Double indemnity analysis male fatale
The family structure had changed, with more women working and fewer women found where they were last seen: in the kitchen. Atomic war was a reality and a looming Cold War was on the horizon. The characters and films were created at a time when men returned home from war with physical wounds and psychological trauma. Not unlike the post-September 11 era, the post-World War II period was a time of great social anxiety and change. Says Martin, “Don’t just accept what’s on the screen and walk away saying, ‘Well, that’s nasty and unpleasant and misogynistic and I hate these movies because of that.’ Also ask what values are reflected in how this figure is portrayed and why do these values exist? In whose interest is it to portray women this way?”īy examining the characters and the films in the social and historical context in which they were made, students sharpen critical thinking skills, recognizing deeper meaning in the films and developing a better understanding of why characters like the femme fatale might exist in the first place. Martin explains that most students recognize the misogyny inherent in the noir films. Her students learn to “read” films by watching and analyzing film classics such as The Maltese Falcon (’41), Double Indemnity (’44), and Out of the Past (’47). Martin, a professor of film and screen studies and perhaps best known for her work around detective fiction, teaches film history to students on the Pleasantville campus. In Professor Rebecca Martin’s film history class, students study the femme fatale archetype in film noir, the genre of cynical yet stylish black and white crime thrillers produced in Hollywood post-World War II. In various guises, she is found everywhere in film, television, literature and the visual arts. Most often she is a woman who is childless, wanton, and uncontrolled by men. Since the days of Adam and Eve, the femme fatale endures as a female archetype in Western culture. Rosamund Pike’s character in the film version of Gone Girl is one too.
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More recently and with greater complexity, however, the character of Alex Vause on the television series Orange is the New Black is also a femme fatale. She ranks among the most clichéd and misogynistic femme fatale characters in film history.
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Alex Forrest, Glenn Close’s character in the movie Fatal Attraction, is a scorned, suicidal, home wrecker and career woman.