Femme fatale

Lola is the kind of character that the film noir culture celebrates: the demure, dependent woman that wants to secure a stable male relationship, while simultaneously punishing the femme fatale creation as against nature. While Lola fits right into such a society and is the only “truly innocent” character that Double Indemnity celebrates, Phyllis challenges this ideal traditional woman, and in doing so, is punished for it. Lola displays the characteristics of the shy, dependent woman who looks…

MATILDA Matthew Lewis succeeds in portraying Matilda in The Monk as the Dark Hero conventional prototype referred to as the femme fatale. The femme fatale is a hero type who uses her feminine wiles to seduce lovers, who subsequently find themselves in dangerous or difficult situations. Lewis’ creation of a masculine gothic novel contributes to the characterisation of Matilda and her fulfillment of the Dark Hero role. The masculine gothic novel provides that characters and readers witness…

Despite that James M. Cain’s original novella demonstrates a good understanding of crime fiction and femme fatale, Wilder’s version was better due to changes he made to the protagonists: Huff, Keyes, and Phyllis. All in all, the original novella denotes a different approach to the audience that makes it less…

Gothic literature can be recognized not just by the date of its publication, but by some of the distinguishing characteristics it contains. For example, much of gothic literature goes into extensive detail when describing the setting, especially the houses in the story. A lot of times those houses are crumbling, used as a metaphor meant to enlighten the reader as to the mental state of one or more of the characters. Other characteristics of gothic literature include the presence of a…

started getting Ninos involved with the crimes Walter and her were committing, which would have made it much easier to frame Ninos and walk a free man. These of an anti-hero, he has some good intentions but is very flawed. Than we have our fennme fatale of the film, Phyllis Dietrichson. She traps and pulls in our male protagonist Walter. She immediately captivates him the first time they meet. She comes off the balcony with nothing on but a white towel. The view of her from up high, allows us to…

Christopher Nolan’s extraordinary film, Memento, was released in 2000. The film starts in typical noir style, murder, which is projected in reverse. Nolan distinctly divides the story into two different plot lines, color sequences run in reverse while black and white sequences that are flashbacks are chronological, this part sets the narration apart from the rest of the story and gives a documentary feel. The settings throughout the film consist of a washed-out out California scenery of motels…

throughout the Opera.(Cantoni) The music played as Miceala enters is also chromatic. Chromatic movement is often associated with the Femme Fatale, and it is quite apparent that the soldiers who she talks to are enchanted by her. However through what she says to them we realize quite swiftly that the is no Carmen, and has no interest in perusing the role of Femme Fatale. The Outcome of the…

filtered the movie like water, over & over, until it became so perfect. The performances in the movie were of the highest order. Brigid O'Shaughnessy is not your typical film noir femme fatale as this is only the start of bigstudio film noir. I felt that Brigid O'Shaughnessy was the perfect template for the future femme fatales such as say Double Indemnity's Phyllis Dietrichson or Vertigo's Madeleine Elster. Although Brigid…

When readers look at Tess of the D’Urbervilles our first instinct is to feel pity for the girl who was forced into womanhood much too young. Tess’s story is certainly a tragic one that has garnered sympathy from some however there are many who consider Tess to have had a greater hand in her own downfall than previously thought. During his first presentation of Tess, Hardy creates an image of a young country girl who is pure and innocent, as demonstrated through the symbolism of the colour white…

Sex was ubiquitous. Hollywood blondes Marilyn Monroe and Jayne Masfield were the sex icons. Growth of male magazines Playboy and Esquire offered ostentatious/pretentious sexuality epitomized/personified by Bettie Page-‘the pin-up queen of the universe and her explicit pictures led to anti-ponographic hearings of 1955 (Halliwell 42). Double image of women as a devoted housewife and glamorous diva was less a paradox than a duality in the 1950s. Media interest in the body shape/physique…