Film Noir Femme Fatale Disturbing the Social Order

Film Noir & Femme Fatale: Disturbing the Social Order

• Double Indemnity, as one of that first group of films that led to coining of "film noir, " serves as summary of first segment of this class, in which we looked at what noir is. • Perfect combination of idea of noir and noir style. • But also serves as entry point for next segment of the course.

The Basic Idea of Noir • Film Noir always involves a disturbance of "normal" social order and values, which is conveyed/matched by the "disorienting" style of the films. • This is why noir shares something with modernist art/literature: in both, the existing social order is questioned or criticized. • In the next segment of the course, we'll look at some of the specific issues or areas in film noir where "normal" social order is disturbed: the social context of noir.

Disturbance • One of the most prominent areas of disturbance revolves around: • Gender and Sexuality • Although film noir is in many ways a "male genre, " the place or role of women, in particular, is often central to film noir. • The femme fatale as threat to social order & the Law.

Disturbance • But why this frequent portrayal of women as dangerous? • What makes them threatening? • What do they threaten; what aspects of social order do they disturb? • To answer these questions, compare portrayal of femme fatale to non-threatening female characters: in Double Indemnity, Phyllis versus Lola.

Disturbance • In film noir, this gender disturbance also involves, as Sylvia Harvey notes, a disruption of the traditional family, headed by Father. • Linked, in part, to socio-economic conditions during/after WWII: • Introduction of women to labor force during WWII disrupts traditional family roles. • In films such as Mildred Pierce (1945), effort to portray "working women/businesswomen” as disruptive to “family values. ” Must be put back into "proper" place after War: as wives and mothers.

Disturbance • But Double Indemnity (1944) focuses more on woman's "proper" role within suburban, bourgeois family. • On one hand, “proper” here is linked to women being “property” of their husbands. • But “proper role” also means subordinating one’s own desires to those of husband family. • The good wife and mother is supposed to be “self-sacrificing. ” • Thus, woman’s own (sexual? ) desires are subordinate to marriage/family.

Disturbance • Phyllis, however, clearly does have her own desires, sexual and monetary. She disrupts the family and the Law. • As Claire Johnson notes, this sexual disruption of the family has a symbolic/psychanalytic dimension: it plays out an Oedipal scenario. • The killing of the husband/ father breaks the Law, disrupts family & male social order. • Look also at the role of Fathers (& father-figures) throughout the film.

The Threat of the Woman • • Why is the femme fatale a threat? Doesn't play typical role of good mother/wife. Good vs. Bad; Motherly vs. Sexual, not subservient (has her own desires; does not serve others) Threat to Male's/Father's position in family, society (symbolically: castration threat) Equals threat to Law, Social Order Must ultimately be punished Male control/Law reestablished (symbolically, phallic order restored to power)

The Oedipal Family • Plot to kill Father/Husband (and defraud Legal/Financial Order represented by Insurance Company). Law & Father (Social/Family) linked. • Keyes also Father-figure, representative of Law (patriarchal order & legal/financial order). • Worth noting the distaste that Keyes has for most women. Should be "investigated. " • Instead of upholding Law (of the Father), Neff defies it. Symbolically, breaks Oedipal taboo/Law: • He tries to usurp the place of the legitimate husband/father: to possess the woman/mother (and to defraud the Law, represented by Keyes).

• Woman and money symbolically linked--as "property" of the Father. • But, Walter's "fatherly" interaction with daughter Lola (the good girl who accepts traditional female role) convinces him that Phyllis is a threat and must be killed/punished. • So, in the end, he upholds male order/Law, tries to restore "proper" relations between Lola & Nino, and confesses to his Father-figure. • But despite this restoration of male order/Law, film noir points to a dissatisfaction with existing bourgeois social order and family/gender roles. • Also: attraction to something outside that order: dangerous but exciting. The femme fatale represents this more exciting other possibility.