American Cinema Post 9: Film Noir

The image galleries from the film noir section located at moderntimes.com contain many photos from films of that era. Many of the photos show leading ladies from these films as well. Quite often, in film noirs, these women are known as femme fatales. Although the book doesn't actually refer to these women from film noir as femme fatales, it does provide a description of the negative picture these films painted of women.
The original, hard-boiled, pulp fiction, crime novels that helped lead to the creation of the genre often depicted the main male character overcome his own inner weaknesses by repressing his femininity. In other words, for the film noir genre, feminine characteristics are inherently bad. During the post World War II years when film noir thrived, American men felt threatened by women who now held more powerful positions in the social hierarchy. Men returning home from war came to fear this new found success women achieved. These sentiments are echoed in the film noir genre.
Femme fatales often were seductive and used this power over men to their ultimate downfall. A black widow spinning a snaring web, as it were, they entangled the socially, mentally, and otherwise anguished type hero into a deceitful and ultimately dooming scenario. They came across as exotic and were too much for the male lead to resist. They might be initially hostile toward the man but eventually they will have a romantic love affair. This often turns out to be an elaborate reuse to use the man for her evil work and blame him for the ultimate deed. In short, they were pretty, seductive, exotic, deceitful, and just plain evil.
The photos from moderntimes.com give a visual frame of reference that echos the description found in the text. Most of the photos show a woman who is not smiling. She may have a blank expression, bedroom eyes, or a look of concentration on something dark and mysterious. She is often attractive. This is both a product of the Hollywood system at large and of the necessity to have the woman be appealing to the leading man. She is often dressed in exotic or otherwise fancy or expensive looking clothing. She is often in a dark and shadowy area. This adds to the mystique and negative connotations associated with these characters. She may even be smoking a cigarette. This seems somewhat inconsequential, but this little detail drives home the fact that these women were liberated and not afraid to assert their individuality.