The Noir Woman

Women in film noir are most often depicted as one of two stereotypes that of the Femme Fatale or that of the Good Woman.

The dark lady, the spider woman, the evil seductress who tempts man and brings about his destruction... She and her sister (or alter ego), the virgin, the mother, the innocent, the redeemer, form the two poles of female archetypes. (Place, 1989.)


The view of women in film noir can be attributed to the men who created these films the directors, writers and producers. As Janey Place(1989) states "Film Noir is a male fantasy" and as with many fantasies it comes from a place of both fear and desire, a view interestingly summed up by Mckenzie(2005) "If they are good, they are undesirable; if they are unattainable, they are better; and if they will surely kill you, then they are the best".


So often femme fatales are defined by the misogynist fears of men; those of manipulative, self serving women who are mysterious, predatory and duplicitous. The male fears of women who have power via their sexuality are very old fears, the one thing man has no power over and yet desires the most. These character can be viewed as an attempt to gain power over these fears by punishing the women in the films who act in this way.


The quintessential femme fatale of film noir uses her sexual attractiveness and ruthless cunning to manipulate men in order to gain power, independence, money, or all three at once. She rejects the conventional roles of devoted wife and loving mother that mainstream society prescribes for women, and in the end her transgression of social norms leads to her own destruction and the destruction of the men who are attracted to her. (Blaser 2008)


There is of course the other side to all of this that looks at these women as strong independent women who do what they must to survive in the gritty, paranoid mans world of film noir using whatever means necessary and they resort to this after being confined to the traditional roles of mother and wife for so long by society and the media.

References

Printed References

Place, J. (1989) Women in Film Noir. (ed) E. Ann Kaplan, London: BFI.
Harvey, S. (1978) Woman's place: The Absent Family in Women in Film Noir. (ed) E. Ann Kaplan.

Filmography

The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946). Directed by Tay Garnett. USA. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

The Lady from Shanghai (1947). Directed by Orson Welles. USA. Columbia Pictures.

Mildred Pierce (1945). Directed by Michael Curtiz. USA. Warner Bros.

Online References

J & S Blaser (2008) Film Noirs Progressive Portrayal of Women. Available at www.filmnoirstudies.com/essays/progressive.asp Accessed April 2010

Jason McKenzie (2005). It's Not Just Black and White: Gender Roles in Film Noir. Available at www.crimeculture.com/Contents/Articles-Summer05/McKenzie1.html Accessed April 2010