Women in Film Noir

1. Women in Film Noir • Article by Janey Place • Presentation by Kelly Campbell

2. Aims of the Presentation • To differentiate film noir as a movement, not a genre • To differentiate the women of film noir, and to show the characteristics of each

3. Outline • Myths (2 minutes) • Movement and Genre (2 minutes) • Example (2 minute) • The Spider Woman (8 minutes) • The Nurturing Woman (4 minutes) • Summary (1 minute) • Review (4 minutes) • Clip (2 minutes)

4. Mythology: Responds to changing needs in society

5. Myth: Bad Can Be Controlled • Repressed needs of a culture have a voice • Unacceptable needs/wants/desires/lifestyles have a voice • The “bad” women of film noir can express themselves, but… • They ultimately will be punished for it, so the ideas won’t come to life in social circumstances

6. Film Noir as a Movement • Movements occur in certain historical periods • Movements have consistent thematic and formal elements which express the feelings and happenings of the times • Movements are able to express the hopes and fears of, for instance, a country at war

7. Genre • Genres don’t crop up at any particular place in time • Genres are characterized by subject matter and iconography • Genres can express a wide range of ideologies

8. Who Am I? • Example 1 • Example 2

9. The Spider Woman aka: The Femme Fatale

10. Signs of Her Power • Visual style and iconography of the image express the sexual woman’s power • Sexual: Long dark or blond hair, make-up, jewelry, long legs, cigarettes with trails of smoke • Violence: Guns and cigarettes symbolize her phallus • Dress: What she isn’t wearing is more important than what she is

11. Film Form and the FemmeStrength of the woman is shown through: • Domination in composition • Domination in angle • Domination in camera movement • Domination in lighting • Usually she is in center frame, in the foreground, or pulling focus to herself in the background

12. Strengths cont’d • Controls camera movement, therefore exercising her power and strength • In the end, she loses her strength and influence over camera movement, showing someone or something else as having control over her (e.g. death, a man)

13. Femme Fatale’s Fatal Errors • Her wants are too ambitious, and she must be tamed • Her desires for fame, wealth, freedom, love, business, etc. all pose a threat to the male hero, whose job it is to tame her and bring her back down to her status as a woman • The man must repress and control both her aggressiveness and her sexuality to keep order in his world.

14. The Femme and the Mirror • The woman stares at herself in the mirror, ignoring the hero: she is independent. • Film noir makes this a transgression: Her self-interest instead of devotion to the hero is a threat to him, and will end badly for her. • The mirror also symbolizes the dual nature of women. Strange angles or darker reflections arouse fear and doubt.

15. The Framed Femme • Framed portraits of the femme fatales are also common • Night and the City, Woman in the Window • The common thread: In the framed portrait, the woman is without a phallus, powerless, can’t speak or move, and is no threat to the man.

16. The Femme and the Family • Families and homes are rarely depicted in film noir, but... • When they are depicted, they are either too fragile or too perfect to last, and their destruction is inevitable; or, they are so boring it leads a person to a dangerous, exciting life. • Speaking of boring, let’s segueway into….

17. The Nurturing Woman aka The Boring Woman (when compared to the Spider-Woman)

18. The Nurturer’s Characteristics • She is a redeemer: She offers the lost man acceptance into her stable world, which includes standard values and roles. • She offers love and understanding, and is willing to wait for him. • She is visually passive, and is often not part of the underground world of film noir. • She is easily forgotten by the audience and replaced by memories of the femme fatale’s deadliness and sexual strength.

19. The Nurturer’s Film Form • She is often associated with high-key lighting and open spaces; associated with normalcy and a stark contrast to the darkness of the film noir’s subject and settings. • She is static, as opposed to the femme fatale who has command of the camera’s movements.

20. So, why did I sit here and listen to this whole thing? • Next time you’re watching a film, study the women characters and ask yourself: • Are they being punished for attempting to be independent of men? • Are they using their sexuality to gain power over the hero? • How much control do they have over the camera movement?

21. The next time you’re watching a film, ask yourself... • How static are the women in the frame? • Does the ending include an “all is right with the world” if the woman abandons her ambition and submits to the man? • Is the guy in front of me ever gonna take off his hat?

22. Review 1) What is the exciting woman called? 2) What is the boring woman called? 3) What types of film form characterize both? 4) What physical characteristics describe the woman from #1? 5) Why does Placey argue that film noir is a movement, and not a genre?