity-passivity, restraint, and nurture; thus the rush to isolate and label the female offender, to cauterize the act” (141). This play presents women against men, Ms. Wright against her husband, the two women against their spouses and the other men. The male characters are logical, arrogant, and stupid while the women are sympathetic, loyal, and drawn to empathize with Mrs. Wright and forgive her crime. The play questions the extent to which one should maintain loyalty to others. Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale try to withhold incriminating evidence against Mrs. Wright, and by challenging the reader to question whether
while his wife Bunny and daughter Maude are reminiscent of the two Sternwood daughters, Vivian and Carmen” (Bergan 201). These two women also provide that all-important aspect of the femme fatale. Bunny is the impulsive, sexualized woman who acts without thinking, and lives by the charity of the elderly husband who just can’t tell her no. Maude is the dark, intelligent, manipulative woman. She works in the background, accomplishing what she wants, only telling others what they need to hear for her to get what she wants.
Heroines in screwball comedies always had much more positive reaction in the process of pursuing what they desired to, like “female catalyst.” For instance, in My Favorite Wife, Ellen rushed to the airport and tried to save her marriage with an old- fashioned dress, which is even tittered by others, as long as she was told that her husband Arden was about to spend a sweet moon with his new wife Bianca in the same hotel as they had. Both in Leo McCarey’s The Awful Truth (1937), out of suspicious, Lucy decided to divorce with her husband Jerry; however, after Lucy saw Jerry’s fantastic series of behavior on Mr. Duvall’s private concert, she realized that she was still in love with Jerry. As a result, Lucy claimed as Jerry’s sister and tricked him and his new girlfriend on Barbara’s appointment to debunk Jerry’s falsehood and to lower the impression formed by Barbara’s family. For sure, both Ellen and Lucy get their husbands or...
However, when deeply analyzing the characteristics of a femme fatale the similarities between the two concepts become clearer. This is especially the case when looking within the noir genre and at films that embody every aspect of noir, such as Double Indemnity. Double Indemnity and noir are perfect examples of how oppressive a film could appear to be at first glance. However, upon a deeper inspection of the Double Indemnity and everything it has to offer, it’s easy to see that although it tries to define and belittle its femme fatale, Phyllis Dietrichson by her actions against her male counterparts, she’s really the strongest character in the entire film. Her resilience in ensuring she obtains her every desire is what sets her apart. Her actions at first glance could come across as being self-centered, but all Phyllis is truly after is security which is more self-preservation. Phyllis is a character who is exceedingly aware of not only herself as a person, and the power this awareness has over men. Which, that self-awareness, and ownership of one’s body, as well as their ability to take that knowledge and level the vastly unjust playing field is the very core of feminism. Therefore, the femme fatale is not a character that’s needs to be defined by a male. Rather, to truly define a femme fatale characterize her by her own strength and ability to achieve her desires in
Using the theories I have discussed regarding feminist film theories , I will apply it to two of the most commercially popular Hollywood Romantic comedies, Pretty Woman and Bridesmaids. Since they both fall under this genre, I will be able to apply these theories and compare them accordingly.
Pretty Woman, 1990s Hollywood movie, embodies many new as well as old values and ideologies. I was surprised when I saw that, the old themes and sexual stereotypes are not completely abandoned, but the old portrayals of gender stereotypes are transmuted.
The continuing appeal of Daphne du Maurier’s gothic-romance, Rebecca1, is tribute to its popular and academic influence. Published in 1938, du Maurier employs refined complexities and sophistication to provide an evocative investigation of the power of the past and its disturbance on the present. Du Maurier’s use of a naive and easily influenced narrator ensures the reader is completely reliant upon the narrator’s interpretation and presentation of Rebecca. Furthermore, du Maurier’s construction of Rebecca questions patriarchal gender stereotypes whilst also critiquing other notions that underpin and aim to preserve patriarchal order. Contrastingly, Hitchcock ultimately alters and weakens du Maurier’s didactic through the adherence to film censorship regulations and the masculine lens of cinema. Furthermore, due to the masculine gaze of the director and producers, the objectification of the woman as the spectacle is perpetuated throughout the 1940’s film. Although the gothic suspense of the novel is transmogrified into a sense of gothic glamour in the film, the adaptation unfortunately produces the inescapable conflict of character construction when a film endeavours to translate a female’s story within the male-dominated 1940’s Hollywood.
Throughout time much has been said about the film roles of women. Everyone from scholars to bloggers has an opinion on the significance in society of how women on the big screen are portrayed. For me all of this debate only detracts from what the true focus of a film should be; an artistic expression of a story that reflects the values of the time in which it is written. Pauline Keel a respectable critic for the New Yorker once said “Movies of the past are like samples-swatches of cloth-of the period in which they were made” (Kael). The purpose of this essay is to analyze lead female roles in one action film from each decade starting in the 1940’s up to today to see if they do in fact reflect the current ideas of society.
portrayed as the “femme fatale” and also “mother,” the “seductress” and at the same time
The overall purpose of Carol Clover’s essay “Her Body, Himself: Gender in the Slasher Film” is to illustrate the repetitive, predictable aspect that Slasher
I chose to watch the movie, Sunset Boulevard. I chose this movie because I had heard of it before and I also knew it was a black and white and I enjoy those older types of films. The Femme Fatale character in this film was Norma Desmond, an older out dated actress that very desperately wanted to be involved in a movie again. I like that Norma is a very determined and outgoing person when she tried to get back into acting and publish her scripts. I do not like that she is overly demanding towards everyone and is very selfish when trying to reach those dreams. I have came across many people with similar personalities. People tend to act that way when they are very determined to reach a goal.
The reading by Barbara Creed titled “Horror and the Monstrous-Feminine: An Imaginary Abjection”, is an in-depth examination on the role of women in horror films. Creed challenges the commanding patriarchal view, which frequently puts the woman in the position of the helpless victim. She argues that when the feminine is constructed as monstrous, it is frequently done in conjunction with its mothering role and function. Creed’s main thesis supports that the prototype of all cinematic definitions of monstrosity related to the feminine is linked to the woman’s reproductive body. Creed elects to use the term “monstrous feminine” instead of female monster, because for Creed it is the “femininity itself that is monstrous” (41). It has been unfairly
166). The action genre is typically aimed at men and almost exclusively feature male leads, with many female characters are present for entertainment of men (Kartal, 2014). In an attempt to possibly attract a female audience to these male dominated films, “these mainstream films traditionally incorporate female characters and romance subplots into the mix” (Kartal, 2014, p. 167). There is a trend of having female’s roles in action movies to be the love interest who do not help save day, conforming to the stereotype that males are the heroes and females are the
The psychoanalytical perspective is a method of shifting from a hidden to an obvious subject matter which encompasses a process of awareness as well as translation (The Free Dictionary by Farlex, 2010). From a psychoanalyst perspective I will examine the linguistic symbolism of the text in the short play, “Trifle” to arrive at the underlying suppressed concepts of the author. Susan Glaspell- an Iowa native- filled her play with a hint of mid-western flavor. She also made a point to include a sense of feminist pride which was mirrored by her three main characters, Mrs. Hale, Mrs. Peters, and the accused murderer Minnie Wright (Glaspell, 1938). At beginning of the play the disparities between the genders were obvious. The men are arrogant, portraying themselves as perceptive unyielding detectives, when in truth they are not as perceptive as the women. The men’s pretentious approach provokes the women to become defensive and form an opposition in search of justification for what took place in their friend’s home.
Women have made progress in the film industry in terms of the type of role they play in action films, although they are still portrayed as sex objects. The beginning of “a new type of female character” (Hirschman, 1993, pg. 41-47) in the world of action films began in 1976 with Sigourney Weaver, who played the leading role in the blockbuster film ‘Aliens’ as Lt. Ellen Ripley. She was the captain of her own spaceship, plus she was the one who gave out all the orders. Until then, men had always been the ones giving the orders; to see a woman in that type of role was outlandish. This was an astonishing change for the American industry of film. Sometime later, in 1984, Linda Hamilton starred in ‘The Terminator’, a film where she was not the leading character, but a strong female character as Sarah Connor. She had a combination of masculine and feminine qualities as “an androgynous superwoman, resourceful, competent and courageous, while at the same time caring, sensitive and intuitive” (Hirschman, 1993, pg. 41-47). These changes made in action films for female’s roles stirred up a lot of excitement in the “Western society” (Starlet, 2007). The demand for strong female characters in action films grew to a new high when Angelina Jolie starred in ‘Tomb Raider’ in 2001 and then in the sequel, ‘Tomb Raider II: The Cradle of Life’ in 2003 as Lara Croft. Her strong female character was not only masculine, but was also portrayed as a sex object. Most often, strong women in these types of films tend to fight without even gaining a mark. At the end of each fight, her hair and makeup would always be perfect. The female characters in these action films, whether their role was as the lead character or a supporting character, had similar aspects. I...